Charleston

Charleston is one of the purdiest cities in the US. In architecture it has some semblance to New Orleans, but where NO is rowdy, and there's always a party going on, Charleston is sedate, classy, with a touch of English aristocracy about it. It was once a major city, and the richest in the English-speaking world, and even though it fell on hard times after the "War between the states", it still exudes old wealth and a gentle charm. It has been declared America's best mannered city I don't know how many years now.

Charleston was also a town of religious tolerance and attracted huge numbers of Protestants, including a considerable congingent of Huguenots. They also allowed Jews to settle, and have the oldest Orthodox synagogue in the south (they did not, however, tolerate Roman Catholics. I mean, you gotta draw the line somewhere!). Charleston also had the richest group of Jews in the US in the early 1800s.

Tuesday I went into town to take the ferry out to Ft Sumter. Sadly I didn't get in as many pics as I'd wanted of the downtown area, so I may have to go there again later in December, after I've been down to Key West.

Pics here.

One of the hundreds of nice, old buildings in Charleston.


I strolled around down by the Battery area. The sun was shining, the water was blue and the park was green. It was a wonderful day for the Northern Hemisphere to be December.


Monument to the Confederate dead. Again, there's just a tad too much "just cause" for me to be completely at ease in the South. I mean, imagine if the Krauts still walked around like they were the master race... oh, wait... nevermind...


General William Moultrie was a hero of the Revolutionary War. He kicked ass during a British siege and won the yanks one of their first victories. Fort Moultrie was named after him.


The park is teeming, nay seething with squirrels, they're absolutely everywhere. Five minutes after this pic was taken, I bet they got some unwanted exercise, as a whole bunch of unruly kids got the "you're free" message from their teachers and tore into the park with loud whoops and yells.