December 6: Charleston, South Carolina, to Fayetteville, North Carolina

I had never visited Charleston and have heard many people praise the place. So I drove to the Visitor Center and bought a small walking guide to the old city. The day was bright and sunny. But cold, expecially when the wind was blowing. The "trolleys" are free downtown so I took one to a waterfront park to start my walk about 10:00 am. The view from the park was of the harbor and southeastward out to the Atlantic Ocean. This was my first direct view of the Atlantic after the long drive east from Salt Lake City. In the photo below, way out on the horizon and hardly visible is Fort Sumpter.

 

The walk through the old city was nice in the sun, cold in the shade. All of the old houses that date from the late 1700s to the Civil War period have been restored. This would be a fun place to walk through in the spring and fall or summer evenings. But living in this old part of the city now requires onsiderable wealth. Parked in the tiny driveways (that have replaced old gardens) were many BMWs, Jaguars, and other high end autos. This makes sense as the cost of restoring any one of these houses must have been at least a half million dollars. So the old city of Charleston is now a high end community for the well-to-do. During the period from the 1880s to about 1930 this city was a port and many of these houses were operated as brothels as the guide book points out. So the city of landed gentry, wealthy plantation owners, and shipping merchants had declined to a pretty sleazy place and has now returned again to its roots as a place for the wealthy.

I did enjoy the walk with the guide book descriptions of the history and architecture of about 90 houses, churches, and public buildings. I walked back to the Visitor Center, the total walk having been about 3 miles. I left the parking lot about 2:00 pm and headed north toward North Carolina. Hoping to actually gain some distance today I stayed on I-95 all the way to Fayetteville where I arrived at dusk.