Charleston Charm

I was often asked if I liked Savannah or Charleston better after I got home from our southern get away, and it was always a hard question to answer because I adore them both. But I think I would now have to go with Charleston, it is just too charming and it stole my heart. I know there are a lot of pictures in the post and believe me this isn't even half of what I took, everywhere you looked was an elegant photograph waiting to happen. We had a ball strolling up and down the little winding streets full of single houses (aka shotgun houses as I learned from my mom) I just love all of the colors and how happy everything looks!

Bethy and I of course were drawn like magnets to any animal that we saw. This little pup was my favorite, his name was Buster Brown, he was soooo cute!!! I wanted to steal him, mohawk and all.

The pineapple is a symbol of southern hospitality, which started with the Carib, who were the first ones to associated the pineapple with hospitality, the Spaniards soon learned they were welcome if a pineapple was placed by the entrance to a village. This symbolism spread to Europe, then to Colonial North America, where it became a custom to carve the shape of a pineapple into the columns at the entrance of a plantation. So it was fun walking down the streets and seeing all the ways people had incorperated pineapples or pineapple motifs into their architecture and decorating as with these fence posts. After learning the history behind this fun symbol and seeing it all over Charleston I was determined to take a southern pineapple home with me! I found the perfect one at a musuem store right across from our hotel, its white ceramic and just what I wanted!



























The men of the group doing what they do best, Reece looking stuff on his iphone and dad being so sweet and carrying my purse for me (I have this back issue and my purse irritates it after long periods of walking) holding his trusty map and waiting patiently at our destination since he always gets there way before us because we take such a long time because of all the pictures we are constantly taking.



















These dogs were amazing. They were ginormous and were in an antique store, I was amazed that the owner wasn't scared they would ruin the fragile things all over the store. They were very sweet though. He also randomly had parrots in there as well, I love antique stores, they all have such different personalities and character.







On our last night on our own in Charleston we ate at 82 Queen, which is absolute bliss. We dined on their garden patio and we were privileged enough to get the charming gazebo for our party, it made the whole meal very magical. For my main course I got the shrimp and grits, I figured I better get it while I can and it is such a southern dish. I can still taste how creamy the grits were, they were to die for, and the shrimp was in this BBQ type sauce that made it lip smackin' good, seriously to this day I can imagine perfectly the taste and texture of it, it was that memorable.

Southern Plantations

{ Drayton Hall }

While in Charleston we visited a couple of plantations which were absolutely stunning! The first one we visited was Drayton Hall. It is the oldest surviving example of Georgian Palladian architecture in the United States and one of the only pre - revolutionary houses that remains close to original condition today. The house was built for John Drayton begun in 1738 and completed in 1742.

The grounds were absolutely gorgeous! We also finally found out why the South is known as gater country. We had been looking for gaters wherever we went on the entire trip, we only found one that was randomly on the side of the road in the marsh. But after walking the grounds of Drayton Hall we found several little gaters in all of the pools all over the gardens, we were a little nervous of where the mama was hiding, but we found plenty of little babies, fascinating!




{ Middleton Place }


Next we made our way to Middleton Place, where a huge lunch buffet was waiting for us. It had all the traditional southern favorites, fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, corn bread, pulled pork and for dessert, southern pecan pie, I love southern cookin!









After we were completely stuffed with all the southern fixins we could ever want, it was time to tour the grounds of Middleton Place. They are ginormous, lush and spectacular! Below is an aerial view of the property to help demonstrate my point, it is just hard to describe it in words.

John Williams, an early South Carolina planter, probably began building Middleton Place in the late 1730s. His son-in-law Henry Middleton (1717–1784), who later served as President of the First Continental Congress , completed the house's main section and its north and south flankers, and began work on the elaborate gardens. Middleton's son, Arthur Middleton (1742–1787), a signer of The Declaration of Independence was born at Middleton Place, and resided at the plantation in the last years of his life.































Same story here as at Drayton Hall, Crocks in every single pool! Except here at Middleton Place, they were the big, scary ones!





I loved our field trips to these fabulous pieces of Southern history, I found their architecture and grounds just fantastic, I am now obsessed with anything Southern.