so yesterday was our last day in Charleston, and it was only a half-day. we woke up pretty early because we wanted to get some walking sightseeing in before we had to go home, which we planned to do after lunch. so we drove into town and parked at about 9:45 am. the first thing we came to that we had interest in seeing was the Provost Dungeon. a building that was used by the British before and during the Revolutionary War to both entertain royal guests and to torture, imprison, and execute enemies of the state. incidentally, it was also the place in which seven honorary balls were held in George Washington’s honor when he visited Charleston in 1791. we, however, did not get to tour the dungeon because it would have taken too long and cost money that we didn’t want to pay because we were not that attached to seeing it. so we pressed on down Broad Street to stop in on a shop we had seen on the carriage tour called “Rivendell.” i thought this place might have Hobbitish things within, but they were closed and would not be open until 1pm. after looking in the windows, though, it seemed that it would not have been worth anything.

we continued down Broad Street until we came to the “Four Corners of Law,” the intersection of Broad and Meeting streets. this intersection is so named because on one corner you have a post office which also houses a federal courthouse and represents “federal law.” on another corner is a county courthouse which represents “state law.” the third corner houses city hall which represents “city law.” St. Michael’s Episcopal Church is located on the fourth and final corner, representing “God’s law.”

our first stop on the four corners was St. Michael’s. this was the church that contains the famous “pew 43″ which such great Americans as George Washington and Oprah are said to have sat during worship services. the church was very beautiful inside. all of the wood was a dark mahogany, very solid, and very old. there was an elevated pulpit, such as you might see in drawings of preachers during the Puritan age of this country’s history. there are also four Tiffany stained glass windows which are protected by bulletproof glass both inside the building and outside the building. the altar area has engraved walls on which the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, and the Ten Commandments are found. it was a very beautiful church and we got a picture of the view that Washington (and Oprah) would have had while sitting in pew 43. it was also pretty cool because as soon as we entered the sanctuary, the organ began to play. we wondered if this was some sort of touristy thing the church does. maybe playing an organ cd or something. but it wasn’t. it was just the organ lady practicing the songs for this Sunday’s worship services. but it was very cool and greatly added to the ambience of the old church.

after visiting the church we went across the street to the post office to mail a few things. then we set off down Meeting Street towards the harbor to look at some of the old houses and to see The Battery, an entire row of historic waterfront property. the houses and gardens were gorgeous! i had never seen anything like it before. many of the houses had cast iron gates with various markings or special insignia on them. several of the houses also had historic landmark plaques which told about the house’s history. the oldest house we saw claimed to have stood since 1740 and even claimed to have the original woodworking, although i’m sure that many layers of paint had been added over the last 265 years.

after our trip to see the houses, we were very hungry and decided it was time for lunch. not wanting to leave the city without having some barbecue, we settled on Sticky Fingers, a local rib joint. Sarah got the Carolina sweet ribs and i had the Tennessee whisky ribs. both were pretty good. they were pork ribs, which are not my favorite, but i was still pretty satisfied with them. the beans and cole slaw were very good as well, and i was very tempted by the pecan pie, but i was too stuffed and was still reeling from the excellent pie i had had two nights before and did not want to ruin that fine experience. after lunch we walked through The Market one last time and picked up a couple of souvenirs to take home. we were running out of time (we had to be checked out of the hotel by 1pm and it was 12:30 by the time we finished walking through The Market) so we decided to head back to the hotel to check out.

after doing this we took one more trip into town in order to see Rainbow Row. this is a line of multi-colored houses that are along East Bay Street. i’m not sure why they’re too significant (aside from the fact that they’re 1+ million dollar houses), but they were pretty, all the same. after getting a couple pictures of the houses we got back in the car and said goodbye to Charleston.

we really enjoyed our stay in this beautiful city and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a place to go in South Carolina. we can’t wait til we have an excuse to go back there as there is still some things that we would like to see and do there. at the same time, we’re glad we’re home and that we had a week to just relax and do fun things before we start back to work, school, and getting ready to move later this month.