When we visited the USA for the first time, we ended our trip with a week in the Deep South, split between two very different American cities: Charleston & New Orleans. Ridiculously pretty Charleston, is home of the prettiest neighbourhoods in the United States. Three days later we found ourselves in the vibrant, noisy streets of New Orleans. Both cities were characteristically Southern, yet I’d say that they’d be just about as different as two major southern cities could be.

Wealthy, beautiful, and not just a little bit snobby, Charleston was once Queen Bee of the South – and to many, it still is. We spent one afternoon in Charleston wandering around the Battery neighbourhood, admiring the pastel-hued mansions competing with every other house on the street to be the biggest, the grandest and the most beautiful.

Read more: My Favourite Travel Destinations in the USA

The Battery

We strolled along the waterfront, admiring the stately, candy-coloured three or four storey homes while enjoying the sea breeze. Most of the mansions along The Battery in Charleston have sweeping verandahs on the front of the house, which is a rarity in the city. If you walk around most other residential streets in Charleston, not fortunate enough to be right on the water, you’ll see that the houses are narrow at the front and have long verandahs running down the “side” of the house to catch the breeze. This is the true “front” of the house, and in most cases the front door facing the street is fake.

East Battery & South Battery

Today the two outward-facing streets of the Battery, East Battery and South Battery, are still the most desirable addresses in South Carolina. Some of the mansions have been passed down through generations, but “out of towners” have snapped up property along the Battery as part-time homes, no doubt to the disappointment of locals. Charleston has a reputation for being quite parochial, and protective of Charlestonian lineage, so it must be a bit of an insult to their pride that some of the best addresses are no longer locally owned.

As you walk down the street, you get the impression that each house is trying to out-do the last. Towering columns spanning several stories create grandiose verandahs, Italianate mansions rub shoulders with Victorian showstoppers and one home including a glass conservatory poking out of the roof, providing a birds-eye view of all the neighbours and out to sea.

The Pink House on The Battery: The Palmer Home

My favourite is a bright pink mansion, the Palmer Home, that I’ve nicknamed the Barbie Dream House. I was delighted to hear that it is now a B&B, owned by a third generation Palmer, Frances Palmer.  Most accommodation in Charleston is relatively expensive, so The Palmer Home might not be a huge stretch! It also wins brownie points for being a locally owned business.

A bit of Charleston history

Charleston was once the wealthiest city in the South. The city was at the height of its prosperity in the 18th century in what is called the Antebellum period, which was between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. During this time, Charlestonians made their fortunes in trans-Atlantic trade, as the port city was the biggest trade hub in the South. Tragically, a great deal of this trade was the human slave trade, with some figures estimating that 50% of slaves brought to America passed through Charleston. Many African Americans, including Michelle Obama, can trace their ancestor’s arrival in America through the Charleston slave trade.

Like most of the South, Charleston’s wealth was built on backbreaking slave labour, particularly on cotton and rice plantations. It isn’t surprising then that this wealthy city, built on slavery, was where the Civil War officially erupted.

From the calm East Battery waterfront, you can look out across the bay to Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. South Carolina was one of the seven states that seceded and formed the Confederacy, although it was never recognised as an independent nation. As Abraham Lincoln fought to abolish slavery across the United States, the Confederate States struggled to maintain their independence and to remain slave states.

Many wealthy Charlestonian families, including the owner of Magnolia Plantation, which we visited, invested their money in the Confederate cause and lost everything when the Confederates lost the war.

Charleston today

You can’t ignore Charleston’s history. Thankfully, times have changed and present-day Charleston is not the city that it once was. Charleston has the largest historic district in the United States, but just because everything looks nearly the same as it did over a hundred years ago does not mean that the hearts and minds of the people of Charleston have remained unchanged.

Charleston has a fascinating, tumultuous history. It is easy (and enjoyable) to take this beautiful town at face value, but there is much more to Charleston than meets the eye.

Have you been to Charleston, or, would you like to? Where have you travelled to that has a fascinating history?