Fodor's Expert Review Two Meeting Street Inn

She’s a belle of the local B&B ball. One of only a handful of Victorian buildings in Charleston, Two Meeting Street Inn is an immaculately preserved 1892 Queen Anne-style mansion complete with arched piazzas, grand colonnades, balustrades, a turret, and two original Tiffany stained glass windows. Inside, antiques and period pieces make you feel like you’re in a bygone era, with the hospitable staff serving as your gracious hosts. The inn is steeped in romance (the home was built by a wealthy merchant as a wedding gift to his daughter), making it a hotspot for honeymooners, and overlooks the affluent South Battery Street and White Point Garden, with Charleston Harbor just visible from the rockers on the ground-floor piazza.

YOU SHOULD KNOW You won’t be able to book online. All reservations are made over the phone so the concierge can help plan your perfect trip, from booking the right room to lining up dinner reservations and time-efficient day-trips.

Photo: Carrington Room: a Victorian room on the second floor

room

Six of the nine guest rooms boast 12-foot ceilings and a fireplace and/or access to a private veranda; the rooms on the top floor are smaller (and more affordable), with eight-foot ceilings. All are dressed in Victorian-era antiques or reproductions, with comfy canopied four-poster beds and heavy drapes that block light and noise. Still, modern amenities like iPhone docks, TVs, and Wi-Fi keep you connected during your stay.

Our favorite is The Williams Room. Built as the mother-in-law suite, the spacious digs have a working fireplace, a private veranda that overlooks the yard’s 115-year-old live oak, and a spacious bathroom with original marble, tile, and brass fixtures.

Photo: Carrington Room: a Victorian room on the second floor

bathroom

Two bathrooms feature original marble and ball-and-claw tubs; all others are updated with walk-in showers. Gilchrist and Soames products add a luxe touch to shower-time, while waffle-weave bathrobes help keep you cool in Charleston’s steamy summers.

Photo: Dining Room

lobby

Guests lounge, read the morning’s newspaper, and chat in the ground floor’s elegant yet homey sitting room and on the property’s sweeping piazzas.

YOU SHOULD KNOW The antique furnishings are clean and comfortable, but definitely old-fashioned in terms of aesthetics.

Photo: Dining Room

dining

A homemade hot breakfast—such as crème brûlée French toast—is served daily in the dining room, courtyard, or on the piazza. Guests can also request to have breakfast delivered to their room. From 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., afternoon tea is served alongside sweet and savory light bites.

Take your tea and hors d’eouvres out to the piazzas. Sit back in a rocker and wait for the horse-drawn carriage tours to clip-clop by.

drinking

In the evenings, sip some complimentary post-supper sherry with fellow guests.

gardens

A landscaped courtyard is located to the side of the inn, tucked beneath the shade of a sprawling live oak tree covered in resurrection fern. The rest of the lawn is immaculate, as well, with sweet paths and native plants throughout.