The Spoleto Festival taking place this Spring is from May 28th through June 13th. For the 34th consecutive year, venues throughout Charleston will feature some of the world’s brightest talent in theater, music, fine arts, and dance. The internationally-acclaimed festival offers more than 140 performances in churches, theaters, and outdoor parks and gardens. Heralded features include opera, jazz, chamber and symphonic performances, as well as ballet, modern dance, and a variety of stage shows. For ticket information, call 843-579-3100 or go on line at www.spoletousa.org.

West African cultural connections play a major role in Charleston’s heritage, and will offer an entertaining interlude with the sixth annual Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Festival, Saturday, June 5th at Waterfront Memorial Park. The centerpiece of the festival will be the decorative, hand-woven sweetgrass baskets, displaying an ingenious method of tying plant materials together that dates back hundreds of years, and has been passed down generation to generation among descendants of West African slaves. In addition, the festival will feature music and dance, storytelling and folklore based on West African-based traditions that have influenced coastal South Carolina. Admission to the festival is free, and for more information, call 843-856-9732.

Within the space of one week, Charleston celebrates independence in grand style with Carolina Day on June 28th, and the Fourth of July. Carolina Day festivities include an 11am downtown parade from historic Washington Park Meeting to White Point Garden, with Revolutionary War re-enactors and cannon. The day marks the historic battle of Sullivan’s Island, which is beautifully displayed on Sullivan’s Island at Fort Moultrie, and also part of the Fort Sumter national historic site. On the 4th, fireworks and live music will light up the night at Patriots Point Maritime Museum, with a spectacular showcase highlighted by displays of some of America’s most famous fighting ships. All events on both dates are free.

Sol Surfers Camp offers youngsters from ages 8-15 a chance to hop aboard one of the most natural and traditional sports along coastal South Carolina. Taught by professional surfer Kai Dilling and his experienced staff, the week-long camps give young surfers the skill and confidence to enjoy the natural high of Charleston’s beautiful beaches. Kai has been instrumental in bringing the East Coast Surfing Championships to Charleston each year, and stresses safety, environmental awareness and surfer etiquette. He is keenly aware of a child’s comfort level and learning curve in handling a surf board, and for more than a decade has opened the enjoyment of a day at the beach to many a young boy or girl. A shuttle is provided to the Folly Beach location where camp is held each morning, and youngsters are supplied with all gear and a snack. Camps begin in June, and for more information, call 843-881-6700 or kai@solfsurfers.net .

Just west of Charleston, outside the quaint town of Summerville, the Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site offers a rare glimpse into a treasured past. The town Dorchester was founded in the 1690’s as a trading post along the Ashley River, and today the site still bears remarkably well-preserved remnants of its tabby fort walls, its brick church bell tower, and its cypress log wharf. Tabby is a crude masonry created from oyster shells and lime, both abundant resources in coastal South Carolina, which was a sea bed 40 million years ago. The fort, built in 1757, was briefly commanded by American patriot Francis Marion. Famously known as the Swamp Fox, Marion led attacks against the British during their occupation of Charleston in the 1780’s, eventually helping drive the English out of South Carolina. The picturesque park is still beautifully surrounded by forest and pristine river, and is open daily with a $2 admission charge. For information or directions, call 843-873-1740.

  Charleston Architecture - The 1845 French Huguenot Church at the corner of Church and Queen streets displays an unusual Gothic Revival style that was briefly popular in the mid-1800’s. The church was designed by famed Charleston architect Edward Brickell White, whose many outstanding contributions include Market Hall and St. Philip’s Church steeple. White, w West Point graduate, was intrigued by the engineering challenge of the Gothic style, which called for extended buttresses and arches to give the church a sense of openness that is surprising due to the constraints of the relatively small footprint. The Church, made of brick covered with white stucco, features finial towers and lancet windows that point heavenward, replicating the Gothic theme of pointing to heaven. Among the intriguing aspects of the church is the gallery wall in its vestibule, which can be opened by sliding wooden panels. This feature allowed those standing in the rear of the church to observe services, as well as providing better circulation during the heat of summer.

  Bet You Did Not Know  - Color in building exteriors was common in colonial Charleston. The drab, monochromatic images of historic city photographs are, of course, black and white, and failed to show such aspects as the red brick walls of City Hall before its 1880’s renovation. The Pink House on Chalmers Street got its name from the shades of its coral stone exterior, later covered with stucco and painted to magnify the effect. Also, Rainbow Row was a rebirth of color in Charleston, not a beginning. The row’s famous spectrum of color appeared in the 1930’s and 40’s, but was a renewal of colorful facades that began in the early 18th century, as builders added clay to stucco mix, or simply painted the thin covering of lime and sand. The look disappeared after the Civil War under cheap whitewash, and was revived on East Bay Street with a rainbow that is now common on every block.

  Charleston Market Report - March 2010

Hyper Local Statistics: Historic Downtown, Mount Pleasant, Sullivan's Island.  Please email me if you would like information on any of the 15 hyper local markets.