Charleston takes pride of place as America's Paris

VANITY Fair recently said Charleston "may be America's Paris", resembling Europe's crown in elegance, charm, history and people's pride.

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VANITY Fair recently said Charleston "may be America's Paris".

It's not that it's dipped in gold, dotted with footpath cafes or blazing with couturiers.

There may be some perfectly groomed women but they don't tend to nurse miniature dogs and they are more prone to smile than offer the grim stares more common in Paris.

But it does resemble Europe's crown in elegance, charm and the pride inhabitants hold for its beauty.

They know why, as Conde Nast Traveler recently reported, Charleston is the second must-see city in the US after San Francisco.

As home to America's first preservation society, there is no other city in the US with so many original houses, with the oldest being Colonel William Rhett House, built in 1712.

Five great fires, the Revolutionary War, hurricanes, earthquakes and, of course, the Civil War have not destroyed Charleston.

There was a myth that the Yankees spared Charleston from their crash-and-burn philosophy because of its great beauty but that is not correct.

It had already been decimated so General Sherman thought state capital Columbia would be a better military target.

But he was deeply moved by the devastation Charleston suffered, famously saying in May 1865: "Anyone who is not satisfied with war should go and see Charleston, and he will pray louder and deeper than ever the country may in the long future be spared any more war."

All but one plantation house Drayton Hall was destroyed and it is America's oldest preserved plantation house that is open to the public.

It has been preserved rather than restored so it remains without running water, electric lighting or central heating, just as it would have been when John Drayton bought the 80ha property in 1738 and turned it into a rice plantation.

Visiting Charleston during the city's annual Historic Houses and Gardens Festival, which has taken place every spring for the past 64 years, is a rare chance to not only enjoy the exterior beauty of the city but to peek at Charleston's internal world.

With 5000 houses on show during the festival, it is clear why Charleston likes to call its homeowners stewards.

Their vigilance and dedication has ensured that so many of the houses stand like jewels on the city's perfectly manicured streets. Most are Federal and Adam-style single houses two rooms deep and one room wide, with the front door in the side piazza with charming gardens just made for a mint julep and genteel conversation.

The graceful, broad verandas are designed to catch the ocean breezes.

Indoors there are delicate, carved wooden mantlepieces and staircases with beautifully preserved antique furniture and ornaments, mostly Regency, to complete the elegance and this is where Charleston most resembles Paris.

These homeowners, who so graciously opened their doors to 15,000 visitors at this year's festival, show a modesty in their design taste.

The house of Anne Prescott Keigher is included in one of the tours.

Furniture is fine and delicate; colours such as lemons, creams and pale pinks lighten the atmosphere and blend with the outer environment, where azaleas and roses bloom.

Charleston's surface could not be prettier, its people more friendly and yet there is something else that makes this place fascinating.

It is also mysterious.

It is no more apparent than in the Avenue of Oaks at America's most visited plantation, Boone Hall.

This is where popular mini-series North and South was filmed in 1985 and it is more stunning off-screen.

The live oaks so called because they stay green all year line either side of the 1.2km avenue to the mansion. Spanish moss falls from its 265-year-old boughs in "ghostly drapery", as John Berendt described the air fern in his bestseller, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

It is what keeps Boone Hall owner William Harris McRae in awe of his property, even though his family has owned it since 1955.

Boone Hall received 225,000 guests last year, with many enjoying evening concerts, arts festivals or barbecues.

At Magnolia Plantation dark, brooding swamps are trimmed in the prettiest cypress and tupelo gum trees.

An alligator drifting through the swamp completes the scene.

The coastal city is known for its array of food choices and it has some of the best seafood in the world.

A seafood platter at Hanks features a huge serving of crustaceans next to sweet potato chips, while at southern-inspired McCrady's, buttered lobster tail and scallop sit on a base of popcorn puree, followed by pork salsified with banana and peanuts and strawberry cream cheese and basil with bourbon ice cream.

At Jestine's Kitchen, the menu is southern and a bit "heart attack". The corn bread is delicious but there are also grits, pecan pie and a dessert that was often mentioned with horrifying candour Coca-Cola cake.

That's Charleston. Modern delicacies and honoured traditions.

The refined elegance of its antebellum houses rests under the city's love for modern rooftop bars, which serve as an alternative way to catch those sweet ocean breezes among some of the world's friendliest, and proud, people.

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