We ate at the Triple D-recommended Cantina Fuel for lunch. I had a cucumber & vodka drink and jerk chicken sandwich. Mary had a jerk chicken salad and boiled peanuts. We both proclaimed it excellent. The restaurant was in a converted gas station – hence the name and the décor. Our waitress was so sweet, I had to take a photo with her.
We drove over to the historic district visitor Center. Charleston does visitor center right! Mary proclaimed it the best one she has ever seen. We got an historic district map and headed to Broad Street for our self-guided tour.
We walked down King Street to the Battery, along the Battery, and then back up Church Street, looking at all the historic houses, and snapping lots of photos. What surprised me the most was that the houses were revolutionary war - 1730 to 1790 - rather than Civil-War-era or even Victorian. They were mostly Federalist style with a little Greek Revival thrown in. And something they call "Charleston style," which I think might mean Gregorian. There was also a smattering of Roccoco detailing here and there. The right top photo below is one of the oldest houses in Charleston and when we walked by a young couple was having their engagement photo taken in front of the house. On the bottom left you can see the fake front door from the side.
I learned that: (a) the town used to be called Charles Town, (b) they had fake front doors that only open onto their open porches which is where the real front door is, (c) the first floor has solid shutters and the upper two floors have louvered shutters, and (d) Charleston gives out really cool plaques to their historic houses, and (e) that even though they are large enough to be multi-family homes or even live/work spaces, they were overwhelmingly built as single-family homes - often as second "city" homes for plantation owners. I really liked the round "key hole" filigree iron features many people had in their (usually) brick structures. The "key hole" also appeared as stained glass round windows in some homes. Mary was taken by the overly aggressive ironwork "barbs" installed above some iron fences. It did kind of look like some medieval torture instrument.
We were both impressed by how much use they got out of tiny, little lawns. I was particularly impressed by the flowering tree with two completely different colored blossoms.
Mary was not feeling well and didn't want to see City Market, but we ended up there any way and found an ice cream shop. Charleston's City Market looks a lot like New Orleans French Market, but narrower. At its western end, it is anchored by a large mausoleum-type building with many, many front steps and was built by the Daughters of the Confederacy. Mary had pecan praline ice cream and I had peach. Both wonderful - and reviving.
We had wanted to drive over Charleston's Cooper River Bridge - a cable suspension bridge. But we ran out of energy that day. However, due to being unfamiliar with their streets, I ended up driving over it twice any way. It is even more impressive close up. We took lots of photos.
We had planned to go to Duke's for South Carolina mustard and vinegar BBQ, but Mary didn't feel well and went to sleep about 7:30 pm. I drove over and got some fried chicken (they were all out of pulled pork) take-out and ate it in the camper because there were thousands of biting gnats at our campsite.
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