A local's eye view
The Timothy Ford House on Meeting Street, built 1800-06, is a wonderful example of a very large Charleston single house. In 1824, the Fords entertained the Marquis de Lafayette, the Revolutionary War hero, there on his visit back to the US.
With all the interesting architecture in Charleston, there are many beautiful shadows cast. The gate and protective ironwork casting this shadow are on Orange Street — guarding the entrance to the back drive of the grand Col. John Stuart House (c. 1767-72).
With the positioning of many Charleston houses right up to the sidewalk (particularly, the sideways facing Charleston single houses), window boxes often replace having a front yard — and they are generally treated with the same loving care.
These regal lions are on guard outside of a house (c. 1850) on Tradd Street, that was built by William C. Bee — best known as the owner of the premier blockade running business during the Civil War.
A beautiful array of Sweetgrass baskets for sale on Meeting Street. Tracing their origin back to the 1600’s with the arrival of enslaved Africans, they were originally used to separate rice seed from its chaff. Now they are treated as works of art, including some that are on permanent display in the Smithsonian Museum (and others).
The afternoon sun lighting up the Parker-Drayton House and gate on Gibbes Street. Before landfill was added to create the existing profile of the peninsula, the house would have had a great view of the marshes and the Ashley River.
The first rays of the sun lighting up the top of Hibernian Hall on Meeting Street. Built in 1840, the beautiful Greek Revival building is fronted by iron gates created by the master artisan Christopher Werner.
This handsome entrance can be on a beautiful antebellum (c. 1856) house on the corner of Rutledge Avenue at Wentworth Street — just up the street from Colonial Lake.
The intersection of Atlantic and Church Streets, with its post-Revolutionary War houses and the bricks of Church Street…
The sun just rising above Charleston harbor, with Ft. Sumter in the distance and huge flocks of White Ibis winging their way out to breakfast.