June 29, 2019, Charleston (SC)-

One of the most attractive features of any town or city is the way in which it displays colour-either in street art, botanic arrays, festivals or architecture.   The cultural center of South Carolina has all four.

I came here specifically to visit Fort Sumter, about which more in the next post.  What would keep me coming back are two things:  The warm reception at the north side’s Not So Hostel and the riot of colour, just about everywhere.

Not So Hostel keeps its promise.  Despite one passive-aggressive guest, the place was a serene compound and a fine place to climb to a top bunk and rest the night.

Driving in Charleston can be a bit dicey.   Maybe it’s the heat, or maybe the narrow streets, but Charleston’s motorists can be as nasty to one another as any in a much larger city.  That is one reason I enjoyed my two walks in the area.  First came North Charleston’s Riverfront  Park, the former Naval Base, on the banks of the Cooper River.  The preserved mansions then served as both residences and administrative quarters.

Artifacts of the Base’s active days are interposed with the flora, which Theodore Roosevelt had reportedly wanted removed, so as to keep the place in fighting trim.  The proper ladies of North Charleston had other ideas.

The poignancy of farewells and returns is equally captured, in this sculpture of a Navy family.

There are a few fountains, like this one, interspersed throughout the Charleston area, for people to cool themselves.  Those in downtown Charleston had many children doing so.

The Cooper River presented itself as a focal point for a morning’s contemplation.

The gardens have gradually been restored, thanks to North Charleston’s horticultural societies.

I headed downtown, after the Fort Sumter excursion, with the goal of walking to The Battery and back up King Street.  Downtown was suitably packed, on this Saturday afternoon.  I found quite a few people were interested in seeing St. Philip’s Church, but it was closed.

This is about as close as I got to Rainbow Row.

Along the Battery, houses were meant to provide for the many.

These days, the many take comfort by walking along Charleston Harbor.

The Battery’s gazebo was a haven for one family, in the heat, for nearly twenty minutes. I took this photo, once they moved on to a fountain.

This obelisk is one of several monuments to veterans of the nation’s conflicts.  Confederate monuments are among them.

Rainbow Row is emulated, here and there, along King Street.

 My last view of downtown Charleston was of Circular Congregational Church, which was founded in 1681 and is still in use.

NEXT:  Fort Sumter