It would be difficult to choose a favorite old south city, but Charleston would be in the running. We decided to do another historic city tour but this time, we decided to do it in style…..a horse drawn carriage! There are several companies offering this option, but we went with Old South Carriage Company, mainly because of their horses, retired Amish plow horses. They were all beautiful and HUGE – their backsides towered over our heads! Our horse was “Ricky” and he loved standing at the water bucket and splash people as they passed by…..who knew, a horse with a sense of humor!
On our tour, we learned interesting facts about the history of Charleston and saw many of their beautiful buildings and gardens.
A point of interest in Charleston (especially for Marj and me) was the four block, indoor city market, housing many local venders with various wares for sale. On our souvenir radar for Charleston was finding a genuine gullah sweetgrass basket. It didn’t take us long to find Linda who was a gullah weaver with 64 years of basketry experience and exceptional talent as her baskets were a much smaller and tighter weave. A bonus, was her sweet, bubbly personality. When we took her picture she wanted us to send them to her! So here is Linda!
The city market, inside and out……
This is a typical home style prevalent in Charleston. The homes are one room wide with the front door half way down on the veranda side of the house. The reason for this original design was so the breeze could most easily come down the street and circulate through the entire house.
This is The Old Charleston Jail. It was operational from 1802 – 1932. Attached was an insane asylum. It was reported that more than 13,000 people found their way in but never came out!
While here, Howie and I made a run to a couple of beaches, Folly Beach and Kiawah Island.
As we left Charleston, we crossed this beautiful bridge over the Cooper River.
Our next stop? Wilmington, North Carolina. The hot and steamy weather seems to be following us northward but we have been having mostly sunny skies.
Stay tuned and Happy Trails!
Ramblin' Rosie 