Charleston, SC
 

My husband and I are thinking of taking a trip to Charleston, SC. No Children. We would like to see the beauty of some of the homes and take a walk around Battery Park area. Maybe a carriage ride. Any suggestions on what is a must see there and which tours are the best. Thanks.

I should have mentioned that it will be sometime in March or April.

The first place I would go once you hit town is the visitor's center on Meeting St. It is very well organized with lots of information on tours, home visits, plantation visits, an A/V show of the area etc. IIRC, it is in very close proximity to the history museum, which you might want to make stop #2. We have been to Charleston 6-8 times as a gateway to a SC beach vacation.

I seem to recall the musuem had lots of artifacts of clothing, china, silverware, etc. from old homes and the kids thought that was cool. Another must-see is the aquarium, which is in close proximity to harbor tours around Charleston. If you are into navy stuff, you will want to see the naval carriers in the harbor, they do tours of that as well.

You are going at a good time of the year, a horse and carriage ride would also be a lot of fun, something I wouldn't recommend in August. We have visited all the plantations and my favorite is the gardens of Magnolia. Don't bother with the house, not that great. If you want a neat house, Boone Hall would be my #2 choice and Drayton Hall #3.

I would recommend the Meeting Street Inn right on the Battery, very quaint and you shouldn't be running into a lot of children there (if that's an issue). TONS of great restaurant suggestions, can help with that when you narrow your choices. Good Luck!

I agree about the visitor's center. They can help you get oriented. I always recommend new visitors take a carriage ride early so that you can get your bearings and understand some of the history. All of the carriage companies do a good job. March and April are very busy months so you may want to book soon. Many of the tours get booked up too. All of the gardens will be in full flush-it's a great time to be here.

There are lots of great hotels so if you give us a budget we can help you narrow it down, but understand it's not cheap. There are world class restaurants here-be sure to get shrimp and grits.

Doing a search on this board will turn up a lot of good information on Charleston. Would recommend this idea highly.

The museum aliska is describing sounds like the Charleston Museum, and if you like history and natural history museums, it's well worth a visit. I found the aquarium okay, though there are better ones in the US.

For plantations, I best liked the house at Drayton Hall and the gardens at Middleton Place. I thought the gardens at Middleton were better manicured and more impressive than those at Magnolia Plantation, which were nice enough if rather shaggy. One wouldn't go to Drayton for its grounds, to my way of thinking, but I liked its house notably better than those at Magnolia and Middleton -- though of course the original house here survived the Civil War intact while the houses at the other two places did not.

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I agree with bachslunch about the plantations. I think Drayton is a must see. the house is beautiful and the tour was really good.

There are a number of house museums in downtown Charleston, and we went to 4 of them. The Nathaniel Russell house, which is down on the battery was my favorite, and the battery is a great area for just walking around and looking at the gorgeous architecture and gardens. The Heyward Washington house was also quite interesting.

We took the Gullah tour as well, which was a van tour that emphasized the African-American history of Charleston. This was a fun tour, but I was a little disappointed that it didn't stop more. We learned a lot, and saw quite a bit of the city, but I thought we'd get out and walk around some of the sights, and we didn't really do that, except for the Simmons workshop (he designed and forged many of the spectacular iron gates you will see). So it was more of an overview tour. Still, Alphonso Brown is a very interesting guide and it was a good time.