Charleston notes
Spoiler: It's charming
The clouds are glowing from the sun. As the fog cleared, the estuaries made themselves visible. They are a distinct part of this place, waterways separating all of Charleston with bridges connecting each area. We arrived and felt sense of relief after a long journey coming from the cold, harsh Northeast.
Charleston was our fifth long-term stay on this nomad year journey. We came from Vermont after stopping in D.C. and Alexandria, Virginia for two nights.
We didn't spend much time Charleston, only a month this time, but it was nice after having spent the holidays in the cold and dreary (but still cozy). This is my second time in the south if you don’t count Florida, because Florida is Florida (and the other time was down in New Orleans, drinking Hurricanes for a week).
Weather and climate
Charleston is characterized as having a humid subtropical environment, and it's quite pleasant in the wintertime. We stayed for the month of January and the high averaged a lovely 60F (16C) with sunny blue skies.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses as it’s the gateway to the tropics. A few times we got pummeled by some nasty storms: torrential downpours and winds howling into the night. But the next morning was always nice and mild, as though nothing violent had ever occurred…
Life is slower here. We spent our mornings slowly waking up with coffee to piercing sunlight and chirping birds singing a variety of songs. Many birds migrate to South Carolina for the winter because it’s so mild. The mornings were cold and brisk but the day quickly warmed. The city is criss-crossed and cut up with train tracks—the sounds of slow-moving trains in the distance echo an older era in America’s past.
History
You glimpse the past, present, and future all at once. This place has a lot of history, which is both fascinating and dark. Founded back in 1670, it was a major player in the colonial era but it wasn't just tea parties or fancy churches. The city was a hub for the slave trade, and it's a fact that can't be ignored. It's a stain on the city's history and that part of the story can't be sugarcoated.
In fact, in 2018, the city officially apologized for its role in the slave trade and it's a step in the right direction. But you can't just sweep this kind of thing under the rug. When you visit Charleston, you've got to be willing to confront the ugly truths of the past and understand how they’ve shaped the city and the people in it. With that said, people of all colors and creeds live here together, seemingly peacefully.
The people and culture
People from South Carolina are some of the friendliest people whom I've ever met. Southern Hospitality is a real thing and I liked it. People go out of their way to open the door for you—it doesn't matter if they’re old, young, black, white, male, female, gay, straight.
I got the sense that folks actually care about your wellbeing here in Charleston. As we travel, it's sometimes tough to gauge people's intentions but I want to say that most people mean well, want to live a good life, and just want to be comfortable.
Things to do
I'd say there are basically three categories of things to do here:
Foods and drinks at breweries, restaurants, and wine bars
Walking around downtown
Checking out the beaches
I’ll be honest, most of our exploring was food and drink related. Charleston is a city that takes its eats seriously. The flavors here are a melting pot of African, Native American, and European influences, creating something truly unique and delicious.
Shrimp and grits are what they’re known for, which is a dish that'll make your taste buds dance with joy. The plump, juicy shrimp swimming in a buttery sauce all served up over a bed of creamy grits. It's a staple of the Lowcountry, and you'll find it all over the city.
They have other dishes which I was unable to try but need to! Gullah cuisine is a subcategory of Lowcountry cuisine, which is traditional African American food of Charleston. You'll find dishes like okra soup, rice and gravy, fried fish, and sweet potato pie, with other staples like Hoppin' John, She-crab soup, Lowcountry boil—there’s just so many. They have an old BBQ tradition which we got a few times and loved. I could probably write an entire series on this one subject… maybe another time.
Downtown Charleston is cute and surprisingly small—you can easily see everything in a day. The downtown doesn’t have a building over three stories so it feels small and it is. Art deco, Italian, French, Gothic—the architecture is the thing to see when you go downtown. The combination of the colors, lighting, and architectural styles make this place an Instrammers dream.
Side note: A funny thing about Charleston is its thriving golf cart culture. People are ripping around the streets on golf carts as their preferred mode of transportation.
Then there's "South of Broad" which is the fancy schmancy area. We saw extraordinary homes built in the 1700s, easily starting at a calm $5M and going up from there. They’re decadent… beautiful courtyards and terraces that’d make your grandmother faint.
And oddly, the beaches felt similar to a beach you’d find in California. We were for some reason dumbfounded by this. There’s surfing, beach volleyball, and people bathing. It didn’t fit my obviously-wrong mental framework I had about the place. I am happy to have been proven wrong. The more you travel, the less you know. You think one thing about a place only to be proven wrong. It’s humbling.
Charleston was where we had spent the least amount of time but we both said that it’d be a place we could see ourselves living. It has the right ingredients that make it, well… nice. Cancel your plans to Vegas because you’ve already been five times.
Time for something new.
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