We dedicated day 2 in Charleston to a tour bus ride around the city. We had a very knowledgeable guide whose accent was quite thick and who spoke quite quick, so I managed to pick up about 1/3 of the information he was giving out. Still, we learned a lot about the city’s history and about the architecture.
One interesting fact: the houses are built back (or sideways), meaning they do not face the street. They have large, usually multi-storied, verandas built on the houses as a way to escape the hot, southern, summer heat and catch a breeze. On the end of the verandas is a door that opens up to the street. If the home’s residents are sitting on the veranda, but do not wish to have guest they simply close the door to let people know they are “not available”.
Example...
Our tour ended with refreshments at
The Palmer House . Also referred to as The Pink Palace. It was built in 1848 and is now a bed and breakfast by The Battery next to the Charleston Harbor. It's furnished with 200 year old antiques and has been passed down from generation to generation in the Palmer family.
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| The Palmer House |
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| These looks like stone, but it is all wood. Wood is cheaper, but they wanted the expensive look of stone. |
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| A carriage stone. Women used it to step up into the horse drawn carriages while wearing their big dresses. |
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| The veranda |
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| The large sitting room on the second floor. |
The original Citadel: Military College of South Carolina (est. 1842) has been converted into an Embassy Suites hotel, but much of the original structure is still present and easily recognized.
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| side view |
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| original stairwell columns |
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| [now painted] large metal doors that can slide shut for protection |
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We ended the day by taking one more tour. The Joseph Manigault House, significant for it's Adam style architecture (18th century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practiced by the three Adam brothers from Scotland) was built in 1803. During WWII the house served as a USO for war soldiers.
