Note: This is a continuation of the previous post (if you want to see it, go back to read/view "A magical square mile". You’ll discover some history not covered here and see some really beautiful images.
I was tempted to make this post just a pictorial guide of the one square mile I mapped out in Charleston but I want to share just a few thoughts.
Thought 1. Charleston is super-charged Southern eye candy. While I barely scratched the surface, I hereby attest to the fact that Charleston is in many parts stunningly picturesque, even at its simplest.
Thought 2. Both Savannah and Charleston are old world meets new world - but Charleston blends slower-paced southern living with a dash of Beverly Hills. A good chunk of this one square mile offers “sophisticated” shopping. At King Street and thereabouts, there seemed to be a modest infusion of Rodeo Drive.
See the palm trees, sophisticated (and not) shopping and blue skies? Those are a few parallels to Rodeo Drive that I perceived.
Now, I do confess to seeing something one doesn’t witness everyday - a mother walking with her two happy-go-lucky children, holding the hand of one and with the other hand holding an Apple computer. In this day of rampant, unadulterated crime largely committed by violent, fatherless child-adults raised by “strong” women and shared on X (Twitter)1 for your viewing displeasure, it was heart-warming to see the site below.
This building is definitely worthy of Beverly Hills.
Perhaps I should have been strolling Fort Sumter or visiting two handfuls of museums, many within walking distance. But it was late afternoon and we had just checked in so were anxious to walk.
We stayed at The Vendue, an art hotel located in Charleson’s French Quarter. How much cleaner and safer is this French Quarter than the one I have been to countless times in New Orleans? It occurs to me that we barely saw any police officers! Here are a few snaps of the Vendue’s rooftop bar and restaurant.
As noted, the town is also old world. There are hundreds of historic structures and old homes.
Here are a few snaps of the absolutely stunning and historic St. Philips Episcopal Church built in 1836. The spire was completed in 1850.
If my post-trip reading is correct, St. Philip’s was part of a breakaway group of Episcopal churches in South Carolina that retained both its property and its diocese name after leaving the U.S. Episcopal Church in 2015. The church maintains historical Christianity and biblical views on marriage.
History is so evident as you see in the cobblestone street below. It pained me not to walk over, introduce myself and see if I couldn’t score a portrait session.
As a photographer, I’m both smitten and jealous of the ambience and slightly more favorable climates of Charleston and Savannah. I feel I could make a killing, especially as a photographer of senior highs, couples and families. Not that I’m capable of charging market-based prices.
Here are a few more images…
I have to qualify my findings as we only stayed there two nights and 1.5 days (late afternoon arrival and a trip to a nearby plantation), but it was just a wonderful visit. Thank you, Charleston!
One square mile. Easily understood. You walk a mile, turn left, walk a mile and turn left, walk a mile and turn left, and then walk another mile right back to where you began.
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Images taken with a #Fujifilm GFX100S and #Kiev 60.
All images © Scott Edwards, 2024.
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Editorial note: I’m a fan of an uncensored X (Twitter), even with the hundreds and hundreds of documented crimes one can see with the slightest of searches. Recent work by journalists including Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi well demonstrate how corruptly one-sided our government has become with controlling factual data and free-speech opinions.