A local's eye view
The US Custom House, located on East Bay Street — with a wonderful view of Charleston Harbor — is one of the grandest government buildings in Charleston, The original plans called for it to be even grander — including four porticoes, a dome and an expanded interior plan. Even in its diminished form, it’s still pretty impressive and imposing!
This western view of the Charleston skyline include the beautiful steeple of Grace Church Cathedral and the hospital district. Graces’s steeple always makes me think of a “drip” sandcastle. What about you?
Located at the corner of Tradd and Greenhill Streets, the cannon showing under the blooming roses is an authentic piece of artillery. It was found a few years ago under the house when it was undergoing a renovation. A pretty cool find!
Charlestonians are so polite — even the buildings. The Riviera Theater was Charleston’s first motion picture theater. Open to the public on January 28, 1939, the premier featured Secrets of a Nurse. Have you seen it?
With some beautiful South Battery houses in the front, this view up King Street and across the rooftops is just classic Charleston.
The graveyard of the Unitarian Church on Archdale Street helps anchor one end of the Gateway Walk — a wonderful path that crosses a number of graveyards and other significant properties in downtown Charleston. (You can find a map of the Walk here.) It begins by St. John’s Lutheran Church, next to the Unitarian Church, and winds over to Church Street ending by St. Philip’s Church. What a walk!
These wonderful window boxes, featuring some gorgeous hydrangeas, are located on Church Street across from “goat. sheep. cow.” — a cool little wine and cheese shop (which now has a larger younger sister on upper Meeting Street — but no hydrangeas).
This beautiful fountain, surrounded by some wonderful Live Oak trees, is in Wragg Mall. It’s a great little spot to sit and relax, especially if you are visiting the nearby Aiken-Rhett House.
The Old City Jail was built in 1803 and was a pretty horrible place to be (this is the front, which was the Jailer’s quarters). But what few people now know is that there was a building next door (which has long since been torn down) that was an even nastier place. Known as the Work House, or the Sugar House, it was where captured runaway slaves were kept and — along with other slaves who were sent there — punished. Some truly awful stuff went on there.
A bit of a blight on the Charleston skyline, the Sergeant Jasper building is finally being demolished. While implosion would have been exciting to watch, to protect the integrity of the historic buildings in the area, it is being dismantled piece by piece. Named after Sergeant William Jasper, who during the Revolutionary War acted to recover and re-raise the South Carolina flag during the Battle of Sullivan’s Island (at the now-named Fort Moultrie), perhaps its replacement will be a more attractive way to honor the sergeant.