Road Trip! Charleston At Last!

My sister Susan and I just got back from a road trip to Asheville, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and Stuart, Florida. After having lunch in Asheville, we arrived in Charleston Saturday evening, and had dinner on the patio of the Bay Street Biergarten, where I took the photograph on the left of my sister Susan toasting me with a glass of white wine. Charleston is a very friendly city, and as proof of that, the couple sitting at the bar in the background of the photo bought us a round of drinks. They said it was because they admired us still getting out and about on a Saturday night, which might imply that we were old, but a kind gesture nevertheless. It probably didn't hurt that Susan uses a walker. I need to remember that trick in the future. In any case, the IPA I had was very good, and the food was excellent, too. And our timing was perfect. It didn't start to rain until we drove off, and the next day the weather was perfect.

Charleston is a city of beautiful neighborhoods, and the historic districts are especially impressive, filled with homes that can date back to the 1700s. Spring was in full bloom when we were there, and we drove all around the area, occasionally stopping to get out of the car and take a few photographs, such as the one on the right, taken on Meeting Street (I think). Many of the homes were built with the narrow part of the structure facing the street. To enter, you go through a door that leads to the front porch, which runs along the side of the house. This was done because property taxes were based on the amount of frontage on the street, and so the less front footage, the less the tax. Those wiley Southerners.

The houses in the historic parts of the city are huge, such as the one on East Battery Street in the photograph on the left. This house looks out over Charleston Harbor, where Fort Sumter sits. No doubt back in 1861 the residents of this mansion withnessed the start of the Civil War (the War Between the States down here) firsthand from the upstairs balconies.

The house in the photograph on the right is also on East Battery Street. I like it very much, but suspect it is just a little bit out of my price range. No doubt if I wanted to relocate to this grand old city I would need to search for a less expensive area. Just for fun, when I got home, I checked the real estate listings for homes near the Bay Street Biergarten. It seemed like a modest area, and I would be able to walk over for a beer whenever I wanted. Sadly, there was nothing available under a million, and so I think I will just hang on to the Stuart, Florida condo my sister Susan and I inherited from our mother Mary, and take it back from our tenants next year. Then we can just drive from there to Charleston for luxurious weekends at the Motel 6, living the good life at last.

The downtown area is very nice too, which is where I took the photograph on the left. I am pretty sure the church in the background is St. Michael's, Charleston's oldest, built in 1764, which is before even my sister Susan was born. It has been many years since I last visited Charleston, and I must say, the place seems to improve with age. After all, craft breweries like the Bay Street Biergarten weren't even around years ago. If they were, no doubt George Washington would have loved the place when he visited back in 1791 on his Southern Tour.