We spent 9 days in Charleston at the beginning of December prior to our journey back north for the holidays. We intended, and largely succeeded, to catch a bit of “Charleston Christmas glow” in the form of theatre, light shows, parades, and shopping.
The Black Fedora Comedy Mystery Theatre put on a Santa Claus mystery entitled “Kris Kross”. There were only 4 actors and no stage. They took “volunteers” from the audience to fill out the parts and acted out the play in the middle of the tables we were sitting around. Both Suzanne and I were conscripted into parts. The whole thing was a riot.
One has to go to Fort Sumter to understand the history of Charleston as this is where the first shot of the Civil War was fired. The fort is on a man-made island that is strategically located at the mouth of Charleston harbor. No ship could come in or out of the harbor without passing by the fort. We took a boat out to the island and enjoyed a National Park Ranger led tour of the fort that was quite informative and interesting. A must-do for firstime visitors. We intended to tour the WWII aircraft carrier Yorktown, but just ran out of time.
The colonial part of Charleston is absolutely beautiful and chocked full of Revolutionary and Civil War history. Many of the houses and buildings date back to the 18th century. We took a walking tour with a native who had an enormous amount of personal insight and family history in old Charleston. For much of the 100 years that straddled the Revolutionary War, Charleston was the most wealthy city on the continent. It was a curious combination of religious tolerance, devotion to slavery, and commerce. Later in the week we attended a special evening tour of the Edmondston-Alston House that provided a lot of insight into the internal debate in South Carolina just prior to succession from the Union. There is a lot of history in Charleston and even after 150 years, there still seems to be hard feelings.
One evening we went to James State Park to see the renowned light show. We were not prepared for the sheer scope of decorations and activities. It included a 2 or 3 mile drive though a continuous progression of lighted displays illustrating everything from earthworms to space flight. There was a carnival in the middle of driving loop that was had huge theatre-like shows set to Christmas tunes. We were there on a school night and the place was mobbed with parents and kids. Our pictures don’t do it justice – just a few samples of what we saw.
We spent much of the week Christmas shopping at the downtown market, catching up on unfinished business, and enjoying the outdoors. To sum up our visit: It is a wonderful place with great weather. Southern hospitality is real and on display every day.
