RVing in Charleston, SC Exploring Hidden Alleyways and Mt Pleasant KOA
(lively music) - [Chad] We're finally headed downtown. - Yeah, we've been here, this is our third day, right? It's only our third day. - Yeah. - We just have today and tomorrow and then we leave. I think this might be one of the shortest stays we've ever done in the history of our RV life. And I don't know why we only did like five days here.
- Yeah, I don't know. - 'Cause I'm not ready to go. (laughs) - I already have like departure depression.
We're finally going across the bridge into the historic downtown Charleston area. We eventually will have a walking tour this afternoon and it's like the secret alleyways and... - [Chad] Back alleys. - [Tara] Back alleys or something. So you know, it's sort of the lesser-told history of Charleston and I like that stuff.
I think that's gonna be cool. But before that, because it's only 11, so before that we're gonna park and walk around because I just love walking around downtown. - [Chad] What's the name of that main street right there that has all the- - [Tara] King? - [Chad] King Street, yeah. - Hopefully we'll get to see a lot of the sights that you might be expecting us to show you.
If not, we've got a couple of other Charleston videos from travels in the past. Also, don't forget to subscribe while you're at it. - Do it. - Please. - Please. It really helps us. - Yeah, it'd be really cool if you could like this video for us too.
That would be awesome. I have nothing picked out as far as where we're gonna go. I think we'll just know it when we see it. I love these buildings.
- [Chad] Yeah. - [Tara] Love it. - [Chad] It's old Southern. - [Tara] Oh, I know.
- [Chad] I think it's right here. - [Tara] Your left. Let's park. You want me to get out and look? I can get out and look.
I just don't know if you can get out. - [Chad] There's a little spot right there. - [Tara] Watch this guy here. - [Chad] I see him. These all go this way. - [Tara] This parking lot makes me stressed.
There's some- - [Chad] Look at that right there on that corner. Oh no, they all blocked that car in. Okay, well...
- [Tara] Okay. - [Chad] Action number two. (lively music continues) - [Tara] We drove right by this spot. - [Chad] Yeah, this is the other place.
I'm gonna go in here. - [Tara] That's funny. Plenty in here. - [Chad] This will work.
185 East Bay Street is where we're parked. - This is very close to where we have to end up for the tour later at 2. This parking area is pretty wide open right now.
The first one, not so much as you saw. - Not much at all. (laughs) - Couldn't even maneuver through it really.
- Yeah, we barely threaded that needle. - Let's maybe head towards King Street and see what we see for lunch, okay? - So this particular place uses a Honk app. - Honk. (lively music continues) We're just walkin'.
We're just walkin' down random streets but I love it. I love the homes. Where I don't shop at places like that. - [Chad] Rack Room Shoes on the other hand. - [Tara] Rack Room Shoes I could handle.
(upbeat music) - [Chad] That's a big breast of chicken. - I technically got the salmon sandwich with a fried green tomato without the bun with arugula and fried green tomatoes. - [Chad] It looks delicious. - And we got a side of fries 'cause we're walkin' a lot.
- [Chad] That's right, energy. - Bodega... killer coffee. Is this it? Well, there's Share House and Bodega. Down this way? This is cute.
(lively music) Filled our bellies and made it back to the parking area where the truck is. And then we're gonna head to the meeting spot for our tour. Time flies when you're just walkin' around Charleston. We decided on the alleys and hidden passages tour which takes us down lesser known alleys in the historic district.
These alleyways are often inaccessible by automobiles. Our tour guide was awesome. His name is Captain Jim Gresham and he also does boat tours and fishing charters in the warmer months.
- The building also represents the last official British building built on American soil. Right across the street we have this lovely brownstone that was built in 1853 and it represents the 19th century. Right behind me here is a commercial building that was called Coates' Row. Coates' Row was completed one year after the end of the American Revolution in 1784.
Rainbow Row isn't just a collection of pretty pastel colored row houses. What it really represents is the birthplace of the preservation movement not only here in our city but in the country as well. They call Charleston America's most preserved city.
The city has experienced during its lifetime what we consider to be five major fires. And we consider a major fire to be a fire that consumes more than 250 buildings. And we also happen to lie on the second most active earthquake fault line in North America. So today when you walk down the street and you look up to the side of a house like this, you can say you're a survivor. We survived this earthquake and are here to tell everybody all about it.
Behind the gate here and within these walls, we have a brand new house. And this brand new 5,000 square foot house was built within the confines of the walls and built under this tree. - [Tara] Oh wow.
- And both of these are protected. At first glance, when you walk down Elliot Street here and look in, you say to yourself, well maybe this is private property and maybe I shouldn't be going down there. Well, now's a good time to exercise that tested adage of it's better to seek forgiveness than permission.
Some have names. Some don't. Gadsden's Alley gets its name for a patriot named Christopher Gadsden who lived for about 12 years in the house here at number 8. Christopher Gadsden was the founding member of the Sons of Liberty here back in 1765. Approximately 1 million people crossed the Atlantic from the continent of Africa and the Caribbean to enter into our country against their will. And about 400,000, 40% came through the port of Charleston.
And that active working waterfront was the slave trading grounds. When those ships arrived bearing those souls, they were greeted by auctioneers and buyers. Chalmers Street that we're on presently is the only street in the city that's entirely paved in these English river rocks. This little house that we have here on the corner isn't the best example but it's an adequate example of the most common style of a home that you're going to find here in the city. There are about 3,000 of these types of homes here.
And they're collectively called a Charleston single house. If you notice up on top, there's the copper cladding that's seen. And you'll notice there's some port holes. That steeple would've been illuminated at night and the steeple would've been a lighthouse guiding the ships into Charleston Harbor. So we often see a steeple as being a beacon to the soul. This was a beacon for those navigators entering in through the harbor safely.
Philadelphia Alley here gets its name following one of those big fires that swept through the city back in 1810. And the citizens of Philadelphia felt bad for Charleston. They passed a hat, raised some money to get us back on our feet again. And in recognition of their kindness, we renamed this alleyway Philadelphia Alley. The alleyway that we're presently in is called Lodge Alley.
And it got its name back in 1745 when a warehouseman, a guy by the name of Simmons who happened to be a mason gave up some of his land to create a Masonic Lodge. So it went from Simmon's Alley to Lodge Alley back in 1745. (lively music) Getting a bit of a makeover, we have this old colonial tavern from 1766 known as McCrady's.
Closed today, hopefully opening up in the new year at some point in time. (lively music continues) - Well, when we got done with the tour, we both had to pee so bad. And we needed to find fuel and we just got sidetracked and then we got food and then we ate it. I never knew that there were those pedestrian walkways and stuff throughout downtown Charleston.
- [Chad] And they're public. You might look at them and go, oh, that's like somebody's hallway. - [Tara] So a couple of them I was like I would've thought there's no way. That's private property we're not goin' on it.
But public properties. - [Chad] If you don't know for sure, don't go. - [Tara] But we recommend taking the tour.
It's only $35 a person. And it was well worth it to get all of the history and stuff. So listen, I have to get to editing.
He's gotta get to... - Organizing today's footage. - Organizing and then we gotta get to chillin' and hangin' out and cuddlin' this puppy. - Yeah. - Tomorrow, one more adventure.
(kisses) - [Chad] So I came out our door here and if you know the Charleston flag. It looks- - [Tara] South Carolina flag. - [Chad] The what? - [Tara] South Carolina flag.
- I'm sorry the South Carolina flag. Charleston doesn't have its own flag. It looks a lot like that. That's pretty cool. (upbeat music) Excellent parking at 182 Church Street for the carriage ride. Also for the market.
- Right there we can see the market. The building is literally right there. We'll show you when we get out. And then where we're picking up the carriage ride is just right down the street so it's a great location. Looks like there's some restaurants right around here too.
Oh, the carriage company's right there. - That's what I was saying. - Oh.
Tickets for this I think were what 30 something dollars? It's only a 30 minute, maybe 20 minute carriage ride. It's a Christmas lights carriage ride thing. Since we have to check in by like 5:20 I think it said I wanna make sure we get to the market so let's go do that.
- We got 22 minutes. - 22 minutes. Truck, carriage place, market, Chad. (laughs) Looks like everybody's leaving. We got here too late.
♪ Who makes every Christmas gift? ♪ ♪ It's Santa ♪ ♪ Who comes down the chimney late at night ♪ I think we have to sing. - I don't think it's legal for them to force me to sing. I'm going to invoke my 5th Amendment right. - [Tara] But if we're sitting up front by the guide they're gonna know that we're not singing.
You just mouth the words. There you go. That's great, perfect.
♪ He's done in time ♪ - [Ron] My name is Ron and (audio muffles) Gary as the the Silk Boy. - [Gary] Thank you, thank you. - [Tara] Awesome. - [Ron] That big boy up front there, that reindeer's name is Jordan. He's the biggest reindeer deer in the world. - [Tara] Oh.
- [Ron] 2,300 pounds. (cheering) Let 'em hear you. (cheering) - [Gary] Here we go. Y'all ready? - [Tara] Yeah. ♪ Dashing through the snow ♪ ♪ In a one-horse open sleigh ♪ ♪ And once a year he'll go ♪ ♪ Barrelin' through the snow ♪ ♪ From house to house he'll go ♪ ♪ Puttin' on his show ♪ ♪ Don't ask me how he's done in time ♪ ♪ I just know he seems ♪ ♪ To do just fine ♪ - [Tara] It's a beautiful day.
Let's go. ♪ It's a beautiful day ♪ The birds are out takin' a walk too. See. Speakin' of birds, there are a lot of hawks flyin' around so little dogs beware.
- [Chad] There's some loud crows. - [Tara] Yeah. (peppy music) She might walk okay on this.
- [Chad] Yeah. Come on. (peppy music continues) - [Tara] It is December the 15th and it is 59 degrees currently at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. And the sun is shinin'. The wind doesn't seem to be nearly as intense as it was yesterday. Quite a neck you got there, mister.
What is that? (peppy music continues) The seagulls are outnumbered. - [Chad] Just a little bit. - [Tara] A little bit. And there's that one guy floatin' around by himself that duck hangin' out. He doesn't want any part of the ruckus.
No kerfuffle for me. We've made the turn past the lake. Now we're just following what appears to be the path. (peppy music continues) This is really cool.
(peppy music continues) Well, she's walkin' fast. So that usually means somethin's a brewin'. Tootsie rolls' a brewin'. That's what it means.
This is really great. This is a really great amenity for this campground. Okay, that's filled with dangerous ants. Chad. - [Chad] I gotta see how many there are. - [Tara] Chadwick.
- [Chad] Everybody's comin' to the surface. Somethin's goin' on. - [Tara] Those look like fire ants and those are- - [Chad] Oh yeah. - [Tara] Those are bad. Way to disrupt the fire ants.
Good job. - Well, you know every now and then you gotta just walk by and say, hey, I'm bigger than you. - [Tara] Yeah, but- - I'm kickin' your house down. - [Tara] Yeah, but they leave an impact at least on me that's for sure. Boys. (laughs) (mellow music) The other KOAs we've been to, they have different...
levels of sites. So they have these that have gravel. They have some that are paved. They have some that are paved and have like a paved patio area.
They have some that have no paved patio area. They have some that are just I think used to be gravel but maybe are more dirt. That's kind of what we're in. They have some along the water. And then the ones like in the front.
We'll show you. So there's an example of a patio that's got like a cement pad. Here's one with a cement pad and then a fire pit area.
Lovely. We didn't think we needed to go that extreme since it's only in the 50s. Lots of amenities here.
We just went on the nice walking path. There's a playground, a pool, rec center. Are you ready to show them the rest of this park? - Let's do it. - Okay. One of our viewers, Dave, who is one of the employees here at the KOA told us to go to the office and ask for Jackie because she's going to take us inside... this caboose.
It's so pretty at night 'cause right now we are 10 days before Christmas and they've got this park decorated so nicely. (upbeat music) Miss Sophia is our tour guide for the caboose. And I love the little fire pit area. Oh, right on the water. Come on now.
How fun? Does this one book out a lot? - [Sophia] Yeah. - [Tara] Yeah? - [Sophia] Yes ma'am. - [Tara] So we got lucky that it's open. Oh, how cute.
So this pulls out I assume? - [Sophia] Yes ma'am. - [Tara] Okay. So yeah, it would be good for kids. - [Sophia] Yeah. They love it.
- [Tara] Yeah, I see what you're sayin'. Yeah. And it's bright and cheery in here though too. And Sophia's been with KOA for seven years. - It'll be eight in March. - [Tara] Nice.
They must be doing something right then. - I love it. - [Tara] Cool. What a clever addition. So this is B2. So you could rent this and get the caboose and put the kids in the caboose.
Then I think we're gonna go over and check out this cabin here. (upbeat music continues) - [Chad] This is a nice site right on the water. It's gorgeous. So this is the site you would want to rent if you want to toss your kids in there. - [Tara] Yeah. - [Chad] I think it locks from the outside. (laughs)
- [Tara] Yeah. (cheerful music) - [Tara] So you get this whole end as part of this cabin? Wow. Is this the biggest one? - [Sophia] Yes ma'am. - [Tara] Okay. How many does this one sleep? - [Sophia] It can sleep 12.
- [Tara] What? Wow. How cool? Oh, this is cute. This is bigger than I thought it was gonna be. There's a lot of space in here.
- [Sophia] The prices also go down. - [Tara] Oh really? - [Sophia] Yes. - [Tara] Oh, okay. - [Sophia] Slow time right now.
- [Tara] Yeah. - [Sophia] I'd say from November to like March. - [Tara] Okay.
- [Sophia] The prices go down. - [Tara] Okay. And it's nice and quiet in the campground right now too.
Yeah, yeah. Which is nice. I'm sure summertime is not so quiet. - [Sophia] Noo. - [Tara] Oh wow. Okay, kids would love it up here though.
I'm not a big fan of these steps down. - [Chad] Yeah, I went down backwards. - [Tara] Yeah, that's probably a better idea. (laughs) (crows cawing) Okay, what do we do about these crows? They're noisy as heck. (laughs) - Tell me about it.
(upbeat music) - [Chad] That site over there is B1. Book that way in advance. These are right across from our site. We've got a nice view of the lake. (upbeat music continues)
2024-03-11 18:29
