Charleston

We took the Amtrak Silver Star down from Washington, DC. to Charleston.  It is a nice overnight
ride through some pretty country.  You get to Charleston about 8 a.m.  You can have breakfast
on the train starting at 6:30 a.m., and be well fed and ready for a full first day in this wonderful town.

It has been our privilige to stay in some nice hotels over the years, but no place any nicer than the
Wentworth Mansion in Charleston.  Only a couple dozen rooms, the Mansion has beautiful wood,
marble fireplaces,  huge bathrooms with jacuzzi tubs, and, best of all, serves a breakfast to die for.
Total hospitality.  Always a pitcher of lemonade in the parlor in the afternoon, along with some goodies.
Old Port in the study for those who like a sip or two.  A cupola on top with spectacular views of the
city.   You can easily walk from the Wentworth to everything in the old city.  If you want to see some
plantations, the tour van picks you up at the door.  When you want to go to dinner, a bicycle rickshaw
whisks you off, and comes to get you when you are done.

If you go to Charleston,  stay at the Wentworth.  For more, click HERE.

Below is a shot from inside our Wentworth room, and one of us out in the front garden entrance.

DINING

Charleston is a great town for dining.  We are vegetarians, which always presents challenges when travelling. If you are a meat eater, loads of sea food restaurants and great cuisine.  If you are a vegetarian (and even if you are not) here are some terrific restaurants we enjoyed while in Charleston.

Blossom Cafe

Bocci's

Hominy Grill

Andolini's Pizza

Sermet's Corner

HISTORIC HOMES

There are many nice historic homes to visit in Charleston.
Among those we have visited and recommend are the following:

Aiken-Rhett House:  This home is very different from the others.  Most of the historic homes have been carefully and beautifully restored.  The Aiken-Rhett is at first a bit of a shock because there is very little restoration and even less furniture.  Wallpaper hangs loose in some rooms.  You start in a somewhat dingy looking basement. But very soon you find that this is a treasure.  A self-guided tour with one of those audio cassette things takes you into each room and gives you a marvelous history.  This house is the only one inside the city with original slave quarters and there is some great narration on the cassette for that part of the tour.  You get a much better feel for how daily life was conducted than you do at many of the other homes.  We liked this one a lot.

Edmonton-Alston House:  A very classy and well restored place.  One of the more interesting tour guides we listened to was here.  Beautiful furniture and art work.

Heyward-Washington House:  George Washington slept here.  An informative tour.

Joseph Manigault House:  Another favorite.  Very lovely grounds and some good information.

MUSEUMS

Charleston is filled with history from both the American Revolution and the Civil War.
If you want to see the most of it in one very nice spot, visit the Charleston Museum.  We learned
a lot of interesting facts while wandering the many displays.  It's not a huge place,  and in an hour or two
you can get a deeper appreciation of life in earlier days.

If you like art (and we do),  there is a wonderful little place called the Gibbes Museum.

WALKS and TOURS

We didn't do any walking tours this trip, but Charleston Walks comes highly recommended, and offers a
variety of walk venues.

One very nice walk for us was through the campus of College of Charleston.  Just dripping with history and Spanish moss, this shady place is a cool spot to veg out for a while.  A hang out, noted above under
restaurants, is Andolini's Pizza.  It's very close to the Wentworth Mansion and does a fine New York style pizza.  Nothing fancy.

Below are a couple shots we took at a nice spot on the College of Charleston campus.