"Picturesquely Dingy" a Charleston Travel Page by Sagespot

Travel writer John Milton Mackie puts his finger on one of Charleston's greatest charms - and my difficulty in explaining the city, "It was pleasant to find an American city not wearing the appearance of having all been built yesterday. The whole town looks picturesquely dingy, and the greater number of buildings have assumed something of the appearance of European antiquity."

What makes Mackie's opinion interesting is that he wrote these words over 140 years ago in 1864. Even then Charleston was already closing in on its bicentennial. Founded in 1670, this is about as old an American city as you'll find.

One of my business conferences recently took me to Charleston. This was my first experience with the "Low Country." In my mind the "Deep South" brought images of Gone with the Wind and picturesque shoreline vistas. And although Charleston provided some of this charm much was left lacking.

The city, pretty consistently ranked by both travel books and magazines as in the top 10 best places to visit in the USA, was frankly a bit of a strange experience for me. I found it hard to describe the city when I returned home and on some level felt disappointed by my journey.

In a nutshell, Charleston had some high and low points for me - much like any city. I would highly recommend some of the tours and to visit several of the museums in the historic district.

I think if I'd had more time to adventure throughout the city I would have had a better experience. Maybe at next year's conference I can add a few more tips to the pages and rewrite this intro. Until then I'm not giving up on Charleston, but I don't think I'd put it in my top 10 destinations.