The city of Charleston has always been a beautiful city to visit through the years. And being from the Upstate of South Carolina, I have always thought it was a coastal, old, colonial city and a home away from home. The restaurants, tourist venues, museums, and hotels of the Holy City are top-notch and headline as a world-class city. The places that I have loved to visit with family and friends through the years include the Downtown Historic Charleston City Market, the Battery, the US Customs House, and the Governor's House Inn.
The Downtown City Market is a place I and my family always enjoyed visiting at the Holy City during the summer weekends. You could get a lot of souvenirs and good things at reasonable prices at this Downtown Street market. It is one of the great tourist attractions of the City of Charleston. It is open throughout the week, and it is located at 188 Meeting Street downtown. It gives your All American city life and vitality, and you could get a lot of exercise walking through the different things that are sold.
The Battery is also a great attraction of Downtown Charleston. It is a great place to take a jog during long, nice summer days during the weekend. It is located at the water's edge near the Ashley and Cooper rivers, right near the historic houses of Charleston. It was used as a defensive Civil War artillery battery. It is one of Charleston's great scenes and historic sites.
And there are many restaurants that are top-notch and the best in the business in the Battery and White Point Gardens area. These include Poogan's Porch, Charleston Grill, Husk restaurant, and Hyman's seafood restaurant. Some are very new establishments, and some are older venues, but they all offer great service for a night on the town.
The US Customs House on 200 East Bay Street is also a premier landmark in Historic Charleston. Construction began in the year 1852 and was interrupted during the Civil War. It was completed back in 1870. It still serves as a customs house for one of the country's busiest early ports. There are many vendors near this facility during various times during the year that sell souvenirs and mementos of the Custom House that you could take home that would remind you of your visit.
Staying at the historic Governor's House Inn at 117 Broad Street back in 2015 was a wonderful experience indeed. I really appreciated that I slept in the same residence as the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of our state's earliest state governors. This bed and breakfast is truly a beautiful home away from home with elegant public drawing rooms and gardens, and the guest suites are truly refined and exquisite. It is a perfect venue for done-right weddings, romantic getaways, and business trips.
Visiting the City of Charleston through the years, I have really appreciated that the Holy City has welcomed people from around the world to the epicenter of Southern culture with its colorful Colonial past. It is a place I look forward to visiting again. And it truly is an all-American city.
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Steven Hawkins is a freelance writer from Greenville, SC. Since 2014 he has been published in numerous newspapers and journals throughout South Carolina and North Carolina and around the country. Last year, in 2019, he published a collection of his writings and editorial letters with AuthorHouse publishers entitled ''Letters from South Carolina.''
