Downtown – Charleston, South Carolina
Walking along the water one quickly gets the sense of the close connection Charleston has with the coast and ocean waterways.
The Old Exchange is among many landmark quality buildings that give Charleston its distinctive character.
As we walked through Charleston what was lacking in street level activity, was made up for in architectural detailing and building fabric.
Metalwork is both functional and decorative, enriching the public realm.
This entrance archway and the mature tree canopy overhead create a delightful sense of enclosure for this public space. The effect of this and the pavers is to draw the viewer in.
A visit to the Shops of the Historic Charleston Foundation gave an opportunity to explore a little further through some of their exhibits and to do a little shopping. One panel provided a particularly descriptive overview of Charleston’s decline in the years leading up to the Civil War. Among the contributing factors were collapse of rice industry when cheaper sources from colonies in the East Indies began producing enough to undercut American prices. Charleston also became isolated from up-country Carolinas because of local family ties, city traditions, and a social, pleasurable approach to life condemned by Carolinians with stricter religious views.
Isolation from Europe and the North by the institution of slavery was another factor. The city decreed that free black merchant seamen would be imprisoned during their ships’ stay. Fewer and fewer ships called at Charleston, and the port lost its position to other cities.
“An increasingly closed city, Charleston was nonetheless threatened from within. The whites feared a slave rebellion; a mounted police force was established and the City Guard was strengthened. When the Civil War began, Charleston was cut off completely as Union forces blockaded the harbor and unleashed the longest bombardment in the history of the war.”
Against this backdrop the preservation story began, for decline laid the conditions for historic buildings to be rediscovered.
The United States Post Office is an excellent example of the Second Renaissance Revival style.
Dock Street Theater is home of the Spoleto Festival.
