November 15, 2012 Charleston, South Carolina

It was a cold rainy day. Charleston is a historic elegant town. It was built in the 1700’s. Most of the old buildings are still in use. There are no high rise buildings, the highest buildings are the church steeples. It feels like stepping back in time.

 

King street with the colorful old buildings. Sweet grass baskets. These were a traditional basket the slaves made, an art brought over with them from Africa. They are bound with strips of palmetto leaves.

A bicycle air pump seen on the campus of the college of Charleston. This building is the beginning of the old city market, it is blocks of open air stalls with people selling jewelry, food, baskets etc.

The old exchange house was where commerce on the wharves took place, important government meetings took place, and a grand hall for meetings and balls were held. It was built by the British  in 1771 when the area was still part of the colonies. The basement was used to store goods, cotton, indigo, rice etc. During the  revolutionary war, after the British seized the city back it was used as a prison, called the dungeon. Above are some pirates that were kept there once, before they were hung.

At the pirate exhibit here are two female pirates, Anne and Mary. Broad street seen from the exchange.

Grand mansions on  East Bay street and Battery street- where they face the water.

White point gardens is at the end of the peninsula. This statue to the confederate defenders is there. Lots of sweeping old oaks.

Water front park and the intricate fountain in the park.

The fire station had a Dalmatian out front. The civil war submarine the H.L Hunley. It sunk a ship blockading the harbor, but sunk itself in the process. This is a scale replica of it. The real one is in Charleston, but it is only open on weekends.