Places to visit in Charleston for the Travelling Architect

11. Rainbow row | Places to visit in Charleston SC

 The longest Pre-Revolutionary structure in America is Charleston’s Rainbow Row – a series of Georgian houses. These 18th century’s iconic homes are painted in a variety of colors thus the name, “Rainbow Row.”

The bright colors of this sequence appeal to the eye and other senses. Compared to the single houses seen in Charleston today, it is remarkable that the old architectural style of Charleston was more like the coastal cities – simple and elegant row houses. 

12. Chalmers Street and Pink House Gallery

Chalmers Street is a beautiful cobblestone street with one of the oldest structures in Charleston located on it…”The Pink House”. 

The Pink House is a handmade, and asymmetrical house, built of Bermuda stone and resembles a charming man-sized dollhouse. Its tile gambrel roof is as old as the 18th century. It was built by John Breton and is known to be the oldest private building surviving in the French Quarter. It has been used for various purposes over the years – in the 1750s, as a tavern, in the 20th century as a studio, and today as a gallery. 

13. Campbell’s covered bridge | Places to visit in Charleston SC

Campbell’s Covered Bridge is the only surviving covered bridge in the State of South Carolina. It was constructed in 1909 and is 38-foot long and a 12 foot wide pine structure that spans Beaverdam Creek was built by Charles Irwin Willis. 

The Bridge and surrounding area are now transformed into a park for visitors to enjoy picnics and explore the old mill foundations and home site. It is now owned by Greenville County visitors can learn about the area through interpretive signage, and wet their feet on a hot summer day in Beaverdam Creek.

14. Joe Riley Waterfront Park 

Joe Riley Waterfront Park in Charleston, South Carolina is a 12-acre park along a half-mile stretch of the Cooper River. It is a paradise for landscape architects as it has been awarded the Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2007. 

This award “recognizes a distinguished landscape architecture project completed between 15 and 50 years ago that retains its original design integrity and contributes significantly to the public realm of the community in which it is located.” 

This picturesque park has become more tourist-friendly since it was constructed. It was earlier a center of maritime traffic with several wharves and shipping terminals. It started to decline in the 1950s due to a fire at a steamship terminal. And by 1980, there were weeds all over the place and spoiled unused spaces. Work for this major park began in 1988 designed by Stuart O. Dawson. 

The park includes a lot of different areas such as a large pineapple-shaped fountain, floating dock, wooden piers, a dense canopy of oak trees, and a 1,200-foot palmetto-lined esplanade that follows the natural waterline. 

15. Churches of Charleston | Places to visit in Charleston SC

Charleston is called the “Holy City” because of its skyline, which is largely formed by Church Steeples. The houses are mostly Single standing and hence low in height which makes the Churches stand out! Each of the Churches has a very distinct architectural style and its way of appealing to the visitors. 

The variety of churches that can be seen in Charleston are – the very ornate Grace Episcopal Church, the modest St. Stephens Episcopal Church, the pretty pink French Huguenot Church, the Neo-gothic Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, the very high St. Matthews Lutheran Church, the Greek-inspired St. Johannes Lutheran Church, the Roman-inspired Circular Congregational Church, the Central Baptist Church, the Mt. Zion AME Church, the St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, and the St. John’s Lutheran Church.