Charleston is a city rich in history. One of the best ways to experience it? On foot! In 2001, Bulldog Tours started taking locals and tourists alike on historic walking adventures through this storied town. I walked its cobblestone streets with Bulldog Tours founder John Laverne, who seemed to know the history of ever building, landmark and tree in town. The Old Slave Mart Museum was a notable stop. This small building used to serve as the place where slaves were bought and traded—many people don’t realize that at one point during slavery as many as 35-40% of slave entered the United States through Charleston. Other places on the tour included a cemetery dating back to the 17^th Century, the Circular Congregational Church  and the Old City Jail.

Where there are historic buildings, there ought to be a community dedicated to preserving them. Charleston has something very special in that regard– The American College of the Building Arts. This unique school educates and trains artisans in the traditional building arts—like preservation, blacksmithing, woodworking and more. I met with professor Christina Butler, who told me all about the origins of this school. Ironworker Philip Simmons, a man responsible for some of the most beautiful ironwork in Charleston, understood the importance of keeping fading traditional skills alive. His passion became the seed that founded the School of the Building Arts.

Student Ryan Woodhall gave me a crash course in his specialty: blacksmithing. Pounding out red-hot iron was a wee bit intimidating for me, but it was truly fascinating to see this process in action. Don’t worry—I am not quitting my day job!

Food fanatics will travel long distances to great barbecue. In the southeast, it’s pitmaster Rodney Scott who draws crowds from all over the world to taste his signature whole hog barbecue. His family is legendary in the ‘cue world, and for the longest time, they sold it out of Scott’s Variety, a convenience store and grocery located on the side of an old highway. In July of 2016, Rodney decided to start a new chapter and open his own place. Rodney Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Charleston still does whole hog barbecue, along with an expanded menu that features pit smoked turkey, wings, buttermilk chicken tenders, baked beans, hush puppies, mac and cheese and so much more.

I love supporting local artisans when I travel. That’s why visiting Charleston City Market was a dream. Open for 214 years, this lovely hub puts an emphasis on selling 100% locally-made goods. From body products to jewelry, clothes to home goods, it’s a one-stop shop.

It’s also where you can find one of the city’s most sought-after works of art – the sweetgrass basket. With more than 50 resident Gullah artisans, the Charleston City Market is the very epicenter of sweetgrass basketry. I met Corey Alston, a fifth-generation sweetgrass basket-maker. Called Gullah baskets, these creations are truly works of art. Their roots date back to 1,000 years before the slave trade, and came to South Carolina with the arrival of slaves. Today, Corey is passing on this traditional handicraft to his daughter, Yesmine. What makes Corey’s work exceptional is not just the designs of the weave, but a tightness to it as well, that gives the baskets their weight and strength.

Charleston has three types of citizens – those who are very much alive, those who are very much dead, and then… the undead. There’s no better place to meet these spooky residents than the Old City Jail. While in operation, over 14,000 people died in this historic building, including some of Charleston’s most infamous criminals. I’m talking 19th-century pirates and Civil War prisoners. Located on Magazine Street downtown, the Old City Jail was in operation from 1802 until 1939, and most of the building’s original structures — like the cells and warden’s quarters — remain intact.

I toured the place with Randy Johnson, a native Charlestonian and “recovering attorney,” who led me on a paranormal investigation. Even though it was daytime, this place gave me the heebie-jeebies!

Founded in 1681, Boone Hall Plantation is one of the oldest in the United States. Englishman Major John Boone came to Charleston and established a plantation and gracious home on the banks of Wampacheone Creek. In 1955, the McRae Family purchased the plantation. The following year, it was open to the public. The McRae Family still owns the property, and they continue to make improvements to the plantation so that our visitors can experience what plantation life was like.

Today, nine slave cabins remain on the property, each telling an important story about the people who once lived there. Boone Hall Plantation is the only plantation in the S.C. Lowcountry to present live Gullah educational performances, all centered on the culture created by African slaves.

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