Glimpses of Charleston

A local's eye view

Street/Park Scenes

Stolls Alley, which connects East Bay to Church Street, is one of my favorite cut-thru's in Charleston. 
Broad Street on a beautiful Charleston day. The incredible building on the left is the Confederate Home and College, which was built as a private home in 1800, became a hotel and then in 1867 became the Home for Confederate Widows and Orphans. Today it is still used as a home, but is also an events venue.
Charleston is the first city in South Carolina to close their parks and and order people to stay home (unless on essential business or exercising). This photo was taken two days before the order went into effect, but some good social distancing in practice -- even between this couple.
You'd never know it by this photo, but the City Market is the most visited tourist destination in Charleston. Early in its evolution, it was a meat market -- which accounted for the gathering of tremendous numbers of vultures, earning them the nickname of "Charleston eagles."
This beautiful stretch of antebellum houses is on St. Michael's Alley. The first house on the left was designed by the famed architect, E.B. White -- who was the supervising architect of the US Custom House on East Bay Street, among other prominent Charleston projects.
This pretty fountain can be found in the the Chapel Street Fountain Park.  Like its fellow "pocket parks," it is a little downtown oasis. 
Beautiful at just about any time, the High Battery is always lovely in the early morning. On the morning of April 12, 1861, the people of Charleston gathered here to watch the bombardment of Fort Sumter -- the first shots of the American Civil War.
When living in the number one travel destination in the known universe, some residents of Charleston do have a sense of humor about it. You can find this historic marker on West Street.
Although you would think it has to do with its directional orientation, Longitude Lane -- which connects East Bay and  Church Streets -- is not named for its compass reading. You can read all about it here.
The Huguenot Church on Church Street traces its congregation back to the 1680's. The current structure, designed by the famed architect E.B. White, dates back to 1845 -- replacing a much simpler plain brick building. The graveyard (which is not a cemetery  -- a cemetery is away from the church on separate grounds, as opposed to being on the same plot of land) is full of interesting markers and headstones.
The graveyard at the Circular Congregational Church is beautiful and historic. Seen here from Church Street, it's believed to be the oldest English burial ground in Charleston, with graves dating back to 1695. 
The houses surrounding "Pirates Courtyard" on Church Street were built in the early 1740's and are believed to have been where many pirates, including Blackbeard, hung out while they were in Charleston. To make it a less stressful experience, it is said that there was an escape tunnel that ran from under the house to the harbor -- just in case that had some unwanted visitors.
This pretty arch connects two colonial era (c.1742) houses on King Street in the Charlestowne (South of Broad) neighborhood. 
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 back drive for the grand Col. John Stuart House (c. 1767-72).
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 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.
The intersection of Atlantic and Church Streets, with its post-Revolutionary War houses and the bricks of Church Street...
This beautiful sunlit wall and gate can be found on Gibbes Street -- which not named after the benefactor of the wonderful Gibbes Museum of Art.
A view up Meeting Street to the steeple of St. Michael's Episcopal Church. St. Michael's is the oldest standing religious building in the city -- built between 1751 and 1761, replacing the St. Phillip's original wooden church built in 1681.
January is the coldest month of the year in Charleston. Can you feel it in this photo along Murray Boulevard?
A runner under a spectacular pre-dawn sky along the Battery. Runner's World named the Battery as one of the most beautiful places in the world to run. It's hard to argue!
The ruins of an old Evening Post printing plant, at the corner of Elliot Street and Bedons Alley, were adjusted to accommodate this growing tree. Just another cool way Charleston shows its love for its grand trees.
A view of the modern day Charleston "skyline." One of newest additions is the cruise ship.  Hmmmm...
Broad Street is very festive looking during the holidays. This view includes some of the Four Corners of Law, the intersection of Broad and Meeting Streets. That phrase was coined by  Robert Ripley, creator of Ripley's Believe it or Not!
You can find this well dressed horse just down Chisolm Street from the Horse Lot -- a former mill pond that was filled in to create grazing land for horse. Now a small city park, it is primarily used by dogs and for all sorts of athletic activities.
Longitude Lane is a colonial era thoroughfare that runs between East Bay and Church Street. Beautiful.
This very cool door can be found on Maiden Lane, one of the eight active cobblestone streets in Charleston.
The view from Meeting Street into St. Michael's Alley...
This cool hole-in-the-wall door can be found on Meeting Street, just a short ways down from the beautiful colonial St. Michael's Church.
Between downtown buildings you can often find a tight squeeze of an access path. If you exited this one and turned left, you would be walking down King Street -- right past the wonderful old cinema, the American Theater, which was appeared on the other side of the screen in the film The Notebook.
These beautiful heron gates guard one of the entrances to Waterfront Park. You can pass through them off Concord Street.
This beautiful alley, Longitude Lane, was created in 1788. It was developed to cut through some larger blocks of land, thereby opening them up for future development. Today, from East Bay a car can make it about halfway through, and then if you want to get to Church Street, you have to be on foot.
Charleston is one of the few cities in North America to ever have been a walled city. In the early 1700's, the wall protected the residents from everything from pirates to the Spaniards and French. While the wall has been mapped, there are only a few spots where you can actually see its remnants. The brick line here, across the cobbles of North Adgers Wharf, represents where the wall crossed at that point -- and if you dig down you will find it (but do not do that without permission and proper archaeological processes!)
A view across Joe Riley Waterfront Park. In the distance you can see the WWII aircraft carrier the USS Yorktown, a storied fighting ship.
This impressive window box is on the building that housed the Poinsett Tavern on Elliott Street, built about 1732. Poinsett's descendant was the US ambassador to Mexico and introduced the Poinsettia to the United States.
A pretty Charleston autumn scene featuring a crepe myrtle tree on Tradd Street. The crepe myrtle holds the distinction of being the longest flowering plant in Charleston.
While the lake was not bounded by its cement sides until 1885, the land and area around it was designated for public use by an Act of the Commons House of Assembly in 1768.
This is all that remains of the "old" Charleston Museum. Fortunately, the contents were moved to the new location before it was consumed by fire. As it did in the old museum, the skeleton of a 40'4" right whale hangs in the entry. The whale had the misfortune of entering Charleston harbor where it was pursued and ultimately captured and brought ashore.
Charleston has eight active cobblestone streets, most of which are near the old wharf area. Just one block long, this is Maiden Lane -- a bit further north and away from the water.