Historians will surely recall April 12, 1861, as the date when Confederate troops issued the first shots of the Civil War when they fired on Union troops stationed at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. For the next four years, battles took place around the city, but in early 1865 Gen. William Sherman aimed his forces at Columbia instead of Charleston because he believed the port city had lost its influence and was already, according to him, “a mere desolated wreck … hardly worth the time to starve it out.” And that was the good news! Because Charlestonians were too war-poor to remodel their city, they simply adapted its old buildings — laid out in “broad and straight lines” in the late 1670s — to create what is now one of the most beautifully preserved and architecturally rich cities in America.
Through occupation, economic hardship, fires, a major earthquake in 1886 and Hurricane Hugo in 1989, Charleston has exhibited a remarkable resilience — enough to be called “a city of living history; one filled with diversity and old world charm not found anywhere else … a destination not to be missed in a lifetime of travel experiences.” A visit to Charleston and the surrounding resorts of Kiawah and Seabrook Islands makes for a delightful weekend or week-long visit, especially if you plan to be there during the 28th annual Spoleto Festival USA (May 28-June 13), the only American arts festival hosted by an entire city. For 17 days and nights each spring, Spoleto Festival USA fills the city with more than 120 performances by renowned artists and emerging performers in disciplines ranging from opera and dance to symphonic and jazz music in venues throughout the city’s theaters and churches, on the early 19th-century campus of the College of Charleston, and in the gardens of the 18th-century Middleton Place plantation.
Founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, Spoleto USA was intended to be the American counterpart to the Festival of Two Worlds, a forum for young American artists in Europe that has been held annually in Spoleto, Italy, since 1958. The festival quickly became a haven for a large group of traditional and experimental artists who found the mix of dance, theater, opera, music and the visual arts to be both exciting and stimulating. When the organizers of the Festival of Two Worlds planned an American festival, they searched for a city that would offer the charm of Spoleto with its wealth of theaters, churches and other performance spaces.
They found Charleston, South Carolina, to be the perfect counterpart — small enough to be dominated by nonstop arts events for more than two weeks, and large and sophisticated enough to provide a knowledgeable audience and appropriate theaters.
Spoleto Festival USA has firmly established itself as one of the world’s major arts festivals, presenting 100 world premieres and 93 American premieres since its inception in 1977. Past premieres and commissions have included works by Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Martha Clarke, Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg, and this year’s line-up features three operas – “Ariadne auf Naxos,” “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” and “The Peony Pavilion” — along with diverse dance performances from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Moscow Ballet, and concerts from the Westminster Choir and Spoleto Festival Orchestra. Piccolo Spoleto, held at the same time, is the official companion festival and highlights outstanding local and regional artists with more than 800 performances scattered throughout the city. The two festivals are independent organizations but complement each other with the talent and sophistication that they bring to Charleston each year. (For a full listing of performances, see the sidebar “Spoleto Festival USA Calendar of Events.”)
Attending any of the festival events assures you of a comprehensive tour of the city, but if you want to jump-start your visit with a virtual tour, start at the Charleston Visitor Center (375 Meeting St.) and its multi-sensory presentation “Forever Charleston,” which provides a framework for understanding the city. Follow up with a nearly obligatory horse-drawn carriage ride from the Old South Carriage Company (14 Anson St.), the city’s only licensed guides costumed in Confederate uniforms. Most carriage tours last one hour, cover two to three miles of the city’s loveliest areas, and the drivers are well-versed in Charleston history and lore.
During my recent visit, I followed the carriage ride with a walking tour and meandered through markets, alleyways and broad streets, admiring the city’s stunning colonial, antebellum and Victorian-style homes and gardens. At the Four Corners of Law (the intersection of Meeting and Broad streets), I spent time watching a sweetgrass basket maker at her trade. Sweetgrass coil basketry is a traditional art form practiced in many areas of the Lowcountry (Charleston and Mount Pleasant, in particular) and one of the oldest art forms of African origin in the United States. For generations, the art has been passed from mother to daughter, and each basket reflects the artist’s skill as both designer and technician.
Charleston is also filled with architecturally rich churches (more than 180 of them), some of which date to the late 1600s, and historical museums such as the antebellum Aiken-Rhett House (48 Elizabeth St.), Victorian Calhoun Mansion (16 Meeting St.) and neoclassical Nathaniel Russell House (51 Meeting St.). While Charleston is indeed a feast for the senses and history its main course, the contemporary side of the city is well served in a wide array of hotels, restaurants and bistros. For my weekend stay, I splurged to “sample” two luxury hotels — Charleston Place (205 Meeting St.) and Planters Inn (112 North Market St.) — and because they’re located directly opposite each other at the popular Old City Market, there was little inconvenience in moving. Where Charleston Place is big (442 guest rooms, 23 meeting rooms, a grand ballroom, full service spa, horizon-edged rooftop pool, clay tennis court, and 32 boutiques in The Shops at Charleston Place), Planters Inn is boutique (41 rooms in the original 1844 building, 21 in a new addition, a small ballroom and a meeting room that can host 36). (For accommodations in other price ranges, see “Incidental Intelligence.”) Charleston Place is home to three outstanding restaurants, including the award-winning Charleston Grill. Under the direction of executive chef Bob Waggoner, the Grill fuses Lowcountry cooking with French-influenced techniques. With dishes such as young zucchini blossoms stuffed with Maine Lobster or pan-seared sweetbreads over truffled grits, Waggoner says, “I combine my cooking experience from abroad with the flavors of the South.” At the Planters Inn, executive chef Robert Carter holds court over the Peninsula Grill, where he fuses the culinary characteristics of Charleston’s Lowcountry peninsula with all-American grill traditions. His signature dishes include oyster stew, benne seed rack of lamb, and scallops with cheddar-corn fritters. Grits, grits and more grits — with wild mushrooms, truffles or lemon — are a culinary staple of most Charleston restaurants, along with such local specialties such as Hoppin’ John, She-crab soup, hushpuppies, biscuits, bacon, black-eyed peas, hog jowl, Vidalia onions, collard greens and Clemson blue cheese, developed at nearby Clemson University.
INCIDENTAL INTELLIGENCE
Where to Stay: Charleston Place, 205 Meeting St., offers luxuriously appointed rooms and suites, and features amenities such as Botticino marble baths, working gas fireplaces, and museum-quality furniture — everything you’d expect at an Orient-Express hotel. Rates during the festival, $299-$529. Phone (800) 611-5545 or visit www.www.charlestonplace.com Planters Inn, 112 N. Market St., is a Relais & Chateaux property with lovely rooms and suites featuring canopied beds, period fabrics and commodious baths. Rates during the festival $225-$675. Phone (800) 845-7082 or visit www.plantersinn.com.
The Meeting Street Inn, 173 Meeting St., is a classic Charleston single-house-style hotel in the historic district; 56 rooms open to piazzas and a courtyard. Rates during the festival $149-$199. Phone (800) 842-8022 or visit www.meetingstreetinn.com
Doubletree Guest Suites, 181 Church St., a functional all-suites hotel with 212 rooms, fountained courtyard, and great location. Rates during the festival $199-$249. Phone (847) 408-8733 or visit www.doubletree.com Where to Eat: Hank’s Seafood, 10 Hayne St., the sister restaurant to Peninsula Grill, is located in a turn-of-the-century warehouse overlooking the historic Market. Full range of Lowcountry seafood specialties includes salmon carpaccio, oyster stew, Carolina crabcakes, shrimp and grits, snapper and grouper; dinner for two with wine $100-$110; (843) 723-FISH (3474) 82 Queen, 82 Queen St., features Lowcountry cuisine, and in spring and summer food is served in an open courtyard amid blooming azaleas. She Crab soup, fried green tomatoes, grilled quail, gumbo and jambalaya are counted as house specialties; dinner for two with wine $90-$100; (843) 723-7591 Mistral, 99 South Market St., has been a Charleston fixture for more than 17 years. The menu combines ProvencEale and classical French cuisine with Lowcountry seafood and seasonal specialties; dinner for two with wine $75-$85; (843) 722-5708
Slightly North of Broad, 192 E. Bay St., features Southern cooking — red bean soup, grits with smoked sausage and country ham, sauteeDd Palmetto squab, key lime tart; dinner for two with wine $85-$95; (843) 723-3424 Fulton Five, 5 Fulton St., is an off-the-beaten track trattoria tucked away on a side street off King Street. Classic Italian specialties like Tuscan-style oven-roasted fish, veal shanks, carpaccio,and homemade pastas make the cozy 40-seat restaurant popular with locals and visitors alike; dinner for two with wine $85-$95; (843) 853-5555
Visitor Information: For visitor information on Charleston, including accommodations, sightseeing, carriage and walking tours, food and drink offers, phone (800) 868-8118 or visit www.charlestonCVB.com.
For ticket information or a free brochure for Spoleto Festival USA, call at (843) 579-3100 or visit www.spoletousa.org.
