Living in Charleston, SC: A City with Plenty of Things to Do

Approximately 5 million tourists visit Charleston, SC each year.  Since tourism is one of the biggest industries in the area, Charleston offers a wide range of things to do for tourists and locals alike.  Whether you like educational activities, shopping, or sports, Charleston offers something for everyone!  Even in the (more than) ten years I have lived in Charleston, I still have a long list of places I still want to visit.  This list includes only the most popular sites in Charleston, in case you are planning to visit the area or are looking to relocate to a city with lots to offer.

Museums:  The Gibbes Museum of Art is the main art museum in Charleston.  It focuses on regional artists ranging from the 1700s to today.  Patriots Point Naval Maritime Museum is one of the most visited sites in Charleston.  Located just over the Ravenel Bridge in Mt. Pleasant, this aircraft carrier offers incredible views of the Charleston Harbor and downtown Charleston.  The World War II ship has a good collection of war planes and offers a unique glimpse into the everyday life of soldiers on an aircraft carrier.  (You can also tour the Cold War submarine Clagamore, which is located adjacent to the ship.)  The Charleston Museum is the oldest museum in the United States.  It was established in 1773 and displays jewelry, war artifacts, Egyptian relics, and also has a natural history section.  The South Carolina Aquarium is one of the most kid-friendly museums in Charleston.  You’ll see thousands of marine animals, like sharks, eels, seahorses, and loggerhead sea turtles.

Plantations and Historic Homes:  You may recognize Middleton Place from the movie The Patriot.  This rice plantation dates back 300 years, and it is one of the most visited in Charleston.  Drayton Hall is hailed as a preservation icon, and the home is in near-original condition.  Construction of the house began in 1738, and it housed seven generations of the Drayton family.  This plantation focuses on details of the home itself, so visitors are often surprised to see that many of its rooms are actually empty.  Boone Hall Plantation (located in Mt. Pleasant) is popular year round, but it sees a surge of visitors around Halloween each year for its Fright Nights (a haunted house event) and its Corn Maze.  This is one of the oldest working plantations in the United States, and its fields have grown crops for almost 330 years.  In addition to its plantations, Charleston also has quite a few historic homes that are located in downtown Charleston and are open to the public.  One of the most popular is the Edmondston-Alston House, and this is one of the only homes on the Battery open to visitors.  The house offers fantastic views of the Charleston Harbor and is a good example of the Greek Revival home style that is prevalent in downtown Charleston.  The Heyward-Washington House is a Georgian style house that was home to Thomas Heyward, Jr., who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  George Washington also stayed there during his tour of the nation in 1791.

Sports:  The Charleston Riverdogs is the city’s minor league baseball team.  The stadium is located downtown and faces the Ashley River, offering great water views.  After weekend night games, there is often a fireworks show for the kids.  The professional hockey team, the Stingrays, plays at the North Charleston Coliseum.  Since the team was founded in 1993, they have won the Kelly Cup Championship three times.  If you enjoy professional soccer, be sure to check out the Charleston Battery.  Its home stadium on Daniel Island, the Blackbaud Stadium, was the first privately funded soccer stadium in the U.S.  Or, if you prefer watching college sports, you will find most college sports to attend, between the College of Charleston and The Citadel.

Shopping:  Last year, Charleston was ranked as a Best Shopping District in the United States.  You will find independently owned shops and large commercial shopping centers sprinkled throughout the tri county area, but some of the most popular places to shop in Charleston tend to be King Street in downtown, Towne Centre in Mt. Pleasant, and the Tanger Outlets in North Charleston.  On King Street you will find everything from Pottery Barn to Williams Sonoma, from the Gap to Gucci, from antique stores to the Apple store, coffee shops, and lots of bars and restaurants.  This street is one of the most visited in all of the Charleston because of the sheer range of shops and restaurants (not the mention the classic Charleston architecture).  Towne Centre is an outdoor shopping mall with more than 65 stores, from Barnes and Noble to Belk.  There you will also find the Regal Cinema with sixteen stadium style theaters.  The Tanger Outlets offers over 90 stores, including Banana Republic, Nine West, Bass, and Old Navy, just to name a few.  This section of North Charleston surrounding the outlets has seen enormous growth in the past five or so years since the outlet stores were built, so you can now find plenty of other shopping and restaurants in this general vicinity.