Charleston Local Guide

Charleston Real Estate

Introduction

The beautifully groomed grounds of the Major James Ladson house on Meeting Street in Charleston built 1792

Charleston, South Carolina is a remarkably well-mannered city whose city limits include territory from two counties, Berkeley County and Charleston County. The city is located at the approximate midpoint of the South Carolina coastline, where the Rivers Ashley and Cooper meet. It was founded in 1670 and retains considerable historic charm despite several notably destructive events in its history. In 1885, a 125 mph hurricane struck the city squarely, destroying or damaging approximately ninety percent of the homes. The next year, an earthquake believed to have measured about 7.5 on the Richter Scale was centered near Charleston. The quake could be felt as far away as Boston and Bermuda and damaged about two thousand buildings, doing over six million dollars in damage at a time when the value of all of the buildings in the city was about twenty-four million dollars. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo damaged three quarters of the homes in the historic district and did a total of more than $2.8 billion in damage to the city. The historic charm and relaxed, hospitable tone of the city remains, though, along with enormous Live Oaks festooned with Spanish Moss, the Old Exchange and Customs House, completed in 1771, where the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788, and the Battery area of historic homes from whose balconies Charlestonians of the past watched unfold on the port islands such historic events as the defeat of the British at the as-yet-incomplete palmetto-wood Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island on June 28, 1776, and the reputed first shot of the Civil War which occurred in January 1861, just days after South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. Cadets at The Citadel fired on Union ships as they entered Charleston harbor. The first decisive battle in the area took place on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces under general Beauregard took Fort Sumter from Union soldiers garrisoned there.