Charleston

This is my new favorite place in the South and one of my favorites in the US. Been here for a few days at Charleston’s Notsohostel which is a very cool little hostel on Spring street with a great staff and interesting mix of people from around the world. I’ve been apartment searching and doing homework on the side so I’ve only just gotten out last night and this morning to do sightseeing. Since I’ve been living off of a Starbucks gift certificate I got at Christmas I decided to splurge today and actually plunked down 40 bucks at the wine bar down the street and made myself sick with wine, bread and cheese. Horrible stomache ache this afternoon but it was totally worth it. Such a romantic city. Everyone is friendlier than you could imagine. The waterfront is beautiful. I went to the open air market today and got a gigantic homemade cinnamon bun and coffee for $2. Stuffing myself full of food in a two hour span probably made me sick too. ; > The cemeteries are magnificent…so much spanish moss hanging from the trees. It’s hot as hell here, though. I’m from Connecticut and it is already in the 50s there so this is HOT but nice. Come to Charleston. This place is amazing.

Elegant, genteel, and full of history

I visited Charleston on my first major trip into the American South, and it was my favorite city that I stopped at during the vacation. It seemed laid back, yet crowded with a lot of very interesting architecture, the palmettos providing an atmosphere I hadn’t seen before in the US. I was particularly impressed, however, by the shear number of ghost walks and tours available in Charleston all year, at least a dozen offering gimmicks as diverse as candlelight to boat rides. Always interested in a good spooky walk, I chose “The Ghosts of Charleston” tour (based on a book) which included a tour of the wonderfully overgrown Unitarian cemetery, which I highly recommend. I definitely think I will visit again in the future.

This would be a very cool place to go on a weekend getaway. It was a very charming town.

I have lived here for 18 years and could not image living any where else. The beaches are wonderful and there is always something going on. I recommend Isle of Palms beach over Folly.

I was lucky enough to marry a man from Charleston and while we live in Columbia, we are fortunate to be able to visit regularly. Charleston seems to change every time we visit, and yet it has a timeless quality about it that seems to never change.

Charleston is nice, upscale, and relaxed. It has some great military attractions, with Patrior Point and Fort Sumnter, as well as a beautiful downtown area where you can have a good time and some good food.

I’ve been living in Charleston all 16 years of my life. It’s great.

Where the fighting began…this Civil War destination is a great place to start your study of the conflict. So much information within the nuseum on the Fort grounds. It is somewhat difficult to picture what the fort really looked like just by looking around at the present-day structure. The battery that was built into it was a surprise. I would recommend to anyone to go to the fort at least once.

Go up on the upper level and look to the other forts…Moultrie, Johnson, etc. Even though most of the battery locations are long gone, it can at least give you some understanding of how completely hopeless it was in the fort once the Confederates opened on it.

The only problem with the visit to the fort is that you only have 1 hour on the “island.” The trip out and back takes more time than what you actually spend on the land. Check out the museum to see the artifacts, but get out and walk around the fort and take in as much as you can during the short amount of time that you are there.