WHAT WE LOVE: Just about everything!

Gary Crossley of Charleston sent in a list of what he loves about the Charleston in which he was born.  He loves it so much, he tells us, that he even assigned the name Charleston as his son’s middle name.

Gary’s list of reasons for loving Charleston (the city):

• The city is not too big or not too small.
• The cobblestone streets which had pirates like Blackbeard/Edward Teach and Stede Bonnet roaming back a hundred plus years ago.
• The various waterways, from marshes to creeks, rivers flowing to the ocean, pluff mud to tidal basins, and lakes to ponds, all seemingly interconnected.
• The diversity of food from barbecue to seafood and fresh produce to grits, prepared in so many delicious/tasty ways.

• The music of all types, classical, rap, jazz, Cajun/zydeco, country, Broadway, from local stars like Hootie/Darius and Edwin McCain to Shovels & Ropes.
• The churches of all types dotting the Holy City from the Emanuel AME to the French Huguenot to the Circular Congregation, some with graveyards dating back centuries.
• The trees, like the amazing hundreds-of-years-old Angel Oak with alluring limbs like arms ready to embrace you with beauty and many Charleston drives from the trees reaching across the roads in a canopy like kissing trees.
• The people who are not overbearing but also so willing to help with directions, roadside assistance, restaurant tips, shopping ideas, and maybe just a warm hello greeting.
• The history from many firsts (preserved not rebuilt fake houses, Rainbow Row colors, earthquake rods, and side porches) to Porgy and Bess/Gershwin to having a song/dance named after the city, and world-class festivals like Spoleto Arts to Moja celebration to Flowertown to Second Sundays to Family Circle to the Cooper River Bridge Run.
• The various languages (international visitors and transplanted folks) and dialects (Gullah, Southern, & Geechee) spoken in the area dating back when in the late 1600s people came from around the world to trade their goods and share their artistic talent.

Maybe it is the combination of all these factors which keep us ahead of New Orleans, Savannah, Santa Fe, and others?

Tell us what you love:  Send a short comment – 100 words to 150 words – that describes something you really enjoy about the Lowcountry.  It can be big or small.  It can be a place, a thing or something you see.  It might the bakery where you get a morning croissant or a business or government entity doing a good job.  We’ll highlight your entry in a coming issue of Charleston Currents.  We look forward to hearing from you.

• Click here to TELL US what you love.
• Click here to READ what others love