Governor House Inn

We were primarily down in South Carolina to visit my sister and brother-in -law, but took the opportunity to drive into Charleston for a few days and stay at a fabulous B&B ~ The Governors House Inn.

In the late 1700's Governor's House was the residence of Governor Edward Rutledge, South Carolina patriot, statesman and the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence. Henrietta Middleton, his wife, was part of the prominent Charleston family who owned Middleton Place plantation and gardens. I will do a blog on Middleton soon.

The Inn has been recognized as the most elegant Charleston bed and breakfast and "one of the most romantic inns in America". We agree completely and will be back for another visit. It was fabulous! Fun! and Romantic!

We had St Michael's room on the third floor. It was perfect!

This is the view of the house from the back where we had secure parking.
Parking is scarce in Charleston because every piece of the downtown area is used.
So you always want to find a place with parking. Another plus of this Inn is that they provide bikes available and David and I spent a wonderful morning biking around the battery.


The piazza - the place to read the morning paper and have a coffee.
And they made fresh decaf for me every morning.

the living room

the front hall - love that grandfathers clock!


those ceilings are12 ft.(?)


the parlor


the dining room - the largest room on the house,
where we had a great breakfast every morning.

This mirror is probably 7-8 ft tall.
If I were standing in the doorway to the left
I would barely come up to the half way mark of the door.

The grand staircase. There was a servants staircase at the back of the house too.
Oh if the walls could talk....

the first flight of stairs.

another flight and we were up on the third floor - which we had all to ourselves.
Down this long hall was St Micheal's room - names so because you can see the steeple of St Micheal's Church from our window.

beautiful sheets....

and after a day of shopping, walking, taking pictures...we would be back at the inn by 4:30pm for libations..... tea, coffee or wine and cheese and sweets. This was an opportunity to visit with the other guests and we quite enjoyed meeting these very interesting people,
one being a retired Colonel in the US Air Force .



Then we would have a rest, freshen up and head out walking the dark streets of Charleston lit by quaint lamp posts. We would find the perfect little spot for a light supper.
When we returned, our room took on a whole new look.....

.
The bed turned down for us and chocolates left ....

I didn't see or hear any ghosts -
although they say many of these old homes are haunted.... :)
I slept like a baby!

If you are planning any time in Charleston - go see the Governors Inn. And if you can, book a room for a night or two....or three.

Thanks for letting me share!
Julie

SNOB's

It is good to be home... and doing laundry, grocery shopping and cooking meals????? Somehow my home, kitchen, sheets, laundry room and wardrobe seem terribly inadequate. One of the pitfalls of a holiday in a very nice warm place with a sister who has an incredible house with guest quarters with a King bed and 600 thread satin sheets. I'm not coveting, just recovering and getting back to reality here. :) I am also freezing!
I thought today I would share one of our culinary experience in Charleston. A visit to SNOB!

We had a late lunch at SNOB's while in Charleston. There are quite a few good restaurants within 200 yards of SNOB, one being Magnolias (see previous post with pics), but our B&B had highly recommended SNOB. I thought the name had character so we gave it a try.

Slightly North of Broad was a nice place to have lunch although we arrived at the tail end of lunch hour and there was quite a flurry of activity about our table as staff hurried off the lunch settings and readied tables for supper. We almost felt like we were a little in the way. Who were the snobs here anyways!

Our waitress was lovely and courteous. I ordered a Gimlet and promptly received a Gibson but that was quickly remedied. I can get a very dry martini at home. This is South Carolina - something with lime was called for. And what a pretty drink to take a picture of. :)

Decor was very appropriately snobbish upper class too - linens and silverware. Okay no Waterford crystal but pretty nice stuff.



SNOB is named because it is on Broad street at the edge of THE most affluent area of Charleston (see previous post for some pics of multimillion dollar homes).

Between Broad Street and the "Battery" or Atlantic Ocean, are some of the most affluent, beautifully kept, huge, 100-200 year old homes that sell in the 1-3 million market.

We ordered the House Made Charcuterie - current and pine nut pate, pork rillettes, chicken liver mousse and ham.

We also shared an order of the Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin which is thinly sliced raw beef with olive oil, Pecorino Romano and toast points. (that gave spell check a work out)

We felt down right snobbish!!

Both were tasty and perfect for the light lunch we wanted. The gimlet was the best part though...

I loved the old building that SNOB was located in, and like most of old Charleston it was steeped in history. There are ghosts everywhere in this town.

The back wall had a huge arched brick opening into the kitchen area and we could see many chefs and helpers busy preparing food back there.

I think next trip to Charleston, if we are ever so fortunate to visit again, we will have to try some of the other restaurants. There are so many places to eat (and shop but very high end). But do try SNOB if you are in Charleston . And there are other more normal things on the menu. You don't have to order raw beef or pate or other stuff that you don't know what it is.

Have you ever had beef tartar? Carpaccio? David loves it. It is actually very tender and tasty but I can only eat a few pieces...just on principle. And we had to order the pate because it is down right snobbish. LOL

Heading home...but first Charleston

Well the suitcases are packed and my jeans are very, very tight. It is soup and salads and workouts at the gym for the next 6 months to undo the damage of southern hospitality. Man they have good food down here!

We will be off for a visit to Beaufort in an hour or so and from there on to the airport and the long trip home arriving at midnight tonight. I plan to catch up on sleep tomorrow.

We have had a wonderful time. Lots of visiting with my sister and brother-in-law, lots of interesting history, met wonderful people, ate fabulous food, walked through beautifully preserved old cities, visited a plantation and saw a crocodile up close, took a river cruise and saw dolphins and a Bald Eagle, attended an Oyster roast, ate pulled pork Southern style and attended two outdoor evening parties under the stars, took a boat out on the ocean to Ft Sumter, drank gimlets and mojito's with mint, and lazed on the porch of the clubhouse waiting for Dave and Frank to come in on the 18th hole. David golfed 38 holes of golf...I know that is two extras (you will have to ask him that story), so he is happy as can be. And so am I.

It has been 8 days of true southern hospitality and a wonderful rest from the stresses of work and responsibilities back home. As a matter of fact, it is hard to head back...but alas all good things must come to an end. And we miss the kids.

This morning I wanted to share a few pics from our visit to historic Charleston.

There is so much iron work on the old homes here.


the whole front of this B&B was covered in iron work.

King Street

..that's five stories. Wouldn't want to clean that house.

We went biking along the "Battery" That is the Atlantic ocean.

And across the street were these beautiful homes.

loved the brick streets. DH just wants to get biking again...

A very typical house design in this old area of Charleston.
Huge porches all along on side of the house.
With extremely hot summers, I suppose they were well used.

We had lunch at Magnolias the first afternoon we arrived.

It was just a few blocks from our B&B and the food was great.

cobblestone streets

St Michael's Church.

Broad Street

Our B&B. I will do a separate post on The Governor's House.
We REALLY hope to come back one day and stay here again.

Well Thank Y'all for letting me share my photos and a piece of this wonderful blessing of being able to visit a little bit of the Southern States. This get away was everything we hoped it would be and more. I hope you got even a little taste of South Carolina. We feel so blessed to have had this opportunity to visit and get to know a part of history and a part of the world we had never seen before.

We now head home...and home is always the very best place to be.

Blessings to y'all!