We are heading to Charleston this weekend for a family wedding. We have free time from noon on Friday to mid afternoon on Saturday. We’ve never been there and I’ve heard its a great city. Please share any suggestions for fun things to do.
Maybe this will help
2 Likes
We were there in March. We wandered around the historic district, went to Ft Moultrie- had an excellent guide, went to the Hunley submarine exhibit- had two men give us outstanding talks and we also went to McLeod Plantation which is just outside the city. This plantation is owned by the county and they didn’t sugar coat anything. Lots to do in Charleston but it depends on your interests. Great restaurants everywhere.
1 Like
Take a carriage tour of the historic area, lots of fun. Fort Sumter is an important place to see. The Hunley is great as well.
2 Likes
Historic downtown. Walk to the battery. See campus- you’re a block away when downtown. Go see the Cistern.
Mt Pleasant, over the Ravenel Bridge, has nice beaches including Isle of Palms. Going South, you have Folly Beach with a cool little town.
If you’re like my son and love planes, Boeing is there next to the airport and has lots of international planes getting ready to be delivered. My son loves to check that out.
If you’re a foodie and like Southern, there’s countless restaurants. Not Southern but my daughter loves Le Farfelle, where they have a lot of high end campus events. Good restaurants in Mt Pleasant too.
Have fun.
1 Like
Middleton Place and Drayton Hall are two plantations that are really interesting to see.
2 Likes
Enjoy your time. Lots to do and eat here.
Make any dining reservations now if you can. It is Citadel Graduation Weekend here. And lots of families in town moving CoC kids out of apartments after finals.
Weather has been great. Depending on where you are coming from if you want to head to the beach, traffic will be heavy from Friday afternoon until Sunday headed out to the islands. Go early.
Over estimate time needed getting to the wedding venues if driving from hotel.
1 Like
Funny you say that - I’m headed on the 9 hour trek tomorrow !! Going through Augusta/Atlanta and not Asheville this time. The I40 and I26 on both sides of Asheville were disastrous last month when I went.
Glad to hear the weather is good. Windy and cold in Nashville today.
2 Likes
There are multiple historical societies in Charleston (and I can’t keep all of them straight). The Historic Charleston Foundation, here, https://www.historiccharleston.org/ , offers several tours of historic homes such as the Aiken-Rhett House and the Nathaniel Russell House; my wife and I have gone on several of these tours, and have enjoyed them. (We have also learned that there is a difference between historic preservation, and restoration; but don’t ask me for the details!) There is the Preservation Society of Charleston, here, https://www.preservationsociety.org/ , and the South Carolina Historical Society, here, https://schistory.org/ ; the latter two are near the Gibbes Museum of Art, here, https://www.gibbesmuseum.org/. I think that all three of these organizations have brick-and-mortar stores; I know that I have purchased things from the Historic Charleston Foundation store, and from at least one of the others.
There is also shopping on King Street and High Street; and, as noted elsewhere, many good restaurants. There is also a covered market with many small stores, in central Charleston, as I recall. I enjoyed the Fort Sumter tour when my wife and I took it a few years ago.
My favorite beach in the area is at Isle of Palms, which is over a causeway from Charleston; arrive early to get public parking there.
1 Like
I recommend dinner at R Kitchen. It is the definition of a hole in the wall. It will depend on who is cooking that night, but DW and I went twice. Once was fairly good. The other was one of the best dining experiences we have had.
1 Like
We had outstanding walking history tour with Two Sisters tour guides. There are various historic homes you can pay to enter and tour, a slave market and museum and sooo many great restaurants. make sure you have dinner reservations ahead of time.
1 Like
These are great suggestions. I’m already regretting that we won’t have more time there. We’re all set for dinners, but any good ideas for breakfast/lunch places?
Where are you going for dinner?
Lunch with a few Breakfast/Brunch spots -
Butcher and Bee
Rodney Scott’s BBQ -James Beard Winner, HGTV judge
Fleet Landing (great view, good food and they have lunch reservations)
Home team BBQ - multiple locations - local place
Glass Onion
Three Little Birds (local place, yummy breakfast, lunch)
Marina Variety Store Restaurant (locals, views for days, comp your parking, bring in your ticket from the marina parking lot.
And honestly - for Breakfast at anytime -the
Waffle House by the Round holiday Inn -fave of Anthony Bourdain before his passing and Stephen Colbert.
1 Like
Page’s Okra Grill in Mt Pleasant is worth a visit and then go across the causeway to the beaches on Sullivan Island and Isle of Palms.
1 Like
We’re there for a wedding so the dinners are taken care of at private clubs.
2 Likes
I think southern Living wrote that restaurant up as the best in SC. I have not been.
We just got back from a wonderful weekend. We didn’t have as much free time as I would have liked. We walked all over the place. My great great great grandfather was from Charleston and fought for the south in the Civil War. We found his house and the great folks at the Charleston Library found his death certificate. It was all very interesting. Weather was more humid than we’d expected.
One more Charleston observation: so. many. bachelorette. groups!
2 Likes