South Carolina

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St. Phillip's Church in Charleston

Charleston Haints and Graveyard Ghosts

Down south, I went looking for Charleston haints and other cemetery ghosts. Haints are just Southern ghosts. In the south, there are ghosts on every corner, so it’s a good place for storytelling. In Charleston, there are the ghostly soldiers still dueling in the street, an apparition of the proprietress still in the restaurant bathroom, and a library patron who haunts his old books. There’s a great story about a famous poet, another about a female serial killer, and even...

A white marble bust of Poe
Charleston horse and carraige with driver

10 Things to do in Charleston

There are so many things to do in Charleston, South Carolina; you can stay occupied for weeks if you’d like to. I recently spent several months in the southern United States and found Charleston filled with activity, history, unique architecture and alligators than I bargained for! But it is all splendid, and I’ll happily return again and again. Here are a few things I found to do in Charleston that are worth your while. 1 Go on a Carriage Tour...

Boone Farm Plantation allee with live oaks

3 Unique Charleston Plantations Worth Visiting

South Carolina isn’t as known for its Charleston Plantations as it should be. Most people know about its historic colonial architecture, coastal seafood, and the old southern way of life. Still, it should also be known for its preservation of history through a series of stunning plantations. While I was in the area for more than a month, I visited three unique plantations that preserve important pre-civil war history. While plantations are representations of our grim past with enslavement, they’re...

Thin trees in a swamp with green moss at their base.

5 Unique Reasons Congaree National Park is Worth Visiting

Synchronistic Fireflies and Champion Trees are two reasons to visit Congaree National Park. Plus, Congaree is among the least visited parks, making it blissfully uncrowded. I’ve been to 25+ national parks and there are essentially two types: those people go to and those they don’t. Some parks are filled with amenities, trails and things to do and see, and other parks quietly exist to protect rare and spectacular environments. Congaree is one of the latter. It protects the largest intact...

Boat next to Beaufort marsh

Exploring the Low-Country Charm of Beaufort, South Carolina

Beaufort, South Carolina, is known for its low-country charm, antebellum architecture, and quite a bit of Hollywood credit. It’s a little-known but wildly charming low-country community. On the coastline between Charleston and Savannah, Beaufort is worth visiting because it’s the quieter, lesser-known cousin of the two more famous cities, which is probably what brought Hollywood calling so many times. It has all the charm, Spanish moss and coastal character as those other great cities, but none of the bustle or...

Mount Pleasant Shem Creek

Shrimping on Shem Creek near Charleston

Mount Pleasant Shem Creek is known for its shrimp boats and seafood restaurants, so that is where I went just east of Charleston on the central coast to learn about Charleston’s shrimping history and try my hand at catching a few myself. I booked a tour with a local who promised to walk a group of us through the evolution of the shrimping industry in Shem Creek. To do that, we had to go back a few hundred years. Where...

Charleston house with double staircase and clairvoyee

8 Reasons Charleston’s Architecture is unique

Charleston’s architecture is what makes the city the most charming of southern belles. It’s beloved for horse-drawn carriages, light-colored antebellum houses and more history than any book you read in high school. Charleston, South Carolina is a romantic little city along low country waterways is known for its rich cuisine, maritime story, and as the holy city for its 400 church spires. These things are anchored by architecture preserved and immaculately restored over hundreds of years. No place else can...

Death Valley sunset

How Solo Travel for a Year Transformed My Life

One year of traveling solo has seen me through many states, including Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina, and Mexico. I learned about why we travel, especially about traveling solo. How traveling solo renews your sense of self What I’ve realized about this last year of traveling is that it gives us a new way to see and understand ourselves. Not only are the places new, but we are different in...