Charleston Before and After

Wednesday, November 20th
Charleston, SC
Mostly Cloudy - 55 Degrees

The Civil War

"The War of Northern Aggression"

"The Recent Unpleasantness"

South Carolina seceded from the Union by a unanimous vote on December 20, 1860.  At that time, the primary federal military installation in the area was at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island.  Fort Moultrie, under the command of Major Robert Anderson, had two companies totaling 85 men.  It was a fort in name only, in a residential neighborhood, isolated at the tip of an island.  The walls of the compound were so short, some of the neighboring houses looked down into the fort.  Major Anderson was surrounded by enemy territory, and his position was indefensible.

After the War of 1812, the federal government began strengthening coastal defenses up and down the Atlantic seaboard.  As part of this program, Fort Sumter was under construction on a man-made island at the mouth of Charleston Harbor.  Work began on the island in 1829, and was 90% complete by December of 1860.  The walls of the fort were 50 feet high, designed for a full complement of 135 guns, only 15 of which had been mounted and were ready to fire.  At full force, Fort Sumter would have a garrison of 650 men.

Six days after the vote of secession, tensions were on the rise and Major Anderson had to make a move.  Under cover of darkness on December 26th, 1860, Major Anderson moved his troops across the harbor to Fort Sumter, not yet complete, but secure.  The next day, the South Carolina Volunteers took possession of Fort Moultrie and the other three federal installations around Charleston Harbor.

The secession movement continued to gain steam, By March of 1861, seven other southern states had joined South Carolina in seceding from the Union, and they had formed The Confederate States of America under the leadership of Jefferson Davis.  As each state left the Union, local forces took command of federal military installations in their jurisdictions.  Fort Sumter was one of the few that remained under federal control, and it became the flashpoint of the conflict between the Union and the Confederacy, which demanded the fort be vacated.

Brigadier General Pierre G.T. Beauregard took command of Confederate troops in Charleston just as Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States.  On April 4, 1861, Lincoln notified the governor of South Carolina that he would make an attempt to resupply the fort.  The Confederate Secretary of War ordered Beauregard to "at once demand its evacuation, and if this is refused proceed, in such manner as you may determine, to reduce it."

Beauregard called on Major Anderson to surrender on April 11th.  He refused.  At 3:20 AM on April 12th, Beauregard gave a one hour attack notice.  At 4:30 AM, a signal shell was fired, and an attack on Fort Sumter was launched from Confederate batteries all around Charleston Harbor.  The confederate siege on Fort Sumter lasted 34 hours before Major Anderson was forced to surrender on Sunday, April 14th.  He lowered the Union flag and his troops were allowed to escape on a ship to New York.  There were no fatalities on either side, and only five injuries total, but the Civil War had begun.

In the face of relentless Union bombardment, 46,000 shells totaling more than seven million pounds of artillery, the Confederacy held Fort Sumter until they retreated from General William T. Sherman's advance and evacuated the fort on February 17, 1865.  On April 14, 1865, four years to the day after surrendering Fort Sumter, with Charleston under Union control and the war nearly at an end, Major General Anderson returned to the abandoned fort.  Once again he raised the Union flag over the fort where the war had begun.  The very same United States flag he had lowered in defeat four years before.

The boat to Fort Sumter leaves from Liberty Square on the Ashley River, a site the National Park Service Visitor Education Center shares with the South Carolina Aquarium.

Cruising down river to Fort Sumter at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, St. Philip's steeple towers above the Charleston skyline and Waterfront Park.

Ranger Kate met us at the Pier for a tour of Fort Sumter.

The wall surrounding the fort today is about one-third as high as the original wall, the result of Civil War bombardment, but what remains dates from the War and is largely intact. The fort continued to be an active US military installation well after the Civil War, and has been altered since that time.  The black structure was a post-war addition and is not original.  It now houses the Fort Sumter Museum and gift shop.

Three Civil War shells remain lodged in the wall of the fort:

Getting off the Fort Sumter boat back at Liberty Square, cold and wind burned, we were in need of a restaurant and a respite.  A little north of the historic district, Hominy Grill is on every insider's shortlist of southern staples, and they are open for lunch.

"Located in an historic Charleston single house, Hominy Grill feels as though it has been open for generations, in fact this landmark has only been dishing up its simple, clean fare since 1996.  Combining the traditions of the past with the bounty of land and sea, James Beard Award winning chef/owner Robert Stehling lets the Low Country’s unique cultural history and flavors guide his cooking.  Widely acclaimed on television and in print, Hominy Grill has built a reputation as a place where Charleston cuisine lives.  Savvy regulars slip in between the crowds of out of town visitors.  This is the food we wished our grandmothers could cook."

Our first fried green tomatoes of the trip did not disappoint.  Cut thick, cornmeal dusted, fried hot and hard to crispy juicy perfection, served with ranch so rich with herbs and personality, we bought the cookbook.  The real deal. The Big Nasty Biscuit is the best name going for a fried chicken sandwich.  The biscuit was outstanding, the chicken good, the gravy just OK.  We saved the top half of the biscuit from the gravy and slathered it with butter and honey instead.  Oh, yeah.  BBQ in the South is pork, not beef, but the brisket special was mighty fine, sliced thin and tender with just enough fat to hold the smoke, the sauce dark and sweet over the top.  Here's my theory on how hushpuppies got their name:  Mama made some up one day, and the dog whimpered and cried for one.  She said, "Hush, puppy, you ain't gettin' none.  Too good for you."  After all of that, desert stole our hearts.  The apple walnut cake was so tender and light, it was held together only by the loving embrace of the cream cheese icing.  In your dreams, carrot cake.  And, if Heaven is a bowl of chocolate pudding, I finally know how to get to heaven.  It's in the book.

Hominy Grill Menu:

• Sweet Tea
• Fried Green Tomatoes with ranch dressing
• Big Nasty Biscuit with fried chicken breast, cheddar cheese and sausage gravy
• Smoked Beef Brisket Platter with Low Country red rice, ginger cole slaw, jalepeno hushpuppies, & black strap molasses bbq sauce
• Apple Walnut Cake with cream cheese icing
• Chocolate Pudding

The remains of three great antebellum plantations still grace the banks of the Ashley river outside of Charleston.  Drayton Hall, The Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, and Middleton Place survived the war to varying degrees and differ in tone and presentation.  While they each provide a window into antebellum plantation life, Middleton Place, a National Historic Landmark, "is a sublime, unforgettable combination of history and sheer natural beauty.  Nestled along a quiet bend in the Ashley River, the grounds contain an historic restored home, working stables, and sixty acres of breathtaking gardens...Middleton Place is the culmination of the Lowcountry rice plantation aesthetic."

Middleton place served as the seat of the Middleton family through four generations and 125 years of prominence in the life of the South, and the life of the Nation.  The 200 acre estate was granted in 1675, and the grand main residence dates from 1705.  In 1741, Mary Williams brought the estate as a dowry to her marriage with Henry Middleton, who would become president of the First Continental Congress.  Their son, Arthur, was a signatory to the Declaration of Independence.  Arthur's son Henry was Governor of the State of South Carolina.  Henry's son, Williams, was a signatory to the Ordinance of Secession.  Williams lent his name to the Confederacy, and everything else as well.  He invested heavily in Confederate war bonds, continuing to invest even when it was clear that the North would win.  He believed so strongly in the future of an independent South, and the leadership role that he would play, that he had no exit strategy.  At the end of the war, he was broke.  A wealthy sister kept him afloat, but the Middleton dynasty of influence had ended.

The first Henry Middleton began the formal gardens almost immediately after taking control of the plantation.  He adopted the principles set forth in the gardens of Versailles.  "Rational order, geometry, symmetry, balance, vistas, focal points, and surprises were all part of the garden vocabulary."  A series of "allees" parallel and perpendicular to one another, lead to smaller garden rooms, and larger geometric gardens.  A reflection pool anchors one corner, a mill pond, another.  One central axis begins at the porch of the main house with two parallel lawns leading to a series of sculpted terraces, and finally to the Butterfly Lakes at river's edge, two symmetrical lakes, each in the shape of a single butterfly wing.

In 1755, Middleton expanded the residence as well, with two flanker buildings, one to the north of the main house with a family library, art gallery, and music room, and one to the south with office space and guest quarters for his businesses.

As badly as the war ended for Williams Middleton, the fate of Middleton Place was even worse.  On February 22, 1865 the 56th New York Volunteers, Union troops, who had occupied the plantation during the war, set fire to the main house and both flankers, and laid waste to the gardens, as they rode out of town.  The main house and north flanker were destroyed, the ruins left standing until the great earthquake of 1886 brought down what was left.  The south flanker was rebuilt as the family home in the same footprint as the original.

In the early 1900s, Middleton descendent J.J. Pringle Smith inherited the house and gardens, the latter in a terrible state, so "neglected and overgrown," that it took more than twenty years for restoration and recovery.  Much of the work done by the Smiths themselves, Mrs. Heningham Smith on her hands and knees feeling her way through the unruly growth to find the original brick borders that delineate the garden paths.  In 1941, in honor of the garden's bicentennial, the oldest landscaped garden in the United States was recognized by the Garden Club of America with the Bulkley Medal as "the most interesting and important garden in America."  In 1991, 250 years after work on the garden began, the International Committee on Monuments and Sites named Middleton Place a garden of international importance, one of only six in the United States.

Originally, an entirely green garden, some blooming plants have been added, even a few that bloom this time of year.  On a cloudy day, in the least appealing season, this is still a beautiful place.

We have, we think, saved the best for last...

"The Mobil Four-Star and AAA Four-Diamond Peninsula Grill is at Planters Inn, the acclaimed Relais & Châteaux property located in the heart of Historic Charleston, South Carolina.  A seamless marriage of cosmopolitan accents and Charleston gentility, the ambiance at Peninsula Grill is simultaneously refined and relaxed.  Heralded by Esquire magazine as one of America's Best New Restaurants in 1997, the Grill has earned recognition from a host of other esteemed publications, including The New York Times, Southern Living, Travel + Leisure, Wine Spectator and Food & Wine, which named it one of America's Top 50 Hotel Restaurants.  The Peninsula Grill experience begins with the very best Lowcountry produce and seafood combined with the finest ingredients flown in fresh daily from points around the world."

The Lobster and Corn Chowder was heralded by Richard Turen as a highlight of Charleston.  And it is.  Built on a foundation of medium roux, the chowder had the mouth feel of velvet with no hint of paste.  Nor did it suffer from an overpowering shell reduction, or the weight of heavy cream.  Just fresh vegetables and perfectly poached lobster in a happy medium.  The pork and beef were both outstanding, medium and sliced medium-rare respectively, highlighted by flavorful sauces, and complemented by the perfect potato.  And finally, the specialty of the house, The Ultimate Coconut cake:

"From Bon Appetit and Saveur to Martha Stewart Living and The New York Times, the Ultimate Coconut Cake has inspired many food and travel writers to wax poetically about its twelve layers of Southern perfection."

“The Peninsula Grill in the Planters Inn is deservedly famous for its scrumptious coconut cake, said to be a Charleston specialty.” — Vogue

“A little slice of heaven…” — The New York Times

“. . . skyscraper high. . . light as a cloud. . .” — Bon Appetit

"One of the South’s Grand Desserts.” — Southern Living

“All time favorite dessert.” — Bobby Flay

“The richest filling, and the best ingredients…” — Martha Stewart

At the first mention of the Peninsula Grill to anyone and everyone you may encounter, "You must have the coconut cake!"  So, we did.

Here's the thing...try to imagine the  V - E - R - Y   B - E - S - T  coconut cake you can possibly imagine.  It's moist.  It's rich.  It's light.  It's dense.  It's big.  It's beautiful.  It's the very essence of coconut.  This is it.  No question.  B - U - T . . . , it's coconut cake, a known quantity, easily within the grasp of your imagination, well within the reach of your fork.  We've all had good coconut cake.  How much better can the very best be?

Peninsula Grill Menu:

• Southern Manhattan
  Russell's Reserve Bourbon, Southern Comfort Liqueur, Angostura Bitters, Garnished with Brandy Soaked Cherries, Served on the Rocks
• Amuse Bouche
  Mushroom Mornay in Puff Pastry
• Chilled Wedge of Iceberg
  with Smoked Bacon Jerky and Buttermilk Dressing
• Lobster & Corn Chowder
  Basil Butter
• Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop
  Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Braised Greens and BBQ Jus
• Seared New York Strip au Poivre
  Crispy Potato Cake, Benne Beans and Brandy Pan Sauce
• Vidalia Whipped Potatoes
• The Ultimate Coconut Cake
  Coconut Anglaise and Strawberries

Next Stop:  Savannah, GA

Charleston Proper

Tuesday, November 19th
Charleston, SC
65 Degrees - Clear and Windy

Charleston is the Holy City.  Not due to the number of churches or the strength of their congregations, but because their spires dominate the city skyline.  Charleston led the nation in historic preservation through land use regulation.  Historically significant structures have been protected for many decades, and new construction must now meet stringent height, massing, and design standards.  Nothing is allowed to challenge the Holy City's spires for supremacy.

Charleston is a City of History.  It was founded in 1670, originally called Charles Towne, in homage to King Charles II.  It has been a leading city of the South since colonial times.  Charlestonians had prominent roles in the American Revolution and the formation of the nation, as signatories to the Declaration of Independence, delegates to, and leaders of, the Continental Congress, and signatories to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.  In the next century, Charleston was the "Cradle of Secession."  South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, and the first battle of the Civil War was fought in Charleston Harbor.

Charleston is a Chilly City.  At least today, it is.  Damn, it's cold.  We brought jeans and jackets, but didn't expect to use them.  Charleston is so hot and so humid for so much of the year, that winter is the social season.  Plantation owners would spend the winter in their city houses plying the party circuit.  First frost is sometime in December and the heat starts to build again before the end of March.  Frost came early this year, and the wind blowing off the water today gets your attention.

The heart of the Charleston tourist experience is the Old City Market.  This is the Pike Place of Charleston, older, but not in continuous use.  It was built on top of a reclaimed creek bed beginning in 1804.  The iconic handicraft of the market is the sweetgrass basket, woven by hand for generations in the African tradition.  They are authentic and intricate, functional and beautiful, too expensive to buy, and too big to carry home.

The market is the home base of Palmetto Carriage Works, the oldest tour operator in the city, and one of several to offer the classic Charleston experience, a mule-drawn carriage tour.  This industry in Charleston is highly regulated, for the benefit of the mules, the city, its visitors, and its citizens.  These animals are not ridden hard and put away wet.  The mules are rotated in and out of service within the city stables, and regularly pastured on farms outside the city.  There is a fulltime veterinarian with offices on stable row to constantly monitor their health.  When maximum levels of heat and humidity are approached, the temperature of each mule is taken every hour.  When limits are exceeded, operations are ceased until conditions improve.  Every tour has to check in with the city office immediately after embarking.  The driver, carriage, and mule team are registered and the city assigns the tour one of several authorized routes, picked at random.  Only twenty tours can operate at any given time.  The mules wear diaper bags.  When a blowout occurs, the driver stops and drops a marker, then notifies the city cleanup crew.  A truck is dispatched to the site of the spill, vacuums up any remaining solid and liquid waste, disinfects the site, and washes the residue away.  Now there's a job that sucks shit.  Literally.

Armed with an intimate knowledge of the ins and outs of carriage tours, we embarked on one of our own.  Driver Malcom, and mule team Carter & Cash, took us for a breezy tour around the historic district.  Our assigned route didn't have a lot of highlights, but the narrative was entertaining and informative, covering history, culture, and architecture.

The carriage tour was a nice ride, but not really much of a tour, so we took off on a walk-about of the historic district.  From the hotel, we walked up to Meeting Street, followed Meeting all the way South of Broad down to the Battery, then back up East Bay Street to North of Broad.

The most visible, among the most lovely, but not one of the oldest steeples in the Holy City is that of St. Philips Episcopal Church.  It is the oldest Anglican congregation south of Virginia, but the house of worship itself dates only to the 1830s, its predecessors having suffered catastrophic disasters, both natural and manmade.

The Old Powder Magazine is the oldest public building in the Carolinas, built in 1713 as the city's store of gunpowder.  It figured prominently in the Revolution, designed to implode rather than explode in an attack, but it has held firm for 300 years.

The Circular Congregational Church is known as the "Church of Dissenters" for its "polyglot mix of non-Anglicans."  In the Holy City, the almost medieval design of the 1891 building is noted for the absence of a spire.  This congregation first congregated on the site of the "White Meeting House," for which Meeting Street is named.

The intersection of Broad and Meeting is a key navigational landmark within the historic district, but it also serves a higher calling.  The intersection of Broad and Meeting is the Four Corners of Law:

1. Municipal Law - Charleston City Hall - 1804
2. State Law - Charleston County Courthouse - 1792
3. Federal Law - The United States Post Office and Federal Courthouse - 1896
4. God's Law - St. Michael's Episcopal Church - 1761

Some of Charleston's most significant Antebellum homes have been preserved as house museums and are open to the public.  The Nathaniel Russell House at 51 Meeting Street is a National Historic Landmark built in 1808.  The first two floors have been meticulously restored by the Historic Charleston Foundation, and furnished almost exclusively with period pieces.  The home is considered "one of the country's best examples of neoclassicism," and is known for its three story "flying staircase" that requires no external means of support.  Each step is supported solely by the step below it.  The staircase has now been reinforced and the public is no longer allowed to use it.  The third floor has been extensively damaged, and repaired, by a series of storms and has not been restored in anticipation of inevitable storm damage in the future.

The downtown Charleston peninsula runs from North to South, with its southern tip at the confluence of the Ashley River on the West side and the Cooper River to the East.  White Point Gardens is at the foot of the peninsula with views out over the mouths of the rivers that combine to form Charleston Harbor.

The Battery is the seawall that defines the southern tip of the peninsula and holds back the waters of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, Charleston Harbor, and the surges of countless storms.  It was built in the 1850s after the peninsula was expanded southward with fill to reach its current dimensions.  The low battery runs to the West along the banks of the Ashley, the high battery rises above East Bay Street along the shores of the Cooper.  The top of the Battery is paved with granite and is popular with locals and tourists out for a stroll, a jog, or a run.

The Edmondston-Alston House at 21 East Bay Street is another of Charleston's great antebellum homes.  Charles Edmondston had the house built in 1825, overlooking Charleston Harbor and the comings and goings of his merchant ships.  Edmonston made and lost several fortunes, and was forced to sell the home in 1838 to Charles Alston, a rice planter.  The home has remained in the Alston family for most of the last 175 years, and more than 90% of the furnishings and artifacts on display in the home, many of which are historically significant, are original to the first Alston era in the mid-1800s.  The first two floors of the home have been restored and maintained as they were in the 19th century, while the third floor has been remodeled into a modern apartment and is home to a descendent of the Alston family.  Each wall of the home, both exterior and interior, is two bricks thick.  Almost all of the windows in the home are original, protected by metal shutters on both sides.  The home has survived fires, storms, and Union shelling during the Civil War.  The garden wall was the original southern city wall before the peninsula was expanded.  It dates back to the Revolution.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley dedicated Waterfront Park as "this generation's gift to the future."  The twelve acre park along a half-mile stretch of the Cooper River was more than a decade in the planning, and more than halfway through construction, when Hurricane Hugo caused extensive damage in 1989.  The damage was repaired and construction continued, the park opening just one week behind schedule in 1990.  The crowning jewel of the park is Pineapple Fountain, a work of art dedicated to the art of play.

Charleston was the epicenter of the slave trade in the Old South.  Some estimate that fully one-half of all African Americans alive today can trace their ancestry to Sullivan's Island in Charleston Harbor, where 80% of slaves imported from Africa were processed.  It was the Ellis Island of slavery.  The united States banned the importation of slaves in 1808, killing the international slave trade, but dramatically increasing  domestic slave trading.  Public auctions of slaves flourished in the first half of the nineteenth century.  Public slave auctions were creating quite the spectacle in Charleston, offending sensitive sensibilities and especially European travelers from countries that had banned slavery long ago.  The City of Charleston banned public slave auctions in the 1850s, giving rise to slave marts, where private auctions were held indoors.  The auction district in Charleston was eventually home to more than 40 slave marts, the most prominent of which, Ryan's Mart, was owned and operated by a city alderman.  Ryan's Mart opened in 1859, holding, abusing, and trading slaves until auctions were suspended in 1863 during the Civil War.  The City of Charleston acquired the site of Ryan's Mart and opened the Old Slave Mart Museum in 2007.

Just today, as we registered to tour the Edmondston-Alston House, the lovely lady behind the desk said, "Slavery wasn't all bad, you know."  It was the old southern apologist line about benevolent masters and grateful slaves.  As if the fact that not every slave was overworked and underfed, badgered and belittled, delegitimized and dehumanized, shackled and chained, beaten and raped, tortured and killed, excuses robbing someone of the fruits of their labor, their self-determination, their free will.  Ignorance is not an excuse.  Benevolence is not an excuse.  Slavery was all bad, and to suggest otherwise is ignorant and not at all benevolent.

One more look at St. Philip’s spire, awash in the glow of sunset, as we finish our travels for the day.

Looking to go downscale for dinner tonight, still sustainable farm-to-table, old-school, but New Southern, the Moon Handbook gave us the ultimate locals only tip.  A diner with serious food, just across the river and beyond the "famed Coburg Dairy cow."  A place with a Tuesday Night special so special you reserve the order, not the table.  And it just happens to be Tuesday night.

"Welcome to the Glass Onion. We strongly believe in the importance of eating seasonally, locally and naturally. So, you can expect all natural meats, local seafood and vegetables from as close to home as we can get. Whether you are looking for a light lunch, a decadent brunch or dinner paired with your favorite libation – we will satisfy.  The fried chicken at Glass Onion is so good that you need to make a reservation to enjoy it. The restaurant's Fried Chicken Supper Night is 4-9 p.m. every Tuesday. Reservations have to be made at least 24 hours in advance."

Satisfy they did.  When the words "Smoked Honey" are on a drink menu, don't ask, just order.  Best whiskey sour ever.  We have had pimento cheese three days running, this one of a finer texture with a harder kick, paired with fork-tender sausage and pickled veg, all made in-house.  The place was packed, every place set with chicken, fresh and local, brined and seasoned, flour-dusted, mahogany fried.  The salty crunchy bits stood on their own, but the inner layer of flesh, pulled from the bone in tender strands, benefited from a dredge through a schmear of hot sauce and a dip in the house buttermilk dressing served on the side.  The collards, hands down the Prince of Sides, came from a deep dark place in the soul, full of smoke with just the slight twang of vinegar.  Killer.

Glass Onion Menu:

• Smoked Honey Whiskey Sour
  Bulleit Bourbon & Bittermilk Magic!
• Belle's Sausage Link with Pimento Cheese, Garlic Toast, and Our Pickles
• Tuesday Night Fried Chicken
  White, Dark, and Wings with Mash and Collards, Cole Slaw, Macaroni Salad
• Peach Almond Pound Cake with Buttercream

Tomorrow:  Charleston Before and After

Atlanta to Charleston

Monday, November 18th
Atlanta, GA
Mostly Sunny - 70 Degrees

Atlanta to Charleston

There are 201 official street suffix abbreviations recognized by the United States Postal Service: AVE, BLVD, CT, etc.  201.  Atlanta must have at least one of each named "Peachtree."  One flows into another then crosses a third and becomes a fourth.  The statement, "Meet me at the corner of Peachtree and Peachtree" is ridiculous in Atlanta, not because it's physically impossible, but because that doesn't even narrow it down.  On our way out of town this morning, we took Peachtree Center Avenue NE, which merged with and became Peachtree Street NE.  If we had taken a left at the intersection of Peachtree Street NE and Peachtree Place NE going west, the next street over is Peachtree Walk NE, then West Peachtree Street NW.  And that's just not peachy.

It was 325 miles from Atlanta to Charleston, via I20 East through Augusta, GA to the outskirts of Columbia, SC, then I26 East to Charleston.  It was a nice drive on a nice day, the highways lined with trees on both sides, both evergreen and deciduous, the latter in the latter days of abscission.  The vibrancy of amber and ruby lost to the more muted tones of maize and dusky rose.


Charleston, SC
Partly Cloudy - 77 Degrees

We were late getting into Charleston today, just enough time to get settled at the hotel and ready for dinner.

Charleston makes it hard to make decisions.  It suffers an embarrassment of riches, but lacks differentiation.  There are half-a-dozen very good hotels, none of which are standouts.  Differences in price, age, charm, amenities, and location offset, rendering any comparison a wash.  After exhaustive research and much consideration, the choice wasn't clear.  When all else fails, you can always count on old money, and new hotels.  Contemporary charm and modern convenience trump historic charm and primitive inconvenience every time.

"Charleston’s most awarded luxury inn sits within one of the city’s oldest districts and is anchored by an award winning restaurant. This acclaimed 50 room inn boasts a grand staircase leading to reception, circular sky-lighted atrium and fine amenities. The French Quarter Inn has a distinct combination of location, luxury and exceptional service that is truly unparalleled."

New in the year 2000, the hotel is lovely, our room spacious and comfortable, the staff friendly and accommodating.

A full complement of concierge level food and beverage service is de regueur among the better hotels in Charleston, and the French Quarter Inn sets the standard with continental breakfast, refreshments throughout the day, a wine and cheese reception in the evening, a nightcap of port, and milk and cookies before bed.

Charleston has one of the great food scenes in the United States, a dozen great options for every dining opportunity.  Choosing among them was every bit as difficult as finding the right hotel.

Broad Street runs East and West dividing the downtown Charleston peninsula into the historical residential district South of Broad, and the historical commercial district North of Broad.  Dinner tonight is Slightly North of Broad, and that is the name of the restaurant:  SNoB:

"AN ECLECTIC LOWCOUNTRY BISTRO THAT BRINGS TOGETHER AN ABUNDANCE OF LOCAL INGREDIENTS AND THOUGHTFUL, EXPERT PRESENTATION WITH A FRIENDLY, CONTAGIOUS ENERGY."

"Here the dining room is a natural extension of the kitchen, a place where culinary skill, a clever, considered wine program, warm service, and conversations meld together. Our local farmers, fishermen and producers are as integral to the food we make as they are to our place in this community."

We had high expectations and even higher hopes for SNoB.  It is widely regarded as one of the best restaurants in the city and has been endorsed by several of our insider sources.  Richard Turen, super-agent and columnist for Travel Weekly, highlighted the Maverick Shrimp and Grits at SNoB as one of the reasons Charleston has surpassed San Francisco at the top of Travel + Leisure's list of Best Cities in America.

We love the name, and we love the room, but the food was disappointing.

Tomato season in the Northwest is not an annual occurrence.  When it does make an appearance, it disappears just as quickly.  But it's still tomato season down South, and Holy City Farms grows them sweet and juicy.  The salad on the specials sheet was a burst of freshness and a reminder of the summer long gone up North.  The bibb lettuce Salad was clean and simple, but failed to pop with too little of the tangy-good buttermilk dressing and a garnish of pickled okra that was all slime and no pucker.  The clam chowder was as good as we have had, and we come from chowder country.  It was heavy on clams and bacon in a base of intense clam stock with just enough cream to give it body.  If this is the best of shrimp and grits, then shrimp and grits is just not our thing.  First, we struggle to get past the muddy taste of Southern shrimp.  That may be a difference of taste, but can we all agree that shrimp of a certain size served out of the shell, should always be deveined?  They were cooked perfectly, so the kitchen should be capable of prepping them perfectly as well.  Even the sausage let us down, rendered flavorless in the sauce.  The ribeye is the king of steaks, the chef's favorite, fatty and flavorful.  This was not a ribeye, however, it was a ribeye FILET.  So what's that?  Well, if you cut away everything that makes the ribeye great, and leave behind only the toughest, leanest, most inhospitable solid mass of muscle, you have a ribeye fillet.  The chef "recommends medium-rare," but grills it low and slow to a flavorless medium.  It was not a good steak.  The Chocolate Pecan cake ended the meal on a sweet note, the pecans deeply roasted and richly caramelized.

The restaurant may be slightly north of broad, but the food was slightly south of good.

Slightly North of Broad Menu:

• Pear & Ginger Sangria
• Kurios Farm Bibb Lettuce Salad
  pimento cheese crostini, pickled okra, buttermilk dressing
• Holy City Farm Tomato Salad
  olives, toasted pine nuts, grana padano broken balsamic vinaigrette
• Local Clam Chowder
  Yukon gold potatoes, Benton’s bacon, leeks, white wine cream
• Maverick Shrimp & Grits
  sautéed shrimp, sausage, country ham, fresh tomatoes, green onions, garlic, Geechie Boy yellow grits
• Grilled CAB Ribeye Filet
  herbed goat cheese, red onion jam, grilled okra, Madeira sauce
• Warm Chocolate Pecan Cake
  Wholly Cow vanilla ice cream, creamy caramel

Tomorrow:  Charleston Proper

Southern Sojourn

Sunday, November 17th
Atlanta, GA
Light Rain - 68 Degrees

Well, hello again, friends.

When last we were in touch, we left you floating in the South Pacific on the French Polynesian island of Raiatea. We won't Bora Bora you with Moorea stories from the South Pacific right now. That Papeete mache might give you the Nuku Hivas. But, rest assured that we stuck together (more or less), stayed afloat, and circumnavigated the South Pacific to return to the Pacific Northwest. The archive is still under construction, the historical record will be complete. In the meantime, here we go again...

This is the year of the Southern Sojourn, in two parts:

1. The Southern Charm Road Trip
   Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale in a Chevy Impala, through Charleston and Savannah.
2. The Caribbean Sojourn Cruise
   Roundtrip Fort Lauderdale on the Seabourn Sojourn, through the Caribbean.

This trip is neither adventurous, nor exotic, but we will try to keep you regularly posted, and occasionally entertained.

To those of you who say, "What's with all the food? Don't you ever do anything but eat?" Well, food is good, and yes, but only because something has to come in between. If you still don't get it, take a walk down Beale Street in Memphis, and take their advice...

...we're going to.

We have about 18 hours in Atlanta before we hit the road. Better get started. Celebrity Chef, Top Chef Judge and Masters Cheftestant, Hugh Acheson is a four-time nominee and the 2012 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Southeast. He made Athens, Georgia the best tasting college town in the nation with Five & Ten and The National. He was no less ambitious with the opening of Empire State South, "Southern Food in Midtown Atlanta."

The vibe here is somewhere between country chic and midtown sleek, high-backed leather banquettes are fronted by rough-hewn bare wood tables. On the "Midtown Mile," ESS sits at the base of an office building on the other side of a bocce court from a corporate hotel. The clientele is no less eclectic: a little family celebrating an adult birthday with toddler in tow, 5 o'clock shadow hipster dudes with iPhones on the table in constant chirp, a four-top of fogies who don't look like they get out much, and a maybe celebrity holding court at the bar. Each of them, all of them, like the service, unfailingly nice.

"Empire State South takes a modern approach to creating authentic Southern dishes, relying on the beautiful foods of this region. A community restaurant that appeals to a broad range, Empire State South is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a to-go lunch program, courtyard bocce ball and an extensive coffee bar."

The food was more along the lines of good and interesting, than great and satisfying. An extensive list of hand-crafted cocktails is long on gin and whiskey. They are "liquor forward, not sweet."  "Snackies for the Table" include mini mason jars of southern spreads with toast soldiers. Pimento cheese is a southern staple, all the better with smoky-sweet bacon marmalade. We don't boil peanuts in the northwest. We eat them, or butter them, but they are legumes after all, and they make a damn fine hummus. The charred octopus was the dud of the night, all dry and dark with nothing to lighten the mood. The snout-to-tail tour-de-pig started with pork belly, but went well beyond, garnished with strips of leathery-crisp ear. The farm egg delivered the best story of the night. The chefs were on a culinary tour of Las Vegas and had a Hangover-caliber night of "drunken debauchery." The next afternoon, they awoke with no memory of where they had been or what they had done, but the vivid memory of this Vietnamese dish of crispy rice and runny egg. We finished on a breakfast note as well with the fall French toast, great in any season, for any meal.

Empire State South Menu:

• The Westview
  pear infused bulleit rye, amontillado Sherry, aromatic bitters
• In Jars
  pimento cheese & bacon marmalade, boiled peanut hummus
• Farm Egg
  pork sausage, shiitakes, broccoli, crisp carolina gold rice, kimchi puree
• Charred Octopus
  sea island red peas, smoked onion-squid ink puree, orange confit, urfa, ginger
• Pork Belly
  cider glaze: cotechino, fritter, huckleberry, trumpet mushrooms, baby carrots
• Fall French Toast
  pumpkin brioche pain perdu, pumpkin ganache, caramelized banana, maple sugar, banana ice cream

When the last of the banana ice cream had melted away, we got one last scoop for the night. Chef is opening a new restaurant in Savannah next year. His manager has been in The Hostess City scoping out the food scene. Word is she wasn't impressed, but we did get some recommendations. We'll figure it out. There are 426 miles and ten meals between here and Savannah, and we have plans for every one of them.

Next Stop:  Charleston, SC

The Uphill Run to San Diego

Saturday, November 3rd
South Pacific
Day 35 - Disembarkation
ms Westerdam
San Diego, California
Arriving:  7:00 AM

The Crosby, Stills, and Nash hit "Southern Cross" that inspired this adventure tells the tale of a one-way journey:

Got out of town on a boat
Goin' to Southern islands.
Sailing a reach
Before a followin' sea.
She was makin' for the trades
On the outside,
And the downhill run
To Papeete.

We have done all of that and more, but this is a full circle cruise, and we have had the last six days at sea, on the uphill run to San Diego.  Six days of the Exploration Speaker Series and the Hydropool & Thermal Suites.  Six days of 75 degrees and mostly/partly sunny/cloudy.

The crew is always a highlight of any cruise, and the crew art auction was a highlight of this one.  My friend Diana in the Explorations Cafe is the best Beverage Attendant at sea, a total sweetheart, and a talented painter.  I would love to bring her home with me, but I will have to settle for her paintings.

Virtually every quotation ever uttered has been attributed to Mark Twain at one time or another, but I am reminded of this one as we reach the end of our time together in the South Pacific:

“I have found out there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.”

Now that's a bit harsh.  It wasn't that bad.  There remains a lot of love between us, and certainly no hate.  But, it is fair to say that travel has brought out some of the worst in each of us, and not nearly enough of the best.  Long and abiding friendships have been strained.  That has colored our impressions of this journey of more than a month and 10,000 nautical miles.  We have many beautiful pictures, and a few ugly memories.  Travel is always a contrast in bitter/sweet, this trip maybe more so than most.

Next Stop...