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Itineraries

Home » South Carolina » Short Stays in Charleston, South Carolina » Itineraries
Posted by Your Guide on May 10, 2006 5:27 PM

If your time in Charleston is minimal, you should make downtown Charleston one of your top priorities. To not see the history and charm that the downtown area has to offer would be doing yourself a disservice. Start your day at the Charleston’s Visitor’s Center to get acquainted with the area. From there, take a horse-drawn carriage tour through downtown to get a complete overview of the city’s historic buildings and homes. After the tour, stop in the Charleston Museum to learn about the famous American ancestors, battles and artists that have passed through the area and have helped make the city famous. Have lunch at a quaint restaurant in downtown to sample the local flavors of the low country. If it is a nice day, eat your lunch on the rooftop of the Market Pavilion Hotel on East Bay Street. From here you’ll be able to take in several church steeples, gardens, painted tin roofs and even the lighthouse in the harbor. After lunch, take in some more American history by cruising out to Fort Sumter National Monument via ferry where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. For the evening, have a nice romantic dinner at the Charleston Grill inside the Charleston Place Hotel on King Street. Check the Dock Street Theater schedule and see if you could be lucky enough to catch a show.

The next day, plan to visit some of the gardens and plantations located in Charleston and the surrounding areas. Middleton Plantation, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens or Drayton Hall are all excellent and popular choices. Middleton Place is a plantation home located on Ashley River Road and is a National Historic Landmark with beautifully manicured gardens. Each day is a recreation of plantation life that is educational and well as entertaining. There is a restaurant here serving low country food that is a great stop for lunch. The Magnolia Plantation and Gardens is located on Route #4 Highway 61, and is a 500-acre estate that has been owned by the same family since 1676. Try to visit in the spring to see the lovely azaleas blooming and the camellia bushes. Drayton Hall is a plantation located on the Ashley River and is the only plantation on the river that survived the Civil War still intact. The architecture is stunning and guided tours take guests through the beautiful gardens and marsh daily. Have dinner that night in historic downtown.

If you have a third day to spend in Charleston, perhaps you would want to visit some of the historic homes in and around downtown. The Nathaniel Russell House, Aiken-Rhett House and Edmondston-Alston House are options that are sure to please any history buff. The Nathaniel Russell home on Meeting Street represents the merging of two wealthy families who built their fortunes in rice and indigo. The house was built in 1808 and is a beautiful reflection of Colonial architecture with a free-flying staircase, geometrically shaped rooms and wonderful antiques from the 1800’s. The Aiken-Rhett House is also a large mansion that reflects the antebellum architecture of the time period and is decorated with crystal and bronze chandeliers, classical sculptures and paintings. The grounds include kitchens, slave quarters, stables, privies and cattle sheds. This home is located on Elizabeth Street. The Edmonston-Alston House is a Greek Revival home that has an amazing view of the Charleston Harbor on East Battery. Documents, portraits, furniture and silver from the 1800’s can be observed during your tour through the home.

You may be interested in touring the old churches of downtown Charleston as well the homes. If this is the case, choose one or two homes to tour and then glance through the First Baptist Church which is the oldest Baptist church in the country that was founded in 1682; St. Andrews Parish which is the oldest church in the Carolinas, St. Michaels Episcopal Church which has incredible architecture or St. Philip’s Episcopal Church that also served as a lighthouse. The steeples of the churches in Charleston will stick in your mind every time you remember the landscape of the area. When you visit the churches, you might want to also peruse their graveyards to find the tombstones of famous politicians, military leaders and soldiers. After your tours of homes and churches, have a quick lunch and take a walking tour of the Battery and white Point Gardens. Then head for the Old City Market to do some shopping. If that merely whets your shopping appetite, continue to King Street for some unique boutiques, name brand stores and of course wonderful antique shops. By night, your feet will be hurting so kick back with some great seafood at A.W. Shucks.



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