As part of my trek down south I’ve decided to spend a couple of days in Charleston. I’ll be staying in the downtown historic district on the corner of Calhoun/Market St., arriving on Thursday afternoon and leaving pretty early Sunday morning. What must I see and do during my short time there and what should I skip? I’m not the beach or the outdoor type. I’m more interested in the historic stuff. I’ll also be looking for reasonably priced casual dining.
I’m pretty sure I want to do Fort Sumpter, and maybe a mansion or plantation, and a little shopping.
We just had a thread about this not too long ago, if you want to search for it.
You must have a bowl of she-crab soup during your visit. It’s required by law.
Slainte will be along eventually, but there’s an Irish pub downtown called Tommy Condon’s, that’s pretty good. For ribs, visit Sticky Fingers. You won’t be sorry.
You might also take a carriage ride through downtown. Be careful if it rains during your visit…downtown is below sea level, and unless they’ve fixed it, it floods horribly when it rains.
Middleton Plantation’s beautiful. I like Drayton Hall too.
The Aiken Rhett house fits the historically interesting bill.
If you hit it on a Sat morning, you can wander over to the farmers market and grab a reasonably priced and delicious brunch from the Crepe Stand.
Yum.
Other great, cheap food include G&M on Broad St, a quirky little cheap French place (just ask where Fast&French is), burritos at Juanita Greenbergs on upper King Street, there are lots of others.
Let me know what type of food you like and I’ll give you the paper’s reasonably priced favorites.
Oh yeah, Gaulart and Maliclet Fast & French, on 98 Broad Street! I have their menu right here. Nice place, and CHEAP! I also had the best mussels EVER at 39 Rue De Jean, obviously located on 39 John St… We had lunch there, and the lunch menu was quite reasonably-priced. A place called Joseph’s had terrific po’ boy sandwiches, including a great softshell crab po’ boy. The shellfish everywhere is awesome: oysters, crabcakes, shrimp and grits. You can’t go wrong eating in Charleston!
I was just up in Charleston for a wedding less than a month ago, and I got a lot of good advice from fellow Dopers. AllShookDown, It was my first time there too, and we actually stayed at the Holiday Inn on the corner of Calhoun and Meeting! You’re in for a treat if you’re staying there–Kevin, the concierge, if the most friendly, helpful, energetic person you’ll ever meet, and he knows everything there is to know and do in Charleston.
Once you get to your hotel, you shouldn’t have to drive anywhere. The historic downtown district is fine to walk through, and quite safe, even at night. However, you may want to pay for a rickshaw ride if you’re tired or in a hurry. You’ll definitely want to check out all the beautiful old mansions, and while we didn’t make it to Fort Sumter, I’m sure it is worthwhile.
Thanks for the advice so far. Big Bad Voodoo Lou, I’ve read a lot of glowing reviews of that Holiday Inn…one of them mentioned that conceierge…maybe it was yours? It also had the best rate of any of the nicer downtown hotels.
I’m not a very adventurous eater but I’m not so bad that I’d resort to eating something I can get at home. I’m not sure what I’d like, either. I read that breakfast at the Hominy Grill is good and was thinking of giving that a try.
What kind of attire is appropriate for these restaurants? I’m not planning on taking anything but shorts, tank tops and short-sleeved shirts and a light jacket. Will that be appropriate for most places?
Also, can anyone recommend a not-too-touristy bar in the Calhoun/Meeting St. area where a woman traveling alone can go after dark and make it back to the hotel safely?
sidle, the farmers market sounds great. Where’s that located?
I’m sure I’ll have more questions as I do more research.
ivylass gives pretty good recommendations, as does everyone else in this thread.
Sticky Fingers (on Meeting St) does indeed serve good ribs. You almost can’t go wrong eating in Charleston. I also like Poogan’s Porch (Queen St, I think). Southend Brewery & Smokehouse has great beer and food (East Bay St).
AllShookDown, you’d probably enjoy a carriage tour or one of the walking tours (ghost tour, pirate tour, etc.) there are lots of brochures available almost everywhere you go downtown.
Hope you enjoy your trip.
On a very surreal note, I went on a blind date once with Kevin, the concierge at Holiday Inn. That, I do not recommend.
For the places I mentioned, you’d be fine in shorts, except for maybe Poogan’s Porch. I’d say your attire would be okay in a lot of places downtown.
If it’s still open, Lite Affair on the Square is a bar right around that area. The Holiday Inn is across from Calhoun Square, which is where the bar is and also where the farmers market is, I believe.
[Hijack]
Much weirdness there. Probably the worst date I’ve ever been on. He does indeed live & breathe his job, so I guess it figures that he’s good at it. Anyway, he spent the evening telling me about his ex-fiancée drama, another date he’d been on recently (crude beyond belief when it came to details) and that he moved to Charleston because the ratio was 8 women to every 1 man. I couldn’t wait for the night to be over. I’m glad to hear that he was a better concierge than he was a date.
Used to spend a lot of time at the Isle of Palms, but there’s not much left (as compared to early 80’s) after the last hurricane slammed into there. Had a lot of good weekends drinking in the beach bars. We would always stop in for fresh fish & shrimp (in Mt Pleasant) on the way home and throw it on the grill. Fell in love with grilled grouper while living there.
Also had a fun afternoon touring the 60’s vintage aircraft carrier (can’t remember it’s name). Still amazes me how something that massive can float.
I see the Spoleto festival will be going on while I’m there. How do you pronounce Spoleto? Also, Piccolo Spoleto? Is piccolo prounounced the same as the musical instrument?
If you’re a history buff you may want to take in the Patriot’s Point Naval and Maritime Museum. I went there with a buddy of mine (his parents lived in Charleston) in the mid-eighties. At the time they had a WW II-era aircraft carrier (the USS Yorktown), a WW II-era submarine, a Coast Guard cutter and a WW II-era destroyer. We only had time to tour the Sub and the A/C carrier.
The submarine impressed me the most. Both of us were fairly tall and several times we narrowly missed cold-cocking ourselves on the exposed pipes and other stuff hanging from the “overhead” (never say “ceiling” within earshot of a sailor – it gives them convulsions ;)). You could’ve measured our progress in our tour by the dull Klunk of our skulls bonking against something we missed because we were trying to avoid colliding with that other thing, much good it did us. The captain’s quarters and the dining facilities combined have less walkabout room than my minivan. What a study in contrasts it was to go through the sub in about 20 minutes (probably less) and then spend most of the rest of the day wandering around the cavernous interior of the Yorktown. I mean, the Yorktown had engines as big as the sub! There was also some sort of navigation (or possibly it was a gunnery) computer. The whole thing was an analog/mechanical device and it was HUGE! (Yeah, and heavy, too!) Once again, I use my minivan as a measurement tool, and guess (if memory serves) that it was about as long and wide, half as high, and weighed at least a few tons more than my daily conveyance.
Of course, if that sort of thing doesn’t interest you, then give it a miss.
Yes, Farmers Market is right at the corner of Meeting and Calhoun too.
Very cool.
If you’re staying at the Holiday Inn, Lite Affair would be a good stop. There are other suitable watering holes depending on your location-let us know when you have a place-it’s tough during the Spoleto rush!
I’m staying at the Holiday Inn for sure. I’ll check out Lite Affair. What I’d really like is a neighborhood type bar but I’m sure the touristy historic district is the wrong place to be looking for that. I read about one bar on Bay Street (I think) that has a rooftop view of the city but it sounded too fancy for unfancy me.
I’ll have to take a regular tour boat to get out to Sumter but this looks really fun and I’m going to try to get reservations. I hope the weather is good.
Do you think there will be good tomatoes at the farmer’s market by June 5? I may have to devise a plan to bring a bunch home with me. Something I saw on the Spoleto site made me think they have the farmer’s market every day during Spoleto but the farmer’s market site didn’t mention it. Anybody know for sure?
I still haven’t decided which plantation/mansion I want to do but there’s plenty of time for that.
Can’t wait to hear what you thought!
Tomatoes are indeed prime right now, especially if paired with some fresh basil and mozzerella.
(Did I spell that right?)
