Our Week in Historic Charleston

There are many places to visit in Charleston, and talk about being called the Holy city. I believe you could not walk down a street and not find a church. We visited the oldest Baptist church in America. It was actually the first baptist church here in the colonies. Trust me, if you're not baptist there are many others to visit. I think you could take a week, and attend church everyday, and you would still not get to all of them. The churches were just amazing, but so was the rest of the city. For starters, the houses were amazing. The amazing part is what they have withstood, from earthquakes to hurricanes. They also have survived the Revolutionary and Civil War. My favorite would have been the Edmondston- alston house. I enjoyed the fact that it was still in the same shape, and that it has not been restored. There are many other historic places to see. The Charleston visitor center sells the Heritage pass that saves you money on all the historic houses, and is good for one year. Most everywhere you go, the buildings are historic or used to be. Charleston has a law that any building over 75 years old cannot be tore down, it must be restored and used. Since most of the buildings in the town have been restored, and are very old, they do have their stories. Which leads me to the part I enjoyed about Charleston. The Ghost walks. We went to as many as we could. You will find that the Haunted jail tour, which is offered by Bulldog Tours, will be the best tour you will go on. Make sure you take your camera especially if it is a digital. People have been known to catch ghost, or orbs, while on the tour. The final highlight of Charleston would be its plantations. You will have to leave the city to go and see them, but I suggest you do. You will get the reason the Charlestonians could afford those great houses in town. This is just the tip of the iceberg. You need a week to get to see everything Charleston has to offer. The best plantation I would say would be Boone Hall. Just because of the movies that have been shot there. The Avenue of Oaks will take your breath away.

Quick Tips:

The first tip I would give you is to go to these sites first. Order the official visitor guide at www.charlestoncvb.com. This will get you started, it has many places to stay, see, and what to do while you're there. The book came very handy for us to prepare for our trip. If your into ghost, and want some coupons and the best tours, then go to www.bulldogtours.com. Finally, the best tip I can give you is to make sure you stop at the visitor center and pick up your heritage pass. It is per person, but the amount of places you get to see is amazing. Here is the list of the places you get, Gibbes Museum, Heywood Washington, Middleton place, Drayton Hall, Aiken Rhett house, Joseph manigault house, Edmonston Alston, Nathaniel Russle, and finally the Charleston museum. The cool thing about this pass is that it is good for a full year. This means you can return and see the things you could not get to.

Best Way To Get Around:

I will have to warn you now. I would take a good pair of walking shoes. You will, if you stay in the city, be able to walk to most anything. This is the best way to see the city. You may have to drive to the Visitor center if you're further than a 7 or 8 block walk. They also have bus tours that pick you up at your hotel, so you can get a quick overview of what there is to see. There is a prime way to tour the city, and that would be by horse drawn carriage. This, too, is an overview of the inter city, but it too is a great way to travel and see the city and learn things that normally you may miss on walking tours, the bus tour, or just out by yourself.

Best Things Nearby:
I would have to say that the best things would have to be the historic sites,the dining, and the ghost tours. We were not accustom to eating the way we did. Every time we ate out, it was and adventure. The menus would just intrigue us and we were not used to having gourmet meals all the time, even for breakfast. Not only was the dining close, but pretty much everywhere we wanted to see was in walking distance. Being close to all that history made it even more fun. The last great thing that was nearby would have to be the ghost tours. Most of them started not far from our resort, and talk about fun, each of these things were great and because of how close everything was we got to do about everything we wanted to do.

Best Things About the Resort:
I would have to say that the best thing about the resorts would have to be the location. It was located right in town. When we got there I was worried about traffic, and how I was going to deal with being in the city. I would have to say that I was very pleased with the location. We had access to everything the city had to offer. Most everything was in walking distance. Even the places we had to drive to were not located far from the resort.

Resort Experience:
I would have to say that if you're looking for a place to stay, this would be it—the rooms were great. Our room was a one bedroom. It had a loft with the bedroom being on the second floor. The room was big and had everything you could want. The dining room had a full dining room set made of cherry wood. The room was decorated in an all cherry wood theme. The kitchen was spacious, it had everything you could need. If you are looking for a romantic getaway this place is for you. At night, the courtyard is lit by gas powered lamps, and the fountain is lit up in the middle of the courtyard. Our room was on the second floor and our windows faced the courtyard. The coolest thing I found was the hallways were lit with candle-like lamps. The thing is, just like all of Charleston, our Inn was thought to be haunted. Which made walking down those candlelit hallways even more fun. Not only was the inside of the place great but they offered great service. The concierge helped plan our week. We got great advice on the places we should visit. The information she gave us made our stay great. She made sure we didn't waste our time, and had set us up to see everything. The only downside to the place would be that if you have kids there was not many things on-site to do. The thing that made up for this was the location of the resort. Every thing was within walking distance. The ghost walks were less than a block away. The historic city was in your backyard. The best part is I didn't have to drive. If you wanted to tour you could just walk to everything, or even one of the tours was on a bus, and the bus arrived at the door to pick you up. If you want availability to see the city of Charleston you need to stay at the Lodge Valley Inn, it makes seeing the city great and for a couple this is a very romantic get away.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Not Available
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Good
• Service: Excellent

High Cotton is one restaurant you do not want to miss. We were lucky and the restaurant was apart of our resort. We not only got to dine there but we also had room service from there. I would make sure that I had reservation because this place fills up quick.

Once you have your reservation it’s time to dine. Our first experience with High Cotton was after Sunday services. My wife and I surveyed the menu. We were surprised to see that regular breakfast was out of the question. We decide both to have the Eggs Benedict. The gravy was divine the eggs were cooked to perfection. The best part of the brunch would have been the hot corn bread that was served with each. I would have to say that this breakfast revivals even my grandma's homemade butter milk biscuits and her fresh bacon and sausage. I think I will return to Charleston just for one more brunch. I thought brunch was good I could not wait to try dinner. We had along day so once we got back to our room we decide to stay in. We have a habit of loving room service.

We decided to try it being that brunch was so good and our resort (Lodge alley Inn) restaurant was high cotton.
We were not mistaken we decided to both have salad and share a filet mignon. The filet was cooked well done and I was surprised to see how moist it was. I was also surprised to see how big the leaves on the lettuce in the salad were. The cesar dressing the smothered the top of the salad was to die for. i suggest if in Charleston that you do eat At high Cotton or you will miss out. I room service bill was around 70 dollars and brunch was around 50 so don’t be surprised to spend some money. I suggest you do it is well worth it.

We went on many tours, but I would have to say that this one was the best. If you are into ghost and history, make sure you check out the Bull Dog Tours, which was marvelous. They offer many tours. The tours include the Ghost and Graveyard tour; The Haunted Jail tour; The Dark Side of Charleston, Historic Charleston tour; The Rebel Rouser; and The Ghost and Dungeon tour. They offer a lot, and there are so many tour companies, we decided we take one from each. We decide to take the Haunted Jail tour. I am glad we did.

This old jail is set in a part of town that is not to great but that gives it more flavor and adds to the adventure. We walked to the jail, as it was not far from our resort. This tour was amazing; the guide was well versed in the legends and what had been seen there. Not only was she well versed, but she had many of her own frightening experiences while in the jail. The way things were done and shown to us made our experience even more thrilling.

Each tour has its price. Most of them are reasonable and well worth the money. If you want to see how much each one is, go to www.buldogtours.com. Make sure to pick up a brochure, because most of them have a $2-off coupon. I guess the eeriest story about the jail is not that it has a ghost, but that many in the whole population in the jail died, so you can see why it has many spirits. Another cool fact is that people believed that spirits could not cross water, so if you look at the houses around, you noticed that they don't face the jail and all of the doors are blue.

If you visit Charleston, you need to make sure to take this tour. Make sure to bring your digital camera, as just like in The Haunted Mansion at Disney, you may find that you have a hitchhiking ghost on your film. We did. I will put some pics of our ghost: just look for the orbs, or what the wife and I like to call our hitchhiking ghost. Oh yes, and be prepared to be scared: this place is not for the weak of heart. I would, suggest from just this experience, that you use Bull Dog Tours. They have all the stories and history you need.