For Your Inspiration: Charleston SC architecture

A couple of weeks ago I had the great good pleasure of visiting Charleston, SC to film with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson for The Quilt Show. I’ll tell you more about that soon, but first, the beautiful city. I love architecture that has character. Cities that have a living breathing soul. I love my suburban house – but it’s more like a carpenter loves her favorite tool. It gets the job done well but it isn’t like a work of art. Going into a place where the environment has the benefit of time for people and generations to truly give a place a feeling of depth and history – that is as good as sitting and breathing into the ocean tides for me.

Charleston has a structural history as deep as any place in the United States. It was one of the first settlements during the colonial era. Unlike most other early settlements it tolerated many religions, having one of the oldest synagogues in the country.

Charleston is a beautiful city to walk through, small enough to wander without getting lost – you’ll run into the ocean soon enough on this small penninsula. There are grand homes and small ones and many, many beautiful glimpses of tiny courtyard gardens. I love hidden gardens as much as I love soulful architecture.

I also love that first hint of spring with blossoms opening. There was a bitterly cold wind as we were walking around that kept us from feeling that expansive wonderful first warmth that is the harbinger of winter’s end, but we could see visible proof that it is on the way.

I look at such places and imagine the stories bricks could tell. I sometimes feel that if I could sit still and quietly for long enough I could hear their whispers. Or at least I could imagine the stories.

In the case of this city there is a deep and rich and often painful story to be told. For the first time I took time both before and after I visited to dig a little deeper. Over the next few posts I’ll share a little of my perspectives with you. Stay tuned.