Friday, April 5, 2013

The 66th Festival Of Houses And Gardens In Charleston

For 66 years, the Charleston Historical Society has hosted the Festival of Houses and Gardens.
The festival is held during spring's peak blooming season, so you can only imagine how gorgeous the gardens are.
There are 7 to 10 houses each day to tour, offering a rare opportunity to see the inside of homes dating back to the 18th century.

Let's take a tour of Charleston shall we?

This is your typical Charleston house, called a single house.
Notice the front door.  It opens to an open piazza (a Charleston term for a double porch) and garden.
Once inside, the front door is typically in the middle.  Inside the foyer, the living room faces the street and the dining room toward the back.  Stairway straight ahead.

The kitchen was usually in a separate building behind the main house.  Kitchen fires were quite common back in the day.
Now, the main house is connected with the kitchen, called a "hyphen."

Not all houses are single houses.
I think this home is just lovely with the brick and boxwood garden.

In South Carolina, you are allowed to take photos from the street only.  It is against the law to photograph on the property without the owner's permission.

Unfortunately, that means I didn't get any photos of the lovely gardens or inside the homes on the tours.

So with camera in hand, I took a million photos of the exteriors!

I wasn't the only one taking pictures!

There is just so much beauty here!
Shady paths and courtyards everywhere...


I can see why Charleston is known as the "city set in a garden."


Antique homes everywhere!

Unfortunately, we were able to take only one house tour due to the timing of our stay over Easter weekend.
So you can only imagine my delight and surprise when we were invited for cocktails at the lovely home of a mutual friend whose garden was on the tour!

Here I am posing with by BFF Maureen, our hostess Monica and her daughter Katie, thinking I've died and gone to heaven!
Thank you Monica for opening your home to us and for your hospitality.
It was the highlight of our trip, and quite frankly, the best home we saw!

For more information on Charleston's Festival of Houses and Gardens, visit their website here.
I'm joining The Tablescaper for "Oh the Places I've Been."

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20 comments:

Mary Ann Pickett said...

LOVE this post. My son was just there on a college trip...thanks to you, I almost feel I was there, too.

Martha said...

Charleston is one of my favorite cities. Not only a tour but to be entertained in one of them! Wow!

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style said...

One of my favorite cities.

La Vie Quotidienne said...

Charleston is one of the loveliest cities and has such a glorious history. But I agree with you that it can be a bit fustrating not to be able to see all of those amazing enclosed gardens. The house tour must be a real treat.

janet bishop magina said...

We are going on vacation..sadly just after the house tours end. I am still looking forward to explori.g this beautiful city.

Sarah said...

Charleston is a beautiful city! I've had the opportunity to visit twice. What a treat! Thanks for taking up along on your tour. I'd love to go for the annual Home and Garden Tour some day.

The Charm of Home said...

Beautiful tour!
Sherry

Lady Jane said...

Never been to Charlston so I really enjoyed your tour. Thanks for all the great pics.

Lori E said...

The history just oozes out of those bricks and walls. The stories they could tell. What a beautiful place. I am sure you have hundreds of pictures of your trip. Around every corner a new fabulous place to photograph.

Kathysue said...

Oh how you are making me want to go back to Charleston, it is like you can never have enough time there to see it all and absorb all the ambiance. So glad you are having a wonderful trip,
xo Kathysue

Dovecote Decor said...

Thank you so much for the lovely tour. I think the planet was in Charleston last week!
Best,
Liz

Anonymous said...

Love Charleston, I usually go every year. Different houses and garden on tour every year. Hope you got to see Mrs Whaley's garden.

I love the fact that they garden on a postage stamp and lots of gardens are driveways by night.

So happy to hear you enjoyed our southern hospitality y'all!

Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble Christmas said...

Beautiful pictures of stunning places!!

Thanks so much for sharing!!

Hugs,
Debbie

Monica said...

Thank you for sharing your trip and the beautiful homes. I have not been to Charleston so this was a perfect peek to a wonderful place.

mommyof3 said...

Is the picture of the first house on Tradd st? If so it is the inspiration house for a book I read recently. It looks just like the cover . I would love to visit Charleston someday.

cindy hattersley design said...

I so want to go back to Charleston...this post made me green with envy!!

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Lulu said...

As your photos prove, Charleston is not short on charm. It is a delightful place to wander to say noting about eating!

noel said...

That was a fun tour, Charleston is so beautiful and well preserved

I'm inviting you to join us for Travel Photo Mondays, the link runs all week so I hope you can join us for the next installment?

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