Posted on Sun, Apr. 20, 2008

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- This is a city known for its Southern beauty, charm, culture and hospitality.

It's also known for its history, forts, beautiful gardens and plantations. Charleston is famous for its restaurants, Low Country cooking, pastel-colored row houses, moss-draped trees, upscale shopping, galleries and antique shops.

The city's open-air downtown flea market is popular. Gullah women, many of them descendants of slaves, make and sell dried sweetgrass baskets everywhere.

Laid-back but sophisticated, Charleston is a tourist favorite. It was the third most-visited city in the United States, behind only New York and San Francisco, in a 2007 survey of Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

The city gets 4 million visitors a year, mostly in the fall, winter and spring. Tourism is Charleston's No. 1 industry, a $3 billion annual affair.

But Charleston is most famed for its aristocratic and elegant historic structures with their piazzas (porches), stately columns and cobblestone streets. Just don't ask how many there are.

South Carolina has lots of history and Charleston, founded in 1670, is at the epicenter. It was once among the wealthiest cities in the nation.

The state has 1,300 National Register of Historic Places sites, including 160 districts. Charleston County has 184 National Register sites and 14 multi-building districts.

Charleston has an estimated 3,500 structures built before the Civil War.

Charleston records from 1944, 1974 and 1997 listed between 1,100 and 2,800 historic structures.

Charleston's Old and Historic District was added to the National Register in 1966. It claimed 650 buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries on the original 250 acres. The area now covers 770 acres and may have 4,800 historic buildings, says the Historic Charleston Foundation.

That number "sounds reasonable," said Robert Gurley of the Preservation Society of Charleston.

Charleston created its own historic district - a first in the United States to protect old structures - in 1931. It is slightly larger than the National Register district.

The city lists 6,187 historic buildings in the National Register district and 8,890 buildings in the older city-created district, said Linda Bennett of the city of Charleston.

Charleston retained its antebellum beauty largely because it never shared in the economic boom that swept and changed other Southern cities after the Civil War. As Charleston residents like to say, they were "too proud to whitewash and too poor to paint."

Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston hard in 1989, and that led to an infusion of insurance money that helped owners restore Charleston's aging buildings.

Charleston and its 87,000 residents take great pride in its history and architecture, and that explains why there are restrictions against high-rise buildings that might distract from the city's historic aesthetics.

The best way to get a sense of Charleston's history and beauty is to simply walk the streets and alleys south of Broad Street on the peninsula that is home to the greatest number of structures.

Charleston really is a compact walking city and you can stroll through the 1-square-mile district with its Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival styles in a few hours.

It's fun to peer through the wrought-iron gates and gaze at courtyard gardens.

Most of the piazzas are up high and facing the south to catch what summer breezes they could to keep the occupants cool.

You can also take a narrated horse-drawn carriage ride that will give a good view of Charleston's beautiful buildings.

Many of the buildings are one-room wide and several rooms deep. That style became known as the Charleston single house and they are everywhere. The side toward the street is most often gabled, and they feature high ceilings and stucco over brick.

Some of the buildings like the Edmondston-Alston House from 1825 have been turned into house museums with tours.

The three-story Federal-style house at 21 East Battery is where Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard stood on the porch in 1861 to view the bombardment of Fort Sumter (843-722-7171, middletonplace.org).

A tourist favorite is Rainbow Row, a stretch of pastel-colored row houses between 79 and 101 E. Bay St. They housed merchants in the 1700s. One of the best ways to see Charleston's private gardens is to sign up for the Festival of Houses & Gardens held every spring by the Historic Charleston Foundation. Reservations are required for the festival (P.O. Box 1120, Charleston, S.C. 29402; 843-723-1623; historic charleston.org/newsevents/festival.html).

In addition, the Preservation Society of Charleston will hold its 32nd annual Fall Tours of Homes and Gardens. About 180 private properties will be open for tours from Sept. 25 through Oct. 26. Tickets are $45 (P.O. Box 521, Charleston, S.C. 29402; 843-722-4630; preservationsociety.org).