Contrasts of Charleston

Chris Leadbeater finds contemporary culture, activities and dining amid three centuries of history

Some cities achieve the feat of living in both

the past and the present. Charleston is such a place. One of the oldest cities in the USA – and the oldest in South Carolina, founded in 1670 – it sings of yesteryear with a melody that few locations can match. To stroll its streets, where glorious antebellum mansions rise in leafy gardens and antique wrought-iron streetlights illuminate your path, is to see more than three centuries of history.

AFTERNOON STROLL

In a sense, it does not matter where you wander, only that you do (walking is easy and convenient in the city). Head south down East Battery and you will pass the Edmondston-alston House, a fine 19th-century property built by a wealthy merchant in 1825, where broad balconies stare out to sea. Continue, and you find yourself amid the whispering trees of White Point Garden, surveying the juncture where the Ashley and Cooper rivers – which have always been Charleston’s lifeblood – meet. Look south-east and gaze towards Fort Sumter, where the American Civil War began in 1861. Retrace your steps up Meeting Street and you might pause beneath the soaring spires of the First Scots Presbyterian Church, a neoclassical delight, constructed in 1814. It is one of the many such buildings that contribute to Charleston’s nickname of ‘the Holy City’.

CONTEMPORARY EDGE

The four million people who visit Charleston each year are not just restricted to yesterday. Modern joys abound, from five-star accommodation at Belmond Charleston Place to award-winning restaurants such as Hominy Grill for shrimp ’n’ grits, Hall’s Chophouse for Sunday Gospel Brunch and cocktails and jazz at Prohibition. Charleston knows how to peer back at former eras – but it delivers the 21st century with gusto as well.

Ocean colour Classic architecture fringes the city’s promenade; window boxes line a Charleston street, below