Visit Charleston, SC - Our 250th Episode!

[00:00:01] 250 episodes is pretty epic, so today we are covering one of our favorite cities.

[00:00:09] Whether you are a history buff, a foodie, an architecture lover or a beach bomb, Charleston, South Carolina

[00:00:16] is sure to keep you intrigued. Join us at the table to hear more about this coastal jam.

[00:00:25] Welcome to the Steel Magnolias Podcast. We are two sisters here to have uplifting conversations

[00:00:31] about life in the South. The South is full of beautiful diversity, in landscape, people groups

[00:00:38] and culture, and we want to showcase each part. We've got plenty of room at our table, so pull up your chair.

[00:00:48] Welcome back to the table. I'm Laura Beth. I'm Lainie and this is the 250th episode.

[00:00:56] We have literally greeted you all 250 times and welcomed you to our table, so I hope you've sat down

[00:01:02] and learned something by now. It really is hard to believe though that we've done that many episodes

[00:01:10] and it's just so fun. It's been so rich and I've learned so much, so I was saying that

[00:01:19] as if the listener should have learned something but I mean I've learned so much.

[00:01:22] Don't you feel so schooled on our region and my world?

[00:01:26] I look at magazines and I'm like, I already know that. Oh yeah, I already know that.

[00:01:29] But I also look at books and stuff and I'm like really. Yeah, I know.

[00:01:34] That gives me a better fuller picture of why that is the way it is.

[00:01:38] Yeah, so I could dive into that a little more. So it's kind of a never ending

[00:01:44] exploration project but I'm proud of us. Well when you started out and said, I mean Charleston's

[00:01:51] epic, so it really did feel like this is the right thing for 250. I mean Charleston just talk about

[00:01:58] like Pomeno cheese. No, no we couldn't. No there was no but there's lots of good

[00:02:03] men of cheese and Charleston. If there was a city then this takes the cake but we were thinking

[00:02:09] about even any topic. This is just, this has been on the cover of so many magazines. This is

[00:02:17] quintessential American South. So in good ways and bad ways. I want to get the bad the sad history

[00:02:24] out of the way just because we're going to be praising Charleston so much in this episode.

[00:02:30] So I won't dwell on it but I think that you do need to just acknowledge that it came from a

[00:02:36] hard play. I mean, I think a lot of people know that it was the start of the Civil War like the

[00:02:41] shop first or the source there. It was founded in 1670 so old which I mean it even has revolutionary

[00:02:49] wars stories as well. Yeah. Yeah, history buff lots to see here. Yeah, but the sad history is that

[00:02:58] 40% of the slaves that came through the US came through Charleston or that port area because it is

[00:03:06] just right there on the coast. And so I think you have to say that upfront because you see that

[00:03:13] oh it's a big part of the culture. It's part of the food. It's part of the produce. It's everything.

[00:03:21] Yeah, so I just wanted to say that upfront and just make sure that we know we're acknowledging

[00:03:25] the past too. But I really feel like Charleston is so much to so many people. Like

[00:03:37] on the most simplest level it's coastal and city in one. Like it's you know very true.

[00:03:45] I mean, I really feel like it's like a true melting pot of culture and people and it's just

[00:03:53] interesting. And I would just say it even still has some of the beautiful people that came

[00:04:00] because of bad reasons. Yes. Yes. Yeah, you know what I'm trying to say? Like because of slavery

[00:04:07] that we all acknowledge was wrong there's some of these beautiful West African people who are still there

[00:04:16] and have shaped so much of Southern culture in general. Yeah, so we'll get to more specific

[00:04:23] for sure. Well Charleston is nicknamed the Holy City and you all know that we are people of

[00:04:32] sisters of faith here. We are Christ of all words. Yeah. And I think one of the coolest things

[00:04:38] that Charleston has ever done is to state a citywide code that lists that no building in

[00:04:45] their downtown area can be higher than the steeples. You see steep church steeples that just pop up

[00:04:54] on the skyline and the reason you still see that and it's unique looking is because of this city

[00:05:01] code that states you can't build higher than that. Now back in the day, that's how you found the

[00:05:05] church. Right? Like where are you wearing Europe or Asia or wherever you are? I guess that was kind

[00:05:13] of the point of having a steeple. We want to draw people to this place. So it's just really

[00:05:20] pretty to some of my most favorite pictures I've taken in Charleston are of that sort of vantage point

[00:05:27] looking up and seeing a steeple and pretty sky. And I've been 15 plus times y'all. So I'm drawing

[00:05:33] a lot more times than I have. But I had two good friends from college that decided to make that

[00:05:39] their home and so I did get to have some fun and experience the city multiple times just with

[00:05:45] visiting them. So it's a wide area. So I mean, I still have a lot of areas to explore. Like would we

[00:05:53] say Charleston? We're talking about James Island and Fallie Beach, John's Island, Sullivan's

[00:05:59] Kiawah Island, Seabroke Island. I mean even now, Pleasant gets lived into Charleston. So

[00:06:06] Alapombs, all of that. Yeah, a big area and you could spend a week in each little no you could.

[00:06:15] You could. But because Charleston was founded in 1670 it has many of America's first and I don't

[00:06:21] have to give all the dates but first public library, first museum, first passenger train service.

[00:06:27] First chamber of commerce. Like that's pretty cool. First theater, the dark street theater.

[00:06:34] That's yeah, who gets to say that? That's pretty crazy. Wow. Well we did an episode

[00:06:41] a while back and we just already touched on this a little bit about Gullagichi which Gulla is the

[00:06:47] name of people group that came from Angola West Africa and many still live there today, many residents

[00:06:56] of the Charleston area are Gullag people and they have a language all their own. Right but

[00:07:04] yeah, they've shaped so much of the foodways particularly of the south. You should definitely check

[00:07:11] out that episode to hear more specifics on that. People group. Yeah we got to meet a gal by the name

[00:07:18] of Lynette White. She formed and leads a group called The Plantation Singers and their purpose is

[00:07:26] to educate through songs about Gullag culture and people so they go into schools and do events around

[00:07:33] town and just use song to share their history in their story and some of them are very familiar

[00:07:40] your songs that you would recognize and some of them are not but it's very very beautiful to hear

[00:07:46] and one of the things that she was talking to us about when we met her was just the importance of

[00:07:54] Carolina Gold Rice. Right so can I go ahead and jump into some of that? Yeah so Carolina Gold Rice

[00:08:01] is the main crop that made owners rich that owned properties, owned slaves and it's still one of

[00:08:12] major components of dishes in this low country cuisine that you hear people talk about from Charleston

[00:08:20] and South Carolina and gosh it's good isn't it? It's so good I have some of my freezer right now.

[00:08:27] Yes in my freezer because that helps keep it fresher. Yeah that's a lot of it. But yeah that

[00:08:36] I highly recommend I don't know we'll probably talk about specific restaurants later but I highly

[00:08:41] recommend not just doing the King Street fancy spots but digging out some more authentic and I'll

[00:08:52] give you a couple. Yeah let's go ahead and jump into some of the authentic spots to try some

[00:08:58] low country cuisine so I'm going to start if you want to do food now with handables yes the

[00:09:05] able soul kitchen that place is the real deal as far as you know it's not Michelin star but it

[00:09:13] is the real deal as far as trying some low country crab rice or an okra soup that kind of food

[00:09:22] that was so epic in the gullaculture and just casual like oh yeah like we saw lots of local

[00:09:30] utility workers and that's what you have always always always said you know where you know a

[00:09:36] good restaurant is where the men coming on their lunch hour men and women you know but yeah

[00:09:42] yes we're there going it's they know where to go the hard laborers coming in for the day especially

[00:09:47] where are they choosing to eat yes handables was so good we got to eat there together

[00:09:55] there is gosh there's so many I want to just I'm not going to go any particular order if we talk

[00:10:03] about food do you want to talk about just keep going in the food vein because the food weighs

[00:10:07] it's a big part of the nature so yeah let's just keep going I've never eaten

[00:10:13] as much or as good ever ever eaten as well in a city as I have in Charleston on like each trip

[00:10:21] it's going to say it's kind of like it doesn't matter if you want French, Vietnamese, Southern,

[00:10:27] low country it's all going to be good yeah I'll start with just some seafood spots because I think

[00:10:32] that's a lot of what people think of when they think of coastal town yeah there are a lot of tourists

[00:10:37] seafood places downtown and if that's your vibe then you could just google that yeah I don't

[00:10:44] want to talk about down on those because they're good but they're just very touristy the one I

[00:10:49] recommend is out at folly beach where you and I went right bo and silent at folly beach go

[00:10:56] it sunset yes people will be coming in from their day of paddle boarding or kayaking and

[00:11:04] then if you want to go paddle board stand up paddle boarding do that so you can get there earlier

[00:11:08] and go ahead and do that too but very casual you know just out in the open I mean there is some indoor

[00:11:15] area but you can just sit over this like marshland almost like area watch that sunset and

[00:11:23] fishermen coming in just yeah it's beautiful it was so beautiful I mean that's kind of one of

[00:11:29] those places where you're like I could live here right yeah you're getting a taste of the local life yes

[00:11:35] I'm going to recommend that you try the low country boil or oysters or something you know

[00:11:41] shrimp and grits is something that's very um Charlestonish yeah uh crab too she crab soup would be

[00:11:51] she crab soup one of the one of the places that's known for their she crab soup is 82 coin

[00:11:58] which that's the address 82 coin yeah that's easy little pretty um little courtyard area there

[00:12:07] that'd be a good place if you want to try that but man that stuff's good I've tried to make it and did okay

[00:12:14] but um I haven't quite mastered that just yet yeah you gotta have that crab row which is the eggs

[00:12:21] and that's not always easy to get so mm mm like I said I'm just going to jump around with some

[00:12:27] restaurants that I love these are in no particular order I love a place that's downtown called

[00:12:32] Fasten French it's one of my favorites for some memories that I have made there and matters to

[00:12:39] I think it's one of those places though it's super casual super casual I think it is set up for memory

[00:12:44] making like it's set up for community it's got long tables that oftentimes you end up sharing

[00:12:50] you know with the other parties then they don't seat you there I think it's all

[00:12:55] depending on what hour a day you're going um I think it's self-seeding but

[00:12:58] just a great place to either have brunch or dinner there hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

[00:13:05] you could have very different visual experiences depending on what day but it's a great place to meet friends

[00:13:10] yeah like I said I just love the vibe and I have great memories there now we mentioned 82

[00:13:14] coin for she crab soup I'm gonna go up the street a little to 62 coin which is not the name of the

[00:13:20] restaurant but Harkin do you remember that adorable coffee shop forgot about that place just right down

[00:13:26] from like they're on the same street I forgot about that love that coffee shop and they had you know

[00:13:32] breakfast sandwiches pastries that kind of thing but it was so just adorable place to sit lots of

[00:13:40] trance and you'll take a lot of photographs there of your coffee and your friends and you or selfies yeah

[00:13:45] yeah you'll think and the coffee's really good too yeah just yeah that the atmosphere was adorable

[00:13:51] that makes me think of a place that I failed to mention um because I haven't been there but I've heard

[00:13:56] so many things that are good raw is that what it's called raw the oyster bar yeah I think it's

[00:14:02] one sixty seven raw or something like that okay uh look at our show notes and I'll have the right

[00:14:07] name and that's a big oyster spot yes yes and we've never been to fig I tried I just wrote down fig

[00:14:15] I know I've tried to but it's one of Charleston's you know biggest and it's at this point we

[00:14:21] can say long lasting because it's been around for quite a while but Jason Stanhope is a James Beard

[00:14:27] award winner he's from South America and he brings a French to technique to Southern cuisine so

[00:14:35] you know that's gonna be creative yeah so he does a lot of the shrimp squid muscles things like that

[00:14:43] with Carolina gold rice and so if you can get a reservation you gotta have one right you have to

[00:14:49] have one yeah and anybody that you well not anybody but most people that live there if they're you

[00:14:57] know are needing to if you're needing a fine dining recommendation that's their pick is it's just

[00:15:03] such a great staple so it's hard to say anything bad about fig I say we got to go with the epic

[00:15:12] meal we had at Hall's drop house okay let's jump in yes so Hall's drop house is no matter what

[00:15:19] day of the week you go if you want a good steak or a good seafood meal they're not gonna let you down

[00:15:24] no I just saw that um total side note but yesterday they served up the um ESPN people with like

[00:15:35] a long haul steak oh it's serious so anyway but Hall's is you know very legit steak house

[00:15:43] but on Sundays they have Sunday brunch gospel brunch with the plantation singers yes we mentioned

[00:15:50] do the goal of singing and they do a beautiful job yeah I mean they set up right there in the lobby

[00:15:57] and you gonna have some church and some good food all in one again reservations are needed

[00:16:05] but that's an epic experience my notes literally say fine dining while the plantation

[00:16:10] singers take you to church yeah I may or may not have sung with them as well that's right you do

[00:16:17] that was such a sweet moment uh Hall's is under the same ownership as a couple of other places

[00:16:23] slightly north of broad is that the same and high cotton and which have been to bone and read is yeah

[00:16:30] all of those are kind of under the same hospital that was the same group uh had a wonderful

[00:16:35] experience with our mom at high cotton on a Sunday brunch that did like a jazz brunch okay so

[00:16:41] in Hall's has expanded a lot we've got a whole's chophouse here in Nashville now I think there

[00:16:46] might be one in Greenville's health care line up so but Charleston is their original location that's

[00:16:51] fine hmm there's a place out on Sullivan's island that I want to mention called obstinate daughter

[00:16:57] yes it's super eclectic mentioned a lot in foody circles yes French Italian and Spanish cuisine

[00:17:05] the menu changes seasonally and they source food so locally so I like to know that and I like to tell

[00:17:13] people that because if you don't know anybody that's living in Charleston you could just like pretend

[00:17:18] like you're going to a friend's house for dinner and that they shopped at the farm where sparkings

[00:17:22] so you basically haven't dinner at a local's house but it does I mean it gets listed on a lot of foody

[00:17:28] sorts of lists yes they get very very good well I had a pretty memorable meal with you

[00:17:37] at pink bellies oh my goodness so this was recommended to us by a chef and it's usually a good person

[00:17:44] ask right I mean it wowed me like no one may too maybe we were ready for something different too

[00:17:51] because we had had a lot of rice we'd had a lot of seafood it's like okay it was our last meal before

[00:17:57] we were going home so maybe that's a good strategy maybe put this towards the end of your time

[00:18:02] for visiting yeah just to change it up but it is delicious Vietnamese food the garlic noodles

[00:18:10] I will probably never forget with the Parmesan and Saracha and it had pulled pork on it as well

[00:18:17] delicious and so much flavor when he went the chef that recommended this said just try the

[00:18:22] garlic noodles and we're using like garlic noodles kind of want something more because as than that

[00:18:28] it had been for sure and this is a food truck turned brick and mortar so I was left the stories too

[00:18:35] that like you know they were grinded away and made it well enough to wear the people spoke right

[00:18:40] it's right we want to more yeah well I also had a cocktail there that was a Fah cocktail oh

[00:18:47] I forgot about that which sounds kind of weird but it was delicious it was with gin and it had fish sauce and

[00:18:58] very flavorful I don't know how to describe it but this is this guy's got it going on

[00:19:03] and it's just one of those places where you have to trust us just trust us you're going to love

[00:19:08] what you order in the people out here is like their most popular so I thought we can't be bad yeah

[00:19:14] it's got to I'm going to try it that was so true so good we should also mention Rodney Scott's barbecue

[00:19:20] the original he Rodney Scott has mastered the whole hog he started barbecuing barbecuing at age 11

[00:19:28] and has several locations now not just in South Carolina but in other states but I used from

[00:19:35] close to Charleston so that's his home yeah he made ways where he's from okay yeah but yeah definitely go

[00:19:42] and just great size great potato salad great all of it just good if you're looking for barbecuing

[00:19:48] you need to go to Rodney Scott's well in Charleston okay we're oh god I mentioned

[00:19:55] there's a place called Carmella's Cafe and it's like a dessert bar they also have location now in

[00:20:01] Greenful there's not a lot of cities that have like a dessert bar like the in that happened sometimes

[00:20:08] or you're like I just kind of want dessert somewhere but you don't want to go take up a table yeah

[00:20:12] in a restaurant but you literally just yeah but you want to literally just you just want to go to

[00:20:18] have a dessert and this is your place so Carmella's is wonderful and I want to dimension that

[00:20:24] door brothers or I think that's how you say it door brothers where we had went for bread pudding oh yeah

[00:20:30] that all the bread pudding fine bread pudding and Charleston but especially find it at this place they also

[00:20:36] had creative cocktails and that would be a fun place to go just for a drink or dessert or both so good

[00:20:45] one of my favorite areas to visit is folly beach so I'll mention that I love the lost dog cafe out

[00:20:51] there for lunch or especially breakfast I think they do breakfast very well.

[00:20:56] John's Island has wild olive it's been around for 15 years it's the same hospitality group as

[00:21:03] obstinate daughter that I mentioned earlier on on solo until of in silence so if you like obstinate

[00:21:09] daughter you will very likely like wild olive just very interesting Italian dishes and I think

[00:21:17] that might be all of my food recommendations probably for now. I think that kind of

[00:21:23] you know it's just even if you're just out there's some certain foods that you need to just try

[00:21:29] like even at the city market right like bine way first exactly yeah I was gonna mention that

[00:21:35] when we get to bine way first but you're gonna want to try things that are regionally

[00:21:40] popular yeah I mentioned crab rice or okra soup she crab soup shrimp and grits or fish and grits

[00:21:50] yeah low country yeah you want to try some of those we did a low country cooking up so

[00:21:56] I should let me just tell you Larbeth that for links that need to be in this episode I have low

[00:22:02] country boil low country cooking salt marshes Spanish moss and kanzoo Negro spirituals

[00:22:09] or head sea turtles golechii live oaks and resurrection fur it's like we like bird no one oh my goodness

[00:22:17] so this is a great 250 I know because it's just pointed back to all the others that's awesome

[00:22:24] that fun there's so proud of us there's a really fun tradition that you will see around town it's

[00:22:31] the sweet grass tradition and yes this is this was also covered a lot in our golechii episode

[00:22:37] but in case you don't go listen when you visit Charleston you're you're gonna see these sweet

[00:22:42] grass baskets being woven on street corners or in shops in the city market and I mean it's exactly

[00:22:49] what it sounds like it is like a kind of stiffer grass that they're weaving and making into a

[00:22:57] larger basket or little bowls or um and it's truly an art of all. yeah this is really tightly woven

[00:23:06] when Lynette White was talking to us about this I literally said would this have been kind of like

[00:23:11] what they put Moses in when he was sitting down the river and she said it's exactly what it was.

[00:23:17] it's so crazy because I've always wondered like how did that float and how did water not get

[00:23:21] and how did water not drown and right sweet grass yeah says that's what this was so yeah so if you

[00:23:27] want to nice souvenir to take home because like you said it's it's kind of an awesome like a a

[00:23:33] smaller basket could be $250 yeah just as a reference point but you will see this a lot at the

[00:23:38] city market and you know I just I love actually getting to see people doing it. yeah so I hope that if

[00:23:45] you visit and you are seeing sweet grass any thanks for sale that somebody is right there weaving them

[00:23:52] I can't help but laugh thinking about college and when you are signed in up for classes and

[00:23:58] somebody says they're going to take basket weaving. you know how people always make fun of that

[00:24:04] I'm going to do that yeah I'm going to take it basket weaving. oh that's that's quite a gift so

[00:24:09] that's very true well there's so much to see in this town and one of the epic photo spots

[00:24:17] is the pineapple fountain that waterfront par. yes I love the pineapple fountain and like yeah it's right

[00:24:23] downtown very popular spot so just no like it either get there at the break a dawn and you can

[00:24:32] get a picture alone or just hope for the best. I don't know what to tell you we got really lucky

[00:24:41] honestly. we have a strange thing happened when it was like the party to the rest of it out yeah

[00:24:45] and we got a picture great pic but I didn't know it was called the Riley waterfront park I've always

[00:24:50] just called waterfront park but anyhow that's officially the name it's a tin acre park that

[00:24:56] overlooks the Charleston Harbor and the Cooper River and there's just so much beauty in that little

[00:25:04] park to have a picnic or just get your pineapple fountain photo and pineapple being the symbol

[00:25:09] of southern hospitality. so right there as well is rainbow row the famous pastel painted home

[00:25:18] is a long east bay street that's a great area to see in a very photographed spot as well

[00:25:26] or it's hard to get a picture without a lot of cars in it but yeah maybe you just buy a

[00:25:32] true photographers shot of it or something. and also the battery is right down there which is

[00:25:40] uh it's a landmark defensive seawall and promenade in Charleston and it's kind of known for its

[00:25:46] name is stately intablem homes and boy are there and there are lots of those so Charleston.

[00:25:54] if you're able I just love to just walk down there just the little at cobblestone alleyways

[00:26:02] and the gas lanterns that you know kind of stay going seems like all day long that are

[00:26:08] our boxes that are so lush and just that have their own irrigation systems that are keeping

[00:26:15] them alive the gardens it's interesting because you know you're on the sidewalk but you are right

[00:26:23] up against a home in many instances there is no yard in between you and like the front door

[00:26:30] around kind of like a like a downtown metropolitan area right yeah so I had a friend who lived

[00:26:37] out the bra oh yeah do you remember this yes and she said it was awkward sometimes because

[00:26:44] groups would be walking and they're so close that she's like if you were in the kitchen

[00:26:49] in your pajamas they would see that right the windows were you know unless the shutters were

[00:26:53] closed or something yeah so and oftentimes it's the architectural style of the what's it called

[00:27:01] single house style so it might not be every you know don't picture like multiple rooms on all homes

[00:27:08] sometimes there are but sometimes it's just like that front dining room for instance that showing

[00:27:15] this showing that way the house is built it's deep so there's only one room wide facing the street

[00:27:21] but then you know you've got like a whole piazza alongside a long wrap around porches and

[00:27:28] but you can come through while you're having your bourbon on the poor that's right whatever

[00:27:34] that's right great way to see some of this is one of those carriage tours yes or so much fun

[00:27:40] and they you know go at a pace where you can hear a little history but take photos as you go

[00:27:46] yeah walking tour carriage tour do something with a local walking around the city and it really

[00:27:53] doesn't matter what sort of path you get or what neighborhood you cover Charleston is so interesting

[00:27:59] and has so much great history that you're going to hear what you need to hear I promise you

[00:28:04] well it's funny that you just said that because I actually had down there's walking tours

[00:28:10] there's culinary tours there's photography tours there's boat tours like there's no shortage

[00:28:15] of ways to see Charleston yeah but yeah it's really fun if you're doing it at a pace that's slow

[00:28:22] enough to take pictures that's true I think we took you on a culinary tour at the top of this

[00:28:27] episode we had an awesome experience crapping when we were in Charleston I want to touch on that

[00:28:36] just real quick because sometimes people just want an experience right you might not have a boat

[00:28:40] to take out on the water while you're there well here's a really cool coastal like experience

[00:28:45] you can go crapping with tia clerk I'll put a link in the show notes on how you can get a

[00:28:51] reservation with one of her excursions but she takes up to about 12 people to catch crabs

[00:28:58] right from a dock in the downtown area so we were staying at a mariop property and it was just

[00:29:05] really right up the road from us but we learned how to catch crabs with nets with hooks with live

[00:29:11] you know baskets baskets yeah they have all the bait ready for you so you feel like you're

[00:29:18] really doing a lot of hard work that day but really you're not so fun we caught 18 crabs when we

[00:29:25] went and we even had the opportunity at them to clean them for us and when then we ate them for dinner

[00:29:31] which was also so epic because it was just kind of that picture you know we really should do this

[00:29:37] with every meal but a real picture of the food coming from the so the source yeah they know living

[00:29:46] God's provision and then he has provided these creatures yeah that we got to catch an eat

[00:29:53] and I'm grateful I didn't have to do the cleaning right yeah me too certainly learned to do it

[00:29:59] with a fish but yeah don't really want to learn to do it with any other meats

[00:30:04] but anyway yeah that was so much fun and the meal was delicious so good so good but blue crab

[00:30:11] but then again you know you do realize how hard food resources is when you have to do

[00:30:19] yourself because it was very little crab meat that came out of each crab so we gave a tea to

[00:30:25] feed for it yeah yeah so crazy new appreciation all the time for farming and hunting and all

[00:30:31] of it yeah also don't tell me you will hear many many people mention the city market we touched

[00:30:37] on that earlier go there buy you some Martian mill caroline gold rice or stone ground grits yeah spices red beans

[00:30:48] all the southern hospitality you can imagine the binei wait for as I mentioned I bought some of those

[00:30:54] to bring back for people that's kind of a sesame sweet cracker I'm gonna call it I'm gonna cracker

[00:31:03] more than a wafer because wafer's to me already feel sugary like a vanilla wafer it's not sweet like that

[00:31:09] it's not that sweet yeah anyway very very unique and and delicious but they pretty much have any gift

[00:31:16] you can imagine stuff for kids postcards tea towels books all of the things yeah it's all covered

[00:31:23] but some of it's indoor some of it's outdoor some of its air condition some of it's not yeah yeah

[00:31:29] if you're there turn the summer you quickly recognize what parts aren't air condition true

[00:31:34] towels can get so hot so humid so hot so well that's even a good thing to mention I hadn't

[00:31:40] thought of that but sometimes it's nice to plan a few indoor things in the midst of your day be that

[00:31:47] museums or a plantation home where you're going inside an air conditioned home

[00:31:53] it's been air conditioned at that time but in fact let me just go there which we're in a plantation

[00:32:01] there's many many to see in Charleston I put three in my nose I have only toured one of them

[00:32:08] I toured Middleton place okay his national historic landmark it's the site of the oldest land

[00:32:15] gaped gardens in America oh cool it was a plantation owned by the Middleton family and now it's a museum

[00:32:23] dedicated to those who lived and worked on the plantation so yeah it's they do tell the story of the

[00:32:32] Middleton family and the enslaved people right I think most of them do that now what would think so

[00:32:39] one of the plantations is called boon hall plantation in gardens and I had asked Lynette

[00:32:48] why yeah which one she thought was the best in telling the enslaved people story and she thought

[00:32:54] boon did the best job of that but anyhow and also Magnolia plantation in gardens was the third one

[00:33:02] was going to recommend it appeals a lot to people who like kind of the more not his landscape

[00:33:09] gardens if you like kind of the more lush wilder looking gardens that might be the one to see

[00:33:15] and they even have an area an Autobahn swamp garden where you can see gators, herons, turtles I think

[00:33:23] I would like to see that one next time but that's good yeah that's a big part of the culture for sure

[00:33:30] times of old so for sure pick one of those and tour it also if you want to get wild you got to go

[00:33:37] out to John's Island to see the angel oak oh we did a whole episode as you mentioned on southern oak

[00:33:44] trees and southern live oaks and so the angel oak is 400 years old stands 65 feet high

[00:33:53] shades an area of 17,000 square feet it's unbelievable it's open seven days a week you can give them

[00:34:00] old donation while you're there visiting there is no climbing and that's sad I know but I get it so

[00:34:07] right it is hard because these branches just reach out so low almost some of them all right on the

[00:34:13] ground just crying out to speak like come sit with me it is impossible unless you've got some sort of

[00:34:22] unique lens to get a wide enough picture to really do it to include it all it's a stunner for sure

[00:34:29] it's definitely you know off the beaten path so you'll have to be intentionally going out to

[00:34:35] John's Island to see the angel oak but it is so so worth it yeah the only other thing I was

[00:34:41] gonna mention that's out that direction is that Charleston tea garden yep it's um what would you

[00:34:49] say about it larval well it's the only tea that's grown exclusively in America their classic American

[00:34:56] tea is and I just thought that was interesting because I don't know I don't think much about

[00:35:00] the way they grow tea but it's the only tea grown exclusively in America and then they outsourced

[00:35:07] other tea manufacturers I think they mentioned they do stuff for bigalow um that's right they did

[00:35:13] maybe someone else as well it's an awesome gift shop it's you know for a tea lover I'm sure it's great

[00:35:19] and for a slower paste tour for sure it's great it's you know it's a little slow pace so

[00:35:26] are we we're on a couple of a good bit of the time yeah yeah to see the property and that kind

[00:35:32] of thing and then you get to taste some of the teas yeah they had a peach tea that was so delicious

[00:35:37] and seemed so southern to me so southern you could do it hot or cold I bought a lot of

[00:35:50] patriots point thank you yes that's super cool so we did a tour a self guided tour of this and I would

[00:35:58] I think our takeaway was you need an actual um audio tour or something because a lot of times

[00:36:05] we didn't know what we were looking at yeah so this is patriot point maritime and naval museum

[00:36:10] so it's just across the bridge from downtown Charleston it's a huge so you need some time over there

[00:36:18] if you're military buff you'll love this or even we were thinking some of the young kids

[00:36:25] that you know have seen top gone or something like that oh yeah it is well yeah there's the USS

[00:36:31] Yorktown aircraft carrier and um there's also a destroyer that was used in Normandy and World War II

[00:36:39] and the Korean War um you even went inside this replica of the Apollo 8 oh for God I did go in that

[00:36:47] capsule that put man on the moon for the first time that's right yeah what about the sea out there yeah

[00:36:55] what else would I say about Charleston oh my goodness I had so many notes but now I've scribbled

[00:37:00] through a bunch I know which I don't know if you want any sense of great southern culture

[00:37:10] just go make your own experience there I just close your eyes and point I feel like

[00:37:15] you will not be disappointed there's a an aquarium there's an art museum lots of things you can do

[00:37:23] there's if you like to walk there's an eight lane suspension bridge that Arthur

[00:37:29] Ravinal junior bridge that goes from Charleston to Mount Pleasant

[00:37:34] it you can walk it it's two and a half miles long that's awesome and

[00:37:39] like it or walk it it's a 12 foot path so you're nice and safe and yeah you know distance

[00:37:45] and that could be a fun thing to do and there's beaches we haven't even really spent much time talking

[00:37:51] about beaches we really have it but there's so many beaches and they're all just so family friendly

[00:37:58] yeah uh some are private and exclusive and you'd have to be like a resident of that area to get

[00:38:04] too but plenty of public beaches lots of people go to Sullivan's island folly beach

[00:38:11] there's different fields I feel like folly beach is kind of the it's like more young hippie

[00:38:17] yeah that's where I started out going to beach and then I'll now off-grown to me is a little more like

[00:38:24] families and yeah little fancier shaker kind of look yeah a lot more surfing out at folly

[00:38:31] but yeah that whole vibe that goes with surfer culture yeah but we've talked about this before

[00:38:37] this is like the perfect city for people who have different interests so like the guys could go

[00:38:43] fishing the girls could go shopping I know that's to go typical I like fishing we did crapping

[00:38:48] we did crapping but I'm just saying like if there's somebody who wants to lay on the beach for

[00:38:53] the time then I still have museums and history that I can go explore and that is very unique it is

[00:39:01] say I want to relax but you want to sightseeing you want to go to Charleston because we're both going

[00:39:07] to have a great time so I would just say go and if you want to know what we've been talking about for

[00:39:12] the last 250 episodes most of its Charleston sounds like all of it pretty much so this has been

[00:39:20] really fun it's been a really fun time to commemorate many topics all in one city and yeah look

[00:39:27] in southwest of lie you there pretty quickly and well depends on where your flying from from Nashville

[00:39:34] it's super fast and easy one way yeah it's and it's a great small airport so go visit Charleston

[00:39:44] we'll be back here next time with more southern culture till there's to 250 episodes peace be with y'all

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