Charleston, South Carolina
The last time we were in Charleston was probably 20 years ago and it’s grown and changed so much since then! We didn’t really even recognize the city. We left very early in the morning but this meant we arrived early enough to get settled at the hotel and still enjoy the day.
Christmas Day we knew nothing would be open so we planned to go for a long walk on the beach at Isle of Palms. This is a beautiful beach to walk on! We were able to see the destructive power of Mother Nature, as a bad storm had just gone up the east coast battering the coast with wind and rain along with very high tides. A lot of homes were damaged and there was a lot of beach erosion.
The day after Christmas was rainy so we decided to take our explorations indoors.
- Charleston Museum: This museum is well worth a visit. We learned a lot about the history of Charleston and the low country.
- Heyward-Washington House: This was the home of Thomas Heyward, Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence and hosted George Washington in 1791. The tour is self guided and there is a nice garden out back that unfortunately wasn’t in bloom when we were there.
- City Market: A couple of people raved about the City Market so I was looking forward to shopping for local arts and crafts, but all I saw was a lot of junky tourist stuff mixed in with a few local artisans.
- Buxton Books: I always love checking out local bookstores and Buxton Books was right in the area. It’s a very small bookstore, but super cute and well worth a stop.
Some other highlights of our wonderful stay in Charleston:
Make sure to pick a nice day if you plan to visit Fort Sumter since you have to take a ferry and you’ll be outside while exploring the fort. The ferry leaves from the same visitor center as the Yorktown, so when we got back we decided to check that out as well, along with the Vietnam Experience.
There are lots of plantations to choose from to visit and we chose the Boone Plantation and Gardens because it was close to our hotel. We got there early so we could be on the first tour and before it got crowded. After that we took a nice walk around downtown Charleston and the harbor.
On our drive down to Hilton Head we stopped at The Pinckney Wildlife Refuge, a beautiful place for walking with great trails. We even saw an armadillo, which neither of us has seen in the wild. This was the highlight of our day because when we saw the traffic heading into Hilton Head we decided it wasn’t worth the visit and headed back to Charleston.
Our last day was my favorite day of all! We went to Middleton Garden which was absolutely gorgeous and was not very crowded. We had an amazing time exploring the grounds, which has beautiful old trees and Camellias everywhere. The Camellias weren’t in bloom so I imagine the grounds must be breathtaking when they are! We then went to Charles Towne Historic Park which is the location of the original settlement. We learned a lot about life during those times and they have really nice walking paths to explore the grounds.
I’m glad our trip ended on a high note. A few days in Charleston is a perfect getaway and we enjoyed our visit!
Jen & Brendan {December 2023}