Lodging Charleston
Place Hotel
205 Meeting Street;
800.611.5545. $250 – $1,500 per
night John Rutledge
House Inn
116 Broad Street;
800.476.9741. $265 - $375 per night Mills House
Inn
115 Meeting Street;
800.874.9600. $99 - $600 per night Wentworth
Mansion
149 Wentworth Street;
888.466.1886. $315 - $695 per night
Dining Anson
12 Anson Street; 843.577.0551 Magnolia's
Uptown/Down South
185 East Bay Street; 843.577.7771 Peninsula
Grill 112 North Market Street;
843.723.0700 Slightly
North of Broad
192 East Bay Street; 843.723.3424
Shopping
for Antiques Carolina
Galleries
188 King Street; 843.723.2266 Chicora
Antiques
102 Church Street; 843.723.1711 Croghan's
Jewel Box
308 King Street; 843.723.3594 George C.
Birlant & Co. 191 King Street; 843.722.3842
A
heavy carpet of night sky redolent with magnolia blossoms
and memories of days gone by, Charleston evokes a decidedly
Rhett and Scarlett image in the minds of most Yankees. But
today's Charleston society ensures that this grand city
is not lost in a mire of nostalgia. Although its evocative
Georgian and Greek Revival architecture and signature genteel
manner remain, Charleston is now equally defined by a nouveau
Low-Country culinary scene, a world-renowned summer music
festival, and enough shopping, sailing, golfing and beach-hopping
to keep the season's Young Bright Things blissfully
ensconced in what one might call a very modern version of
Southern hospitality.
Memorial Day kicks off both summer and the Spoleto Festival
USA, unquestionably the most exciting 17 days in Charleston's
arts and social calendar. The sister to the festival held
in Italy, Charleston's Spoleto has come into its own
with world-class musical, theater and dance performances that
take over the downtown district. Festival planners spend the
entire year creating a 100-piece Spoleto Festival Orchestra,
producing four music series and three operas – not to
mention showcasing theater and dance luminaries from across
the globe. Buzz surrounding Spoleto can be heard in Charleston
throughout the year, but the excitement is palpable in the
May weeks leading up to the main event. Opera insiders have
been whispering about the staging of Don Juan's perennially
pleasing antics in the new production of Mozart's Don
Giovanni, while jazz aficionados have snapped up tickets
for Shirley Horn's performance. Reflecting the worldwide
resurgence of interest in the moody plays of Henrik Ibsen,
this year's Spoleto Festival features a much-anticipated
interpretation of A Doll's House.
Like all social seasons, however, there is one must-attend
event. The Spoleto Opening Weekend Gala, held this year on
May 28, is a tour de force of Southern society mingling, unforgettable
arts performances and a healthy dose of fine wine and cuisine.
This May, Broadway and film tap legend Savion Glover will
perform for an illustrious audience that will likely include
the Governor and his family, along with fellow prominent South
Carolinians. Considered the Opening Weekend Gala's hip,
younger sibling, the Spoleto Soiree on June 11 attracts the
young-and-lively set fresh off their debut into society. For
this season's Soiree, the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium
will be transformed into a backdrop for the performance of
contemporary dance sensation Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
and the ensuing night of revelry.
If the social events of Spoleto do not adequately display
the local emphasis on hospitality, nowhere is it more apparent
than in Charleston's astonishing selection of plush
hotels, inns and bed-and-breakfasts. Charleston Place is the
city's premier luxury hotel. With every possible amenity
and just enough charm to keep it on the right side of “quaint,”
the hotel attracts visiting glitterati and celebs alike. Mel
Gibson set up home at the hotel while filming The Patriot.
Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Streisand and even Prince Charles have
stayed over. Ideally located in the heart of downtown, the
hotel exudes sumptuousness from the horse-drawn carriage outside
to the spa with its retractable glass roofed indoor/outdoor
pool. And guests invariably opt for at least one evening in
to take dinner at the elegant Charleston Grill.
For visitors in search of the authenticity and charm of old
Charleston living, the downtown and historic districts abound
with landmark homes converted to inns. None matches the pedigree
of the John Rutledge House Inn on Broad Street, the prestigious
historic district's line of demarcation from the rest
of the city. Prominent local John Rutledge had served as one
of the Declaration of Independence's original signers.
Nearby is the Mills House Inn, whose antique (though refurbished)
grandeur reflects the antebellum manor house lifestyle of
its original owner, 1850s entrepreneur, Otis Mills.
Two of Charleston's historic inns seem made for little
other than romance. Two Meeting Street Inn overlooks the city's
most picturesque promenade, White Point Gardens, and the harbor.
The Wentworth Mansion radiates Gilded Age glamour and also
houses a local haute cuisine favorite, Circa 1886, in its
renovated carriage house.
Dining is an incomparable treat in Charleston, reflecting
both warm informality and old-world gentility. Easing one's
way into dinner with a sundowner is a beloved Southern ritual.
Locals know the idyllic views at Rooftop Restaurant and Bar
at the Vendue Inn offer a postcard-worthy backdrop for a cool
summer cocktail before getting serious about an evening repast.
Following a cocktail, foodies in search of classic regional
specialties like she-crab soup, fried alligator and other
marsh-water seafood often head to 82 Queen. Equally classic
but a touch more elegant, The Peninsula Grill is a must for
exquisite Continental dishes prepared with a nod to local
custom. Perhaps most exciting on the Charleston culinary scene
are local society favorite Anson, housed in a former ice factory;
casual but chic “it” spot Magnolia's Uptown/Deep
South; and Slightly North of Broad, referred to as S.N.O.B.
Between meals, four leisure activities define summer luxe
living in Charleston – golfing, sailing, antiquing and
visiting the area's lush gardens. Serious golfers swear
by the four unique pro-designed courses at the nearby Kiawah
Island Golf Resort. Avid sportsmen and women have been known
to be so captivated they never venture off the resort –
except perhaps to tour the greens at the Charleston National
Country Club in town. In the summer of 2004, the Sanctuary
at Kiawah Island, a 255-room luxury oceanfront resort and
spa, was added to the Golf Resort's 625 villas and luxury
homes. A Sanctuary highlight is its 12-room garden-themed
spa, offering treatments based on the ocean, maritime forest
and botanical gardens.
Charleston's peninsular landscape is but one of its
defining visual images. At the first hint of spring, the city
virtually becomes one expansive garden from its manicured
plantation estates to blooms overflowing onto the residential
sidewalks. A stroll through White Point Gardens is surpassed
only by a jaunt out to view the Versailles-inspired gardens
of Middleton Place. Equally splendorous is the Magnolia Plantation,
as much a historical site as it is a well-manicured garden.
Charleston's antiques market has always attracted the
most discerning of shoppers. King Street serves as the epicenter
of the city's antiquing. Two noteworthy King Street
estate jewelers offer baubles to satisfy even the most sophisticated
tastes – Croghan's Jewel Box and the all-consignment
Joint Venture Estate Jewelers. Nearby Carolina Galleries specializes
in pieces from Charleston's Renaissance Period of the
1920s and 30s. One of the city's oldest and most revered
institutions is George C. Birlant & Co., where interested
perusers can pick up not only local antique furniture but
special 18th- and 19th-century pieces imported from England.
Those looking for American furniture reflecting the often-austere
craftsmanship of Federal and Classical decorative objects
and furniture head directly to Chicora Antiques on Church
Street. A short stroll on Church Street, and antique book
enthusiasts find themselves at the Charleston Rare Book Co.,
where everyone interested in the region's history finds
something to take home.
Mementos aside, what all visitors invariably take away from
Charleston is a view onto, as Rhett put it as he said his
final good-bye to Scarlett, “the calm dignity life can
have when it's lived by gentle folks, the genial grace
of days that are gone.” Languid days fading into long
summer nights in Charleston still have the power to convince
even the most world-weary cosmopolitans that at least in one
magical city those days haven't gone anywhere.
Jasmine Mir is a writer and editor living in New York City.
Photo credits
image 1: William Struhs. image 2 : Todd Rosenberg. image 3:
Lois Greenfield. image 4: Courtesy of the Gibbes Museum of
Art. image 5: Courtesy of Orient-Express Hotels. image 6:
Courtesy of Middleton Place. image 7: Courtesy of Magnolia
Plantation. image 9: Courtesy of Wentworth Mansion. image
10: Courtesy of Kiawah Island Golf Resort.
