Charleston South Carolina and Southern Traditions

Arts Architecture History and Local Seafood 

The City founded in 1670, Charleston is defined by its cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages and pastel pre-Civil-War-era houses, particularly in the bustling French Quarter and Battery areas. The Battery promenade and Waterfront Park both overlook Charleston Harbor, while Fort Sumter, a Federal stronghold where the first shots of the Civil War rang out, lies across the water.

The Old City is located on a peninsula at the point where, as Charlestonians are fond of saying, the Ashley and the Cooper Rivers come together to form the Atlantic Ocean. The entire peninsula is very low and frequently floods during heavy rains, storm surges, and unusually high tides. As Charles Towne grew, so did the community's cultural and social opportunities, especially for the elite merchants and planters. The first theatre building in America was built in 1736 on the site of today's Dock Street Theatre.  By the mid-18^thcentury, it had become a bustling trade center, the hub of the Atlantic trade for the southern colonies. Charles Towne was also the wealthiest and largest city south of Philadelphia.

Rainbow Row's 13 houses along East Bay Street were the commercial center from the Colonial era until the early 20^th century.

Southern Trails

Theater Charleston known for its unique culture, which blends traditional Southern, English, French, and West African elements, Charleston and its downtown peninsula are home to America's first theater and is one the country's top 10 cities for the performing arts as well as the Spoleto USA Festival.

Experiential Tourism with the Traveler as Protagonist

Experiences designed around multiple interests that ensure unique emotions; the traveler participates alongside local cooks, artists, craftsmen, and expert tour guides in activities:

o   rooted in the territory; it can happen only there, and

o   with uniquely local events, experiments, food and wine tastings

o   specifically modified and tailored to your preferences  

memorable unique and unrepeatable!

Know More About It

Arezza    Knowledge Tourism

Tourism Shopping Food and Shipping Charleston is a major vacation destination with award-winning restaurants and shopping. Fashion Week is held each spring in Marion Square brings in designers, journalists, and clients from across the nation. Charleston is known for its local seafood, which plays a key role in the city's renowned cuisine that includes gumbo, she-crab soup, fried oysters, deviled crab cakes, red rice, and shrimp and grits. Rice is the staple in many dishes, reflecting the rice culture of the Low Country. The city’s two shipping terminals are part of the fourth-largest container seaport on the East Coast and the thirteenth largest seaport in North America.

The Charleston Digital Corridor is Home to an Increasing Number of High Tech Businesses

A Visit to Savannah Georgia

Architecture Diverse Neighborhoods History and Southern Charm

Savannah was founded in 1733 on the Savannah River, it became the colonial capital and later the first state capital of Georgia. Its port was of strategic importance during both the American Revolution and the Civil War.

Location Savannah lies on the Savannah River, approximately 20 miles -32 km - upriver from the Atlantic Ocean. It is also located near the Intracoastal Waterway. The Ogeechee River flows toward the Atlantic Ocean some 16 miles - 26 km - south of downtown Savannah.

Diverse Neighborhoods over 100 distinct neighborhoods can be identified in six principal areas of the city: Downtown (Landmark Historic District and Victorian District), Midtown, Southside, Eastside, Westside, and Southwest/West Chatham. The city's location offers visitors access to the coastal islands and the Savannah Riverfront, both popular tourist destinations. Other picturesque towns adjacent to Savannah include the shrimping village of Thunderbolt and three residential areas that began as summer resort communities for Savannahians: Beaulieu, Vernonburg, and the Isle of Hope.

The Savannah Historic District is one of largest in the United States

Culture Savannah has a rich and growing performing arts scene, offering cultural events throughout the year, including the Savannah Book Festival held annually on Presidents' Day weekend in the vicinity of historic Telfair and Wright squares, includes free presentations by more than 35 contemporary authors; Museum House Flannery O’Connor dedicated to the work and life of the Savannah born fiction writer; the Savannah Ballet Theatre – established in 1998; Lucas Theatre for the Arts; the Coastal Jazz Association, home of the annual Savannah Jazz Festival; the Savannah Orchestra and Music Festival.

Experiential Tourism with the Traveler as Protagonist

Experiences designed around multiple interests that ensure unique emotions; the traveler participates alongside local cooks, artists, craftsmen, and expert tour guides in activities:

o   rooted in the territory; it can happen only there, and

o   with uniquely local events, experiments, food and wine tastings

o   specifically modified and tailored to your preferences  

memorable unique and unrepeatable!

Know More About It

Arezza    Knowledge Tourism

Lucas Theatre for the Arts is one of several theaters owned by the Savannah College of Art and Design; it hosts the annual Savannah Film Festival.

Southern Trails

Architecture Savannah was named as America's second-best city for Cool Buildings and Architecture, behind Chicago. The historic district has 22 squares that vary in size and character, from the formal fountain and monuments of the largest, Johnson, to the playgrounds of the smallest, Crawford. Elbert, Ellis, and Liberty Squares are classified as the three "lost squares," destroyed in the course of urban development during the 1950s. 

Travel to Mobile Alabama

Architecture Carnivals Fire Houses Ships Shipbuilding and Southern Hospitality

Mobile Alabama is located at the head of Mobile Bay and the Central Gulf Coast. Mobile was founded by the French in 1702. During its first 100 years, Mobile was a colony of France, Britain and Spain; it became a part of the United States of America in 1813.

Mobile Bay is the fourth largest estuary in the US. The Mobile, Tensaw and several smaller rivers empty into the northern end of the bay. Fish and crustaceans swarm the shallow coastline and shore of the bay. Mobile Bay is the only place on earth where the so called jubilees are a common occurrence.

The Port of Mobile’s deep water terminals have direct access to 1500 miles of inland and intra-coastal waterways and access to the Great Lakes, the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. During WWII, the defense buildup resulted in a considerable increase in the city's white middle-class and working-class population, largely due to the massive influx of workers coming to work in the shipyards were Liberty ships and tankers were built, along with destroyers and minesweepers.

Experiential Tourism with the Traveler as Protagonist

Experiences designed around multiple interests that ensure unique emotions; the traveler participates alongside local cooks, artists, craftsmen, and expert tour guides in activities:

o   rooted in the territory; it can happen only there, and

o   with uniquely local events, experiments, food and wine tastings

o   specifically modified and tailored to your preferences  

memorable unique and unrepeatable!

To Know More About It

Arezza    Knowledge Tourism

Culture Mobile is home to an array of cultural influences with its mixed French, Spanish, Creole and Catholic heritage, in addition to British and African. The city is home to several art museums, a symphony orchestra, a professional opera, a professional ballet company and the oldest organized  

Carnival celebrations in the country, originating with the French Catholic colonial settlers. Carnival in Mobile evolved over the course of 300 years from a beginning as a sedate French Catholic tradition into the mainstream multi-week celebration that today bridges a spectrum of cultures. Mobile's official cultural ambassadors are the Azalea Trail Maids who embody the ideals of Southern Hospitality.

The Mobile Museum of Art features permanent exhibits that span several centuries of art and culture. The permanent exhibits include the African and Asian Collection Gallery, Altmayer Gallery of American art, Katharine C. Cochrane Gallery of American Fine Art, Maisel European Gallery, Riddick Glass Gallery, Smith Crafts Gallery, and the Ann B. Hearin Contemporary Art Gallery.

Battleship Memorial Park is a military park on the shore of Mobile Bay and features the World War II era USS Alabama and the submarine USS Drum as well as Korean and Vietnam War memorials.

Architecture as the city’s principal commercial corridor, Dauphin Street acquired such a reputation for quality. A fire in 1839 destroyed the older wooden buildings on the street and the two- and three-story brick commercial buildings that we see today began to be built. Many of the early structures had the straight lintels and dentil moldings of the Federal style. Reconstruction brought new building trends such as the Italianate style and cast iron facades. The end of the 19^th Century brought the Victorian era and Revivalism which continued into the 20^th Century. Dauphin Street area has experienced a recent revival because of the historic preservation movement. Video

Fire Houses in the nineteenth century the fire alarm was sounded by beating on a metal wagon wheel ring with a hammer. Volunteers were always in a hurry to get to the fire because the company that responded first got paid. By law, every citizen was required to have a fire bucket, and three were required in cotton warehouses, taverns and hotels.

Creole Fire House #1, 1872 designed by James H. Hutchisson, this two-story brick structure with arched central bay and full height second floor windows. It was the first volunteer fire company in Mobile, founded in 1819 by members of Mobile’s Creole community. The fire company was absorbed into the city department in 1888 and finally disbanded in 1970. The Creoles were people of mixed heritage who formed their own schools, churches and social organizations. It is said that the Creole #1 was usually the first to get to the fire because they bought rejected race horses, including Jack, the horse who could follow his nose straight to the fire. Horse drawn equipment was used until 1924. The company remained in the Dearborn Street house until the Central Fire Station was built in 1926.

South Water Street circa 1860 the front of the Elgin Building is one-of-a-kind in Mobile. It is a cast iron facade ordered from the catalogue of the Badger Iron Works Co. in New York and installed on a brick building. The façade is based on the waterfront palazzos of 15th and 16th century Venice. The façade was designed by T.H. Giles.

South Royal Street 1891 designed in 1891 by Rudolph Benz, this commercial brick building is in the Queen Ann Style. The east and south corners have turrets with pyramidal roofs. The building also has a variety of decorative motifs and cast iron balconies.

102 Dauphin Street circa 1875 currently a two-story building with rounded windows with cast iron hoods on the second floor; this building was originally three stories. The decorative sills for the third floor windows are still visible at the cornice line.

Bienville Square circa 1850 was named for Mobile’s founder, Jean Baptist le Moyne Sieur de Bienville, a French naval officer who became the governor of French Louisiana. Bienville Square began its transition into a public Square in 1824 when the U.S. Congress passed an act transferring a large plot of land to the City of Mobile. This plot was the site of the Old Spanish Hospital on the southwest corner of the block. The Act specifically specified that the property be forever used as a city park. The Square became a popular place to promenade, and by the spring of 1890 installation of an Acanthus Fountain in the center was underway. The fountain was placed in honor of Dr. George A. Ketchum, a prominent physician, civic leader and president of the Bienville Water Works. In 1905, Teddy Roosevelt spoke in the Square about the importance of the Panama Canal to the port of Mobile.