The Holy City

We just returned from an all too brief vacation. Charleston, SC just offers too much to see and appreciate in six nights. We first discovered Charleston in the 1970s before the rest of the world made it a tourist destination. After the creation of the Spoleto Festival it was no longer the bargain that appealed to our then small household budgets, so we haven’t vacationed there since sometime in the early 1980s.

Since then Charleston has experienced a renaissance. I heard the tale as told by a very conservative local businessman. He claims that the rebirth of Charleston began with Hurricane Hugo in September 1989. After this deadly and destructive storm, Federal dollars poured into the area. The businessman observed that unlike other cities, the Government of Charleston and Charleston County used the rebuilding funds to rebuild the city rather than on fraudulent schemes and outright corruption. He praised Mayor Joseph Riley, a Democrat first elected in 1975 and still mayor to this day, as a man who understands the needs of business. He pointed to the recent hiring of more policemen at a time when most cities are cutting their police forces as an example of his common sense. Charleston, particularly North Charleston, has a pretty high crime rate. The mayor understands tourists and businesses looking for a new location don’t choose dangerous cities. High praise indeed, coming from a conservative Republican.

Whatever the reason, new business is pouring into the area. Boeing is going to be building Dream Liners in South Carolina. Google is locating a large new facility in Charleston. In fact, I was informed so many Silicon Valley companies are opening new operations in the Charleston area some are calling the city Silicon Harbor. Although the Navy Yard is gone, the harbor still remains one of the busiest in our nation and the Naval Weapons Station is still a major employer. A quick look at real estate in the area gave me the impression that expensive properties, particularly quaint beautiful old homes near Battery Park, are doing just fine. Also, lower cost housing does not seem to be that impacted by the crash of 2006. However, it looks like middle priced properties have been squeezed by as much as 25%. Due to the presence of the Medical School, Law School, and a couple of Universities, apartment rents are way too high relative to house prices, particularly in the downtown area. Eavesdropping on a conversation overheard at a restaurant, two well dressed businessmen perhaps attorneys, were lamenting that new construction combined with the number of foreclosures and short sales were crippling the demand for existing properties. I saw a lot of new construction, commercial construction, out near the airport, but not the new residential construction that distressed the two businessmen enjoying a late lunch at a stylish bistro.

The old city of Charleston is more European than American in appearance. The lower part of the city is filled with gorgeous, beautifully preserved, old homes dating back to the 1700s. As you wander around these neighborhoods, you can peer into their amazing private gardens behind wrought iron gates that are themselves real works of art. The many venerable old churches give Charleston its nickname, the Holy City. From the harbor, their steeples dominate the city skyline. All this architectural beauty survived long enough for me to appreciate it, in part because General Sherman did not visit Charleston during the Civil War. He considered burning Columbia a higher priority. Next time I visit Charleston, I would like to take one of the horse and carriage tours that provide a detailed lecture on the history of these homes and churches.

If you love food, you will love Charleston. It seems every third restaurant has won more than one noteworthy award. The culinary offerings have extended beyond the traditional seafood and barbecue restaurants than we enjoyed in the 1970s. My wife enjoyed shrimp and grits, a local delicacy, at Poogan’s Porch, an upscale downtown restaurant in an artfully decorated Victorian home. This kind of cuisine, while not cheap, really isn’t that expensive compared to other urban areas. Even little hole in the wall restaurants off the beaten track, like the Sunflower Café, offer sophisticated recipes at reasonable prices. For those of us, like me, who prefer food to cuisine, places like Jim and Nick’s still offer very good traditional Southern barbecue and fixins.

If you visit Charleston, don’t forget to visit Sullivan’s Island and the Isle of Palms. These are two upscale beach resorts that are not particularly inviting to new development or outsiders (unless they have a lot of money). In Southern novels, dysfunctional families go to their beach homes on these islands to have parties where they say nasty things about each other and anyone who has owned property on the island for less than three generations. If you want something a little more laid back, try Folly Beach on the other side of the harbor. This is a more normal family beach resort, but it still has managed to avoid the trap of over development. The locals on Folly Beach view themselves as a poor man’s Key West. By the way, if you visit Folly Beach check out the Lost Dog Café. It offers an imaginative breakfast and lunch menu in a dog friendly environment. You can choose to eat lunch with your pet in their garden or on their porch. They provide water dishes and treats for their four footed patrons, as well as good meals for their owners.

I have already written too much and not yet touched on Civil War history, the Gullah culture, or famous restored plantations found on the outskirts of the city and how they are all intertwined.

One word of warning, parking in Charleston is a problem. The narrow European like streets while quaint and charming, don’t offer much in the way of parking. The city provides parking garages, but there are not enough of them, they are poorly marked, difficult to find, and expensive enough to be annoying but not prohibitive as in New York City. Parking is also a problem at the beach resorts. It is either not encouraged by the upscale resorts or there just isn’t enough to go around out on Folly Beach.