charleston has to be on saw a few of the places around the us i'd want to live in, if i couldnt live in texas. i went ande of my favourite cities in the us. its one of the only cities in the city...
middleton plantation (the first three pictures) was an enormous
complex. huge landscaped terraced gardens, covered with lakes... from the air it had a vague resemblance to versailles, however, on the ground not quite... partially because the big house got burned down by the yankees. there was the big house with two l
arge additional wings for guests and office space. after the war they rebuilt one of the wings and used that as a home... it still looks like an english country manor, but the gardens lost alot of their focus with the destruction of the bighouse... the gardens are nice, its hard to say any place that is full of spanish moss draped live oaks isn't nice... but the real jewel at middleton plantation is the restaurant. if you go to charleston, you have to get there for lunch.
the restaurant is set just off the gardens overlooking one of the lakes surrounded by trees. it's almost like dining outside. the interior is light, airy, and almost all window. the food was excellent. three course lunch for 15 dollars. good local food. i had she-crab soup, quail with corn pudding and collard greens, and rice pudding for desert.
the second set of three pictures, is boone hall plantation. boone hall is famous because of its drive lined with live oaks.
3/4 of a mile of live oaks perfectly spaced. i
ts the type of thing that takes centuries to develop... apart from the tree lined drive, boone hall is famous because the house was used as the big plantation in North and South. which is funny because the actual plantation house was built in the 1930s... basically what happened is some wealthy people bought the plantation and when the wife saw it, she was like, this isnt at all what a plantation house
is supposed to look like. so she tore it down and built the present house... the question i have, and didnt ask is, are the slave quarters original or did she rebuild them in brick too. cause those cabins looked pretty ritzy... and probably alot better than what my southern ancestors were livin in... they have an exhibit called slave street there, and they have a lady who does a talk about life in the slave quarters... she wasnt there when i went to boone hall, but, the next day i was at fort moultrie waitin to watch the tall ships sail out of charleston, and i met the lady and her husband. their son has a Jboat and they were yankee sailors from port jefferson, new york. so that was amusing.
charleston itself, is as it always is, charming. the houses in the old town tend to be large and ornate. because of the heat/humidity most of the old houses have
big porches... the big porches let people sleep outside during the summer months to help stay cool... most of them have screens and doors on the ends so that you have a modicum of privacy. all the houses porches all face the same direction so you have the garden and then the back of the other persons house to screen in the porch for privacy.
charleston is a southern city. it was the birthplace of secession and the first shots of the war were fired at sumter. the city still bears some of the scars from the siege which lasted three years.
one of my favourite monuments is the Monument to the Defenders of Charleston at the Battery. the monument had to have been built in the 1920s or 1930s, because it just seems so pseudo-fascist... it's greek allegorical and just seems sort of fascist to me... just the style of sculpture reminds me of some of the italian fascist/futurist sculptures in the 1920s...
a fun thing to do in charleston is to drink. because there are lots of bars. one of the nice things is the rooftop bars off of Bay Street. the best is at the market-pavillion inn. right at the corner of market street and bay street. there is another one that is alright at vendu inn. its actually two levels of bar
on the roof. i went there during dead week senior year of college and then when we were there this time with the limeys off the boat.
the last photo here is george washington... its in washington park which is just off from the four courts. the corner of the street where the city hall, one of the churches, the federal courthouse, and state courthouse all meet. i kinda lile to call it the apotheosis of washington... sure, i realize that the
apotheosis of washington is also the name of a fresco in the capitol dome... but i think it fits for this picture... just cause well, the angle of the sun almost gives washington a halo, and he's framed with oak branches.
complex. huge landscaped terraced gardens, covered with lakes... from the air it had a vague resemblance to versailles, however, on the ground not quite... partially because the big house got burned down by the yankees. there was the big house with two l
arge additional wings for guests and office space. after the war they rebuilt one of the wings and used that as a home... it still looks like an english country manor, but the gardens lost alot of their focus with the destruction of the bighouse... the gardens are nice, its hard to say any place that is full of spanish moss draped live oaks isn't nice... but the real jewel at middleton plantation is the restaurant. if you go to charleston, you have to get there for lunch. 
the restaurant is set just off the gardens overlooking one of the lakes surrounded by trees. it's almost like dining outside. the interior is light, airy, and almost all window. the food was excellent. three course lunch for 15 dollars. good local food. i had she-crab soup, quail with corn pudding and collard greens, and rice pudding for desert.
the second set of three pictures, is boone hall plantation. boone hall is famous because of its drive lined with live oaks. 
3/4 of a mile of live oaks perfectly spaced. i
ts the type of thing that takes centuries to develop... apart from the tree lined drive, boone hall is famous because the house was used as the big plantation in North and South. which is funny because the actual plantation house was built in the 1930s... basically what happened is some wealthy people bought the plantation and when the wife saw it, she was like, this isnt at all what a plantation house 
is supposed to look like. so she tore it down and built the present house... the question i have, and didnt ask is, are the slave quarters original or did she rebuild them in brick too. cause those cabins looked pretty ritzy... and probably alot better than what my southern ancestors were livin in... they have an exhibit called slave street there, and they have a lady who does a talk about life in the slave quarters... she wasnt there when i went to boone hall, but, the next day i was at fort moultrie waitin to watch the tall ships sail out of charleston, and i met the lady and her husband. their son has a Jboat and they were yankee sailors from port jefferson, new york. so that was amusing.
charleston itself, is as it always is, charming. the houses in the old town tend to be large and ornate. because of the heat/humidity most of the old houses have 
big porches... the big porches let people sleep outside during the summer months to help stay cool... most of them have screens and doors on the ends so that you have a modicum of privacy. all the houses porches all face the same direction so you have the garden and then the back of the other persons house to screen in the porch for privacy.
charleston is a southern city. it was the birthplace of secession and the first shots of the war were fired at sumter. the city still bears some of the scars from the siege which lasted three years. 
one of my favourite monuments is the Monument to the Defenders of Charleston at the Battery. the monument had to have been built in the 1920s or 1930s, because it just seems so pseudo-fascist... it's greek allegorical and just seems sort of fascist to me... just the style of sculpture reminds me of some of the italian fascist/futurist sculptures in the 1920s...
a fun thing to do in charleston is to drink. because there are lots of bars. one of the nice things is the rooftop bars off of Bay Street. the best is at the market-pavillion inn. right at the corner of market street and bay street. there is another one that is alright at vendu inn. its actually two levels of bar
on the roof. i went there during dead week senior year of college and then when we were there this time with the limeys off the boat.
the last photo here is george washington... its in washington park which is just off from the four courts. the corner of the street where the city hall, one of the churches, the federal courthouse, and state courthouse all meet. i kinda lile to call it the apotheosis of washington... sure, i realize that the apotheosis of washington is also the name of a fresco in the capitol dome... but i think it fits for this picture... just cause well, the angle of the sun almost gives washington a halo, and he's framed with oak branches.
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