We made it!

And now reside under the Charleston moon.

This is one charming, elegant and gracious city: brick-paved roads, picturesque harbourside walk, quaint cobblestone alleyways, antebellum mansions, streets lined with colonial dwellings, historic buildings at every turn, monuments, abundant churches and graveyards dating back to the 17th Century. Charleston has it all.

We explored the historic area on foot… and in the blistering South Carolina heat. We walked until we were foot-weary and thirsty.

We toured the Aiken-Rhett House, a preserved antebellum mansion with intact slave quarters.

We saw Charleston’s unique architecture of single houses built one room wide which are entered through a door onto a piazza (verandah) giving the occupants privacy and situated to catch the cooling winds.

We stumbled across the Confederate States of America submarine “Hunley” outside the Charleston Museum. The first of its kind.

We reached Battery Point on the tip of peninsula, and viewed Fort Sumter from afar. It is located in the harbour and looks quite similar to Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour.

A thoroughly splendid day of exploration. More to come tomorrow.

Such is Life!