Charleston is good for your soul -- and soles

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Charleston is good for your soul -- and soles
January 22, 2011
By Becca Hensley
statesman.com

n Charleston, S.C., the tempo of life is as sweet as my Uncle Wilbur's iced tea and as dillydallying as his drawl. But that doesn't stop me from running past the antique stores and art galleries on King Street instead of dawdling to window shop like a good Southern girl should.

After all, I've got my priorities. Because before there was "Sex and the City," there was Bob Ellis Shoes. And no visit to this centuries-old harbor town would be complete without a visit to Bob Ellis, the coolest shoe hall in the South — if not the world.

Shoe high jinks aside, by all accounts, Bob Ellis, a destination in itself, was the seed that gave rise to gallery, café and boutique-laden King Street — Charleston's most famous place to lighten the wallet.

A fixture for 50 years, this flagship of King Street continues in the service of well-shod Southerners as a veritable temple to footwear. Stemming from old-school Southern hospitality, their customer service is the sort that surely makes their mamas proud.

But that's just one reason for the store's popularity. The other is that no matter the size of your feet (gargantuan, wide as a river, slim as a stem), they can find a shoe that fits you. They stock vast ranges of sizes (from 3.5-12 AAAA-B for women and from 6.5 to 15 for men) in myriad designs, by legions of makers. There's not a soul in Charleston who hasn't bought a pair of heel tappers at Bob Ellis. Why, just stepping in to look becomes a regular tidewater social occasion.

But Charleston isn't just about shoes. Indeed, this bastion of Southern sensibilities ensnares with cobblestone streets, Doric-columned antebellum mansions, white-painted portico s and landscaped gardens.

Tea parties with china cups are as common behind closed doors as strongly mixed cocktails with gin or bourbon — the sort my Charlestonian clan referred to as "travelers" (if you were going somewhere) or "dressers" (if you were in your room getting dressed).

It's a place with undertones of Gullah (the African Americans who live in the Lowcountry and sea islands of South Carolina) culture: folklore, food, language and artistry. It's a maze of beauty and mystery; a city invigorated by its history and enhanced by the creative spirit. No wonder it feels like a treasure chest flung open.

And then, there's the lure of Lowcountry cuisine. Connect with the city's heart and soul with this fusion food, a mélange of West Africa meets Caribbean and European influences beside the sea. Having evolved for more than 300 years, it relies on local and seasonal ingredients. Relish dishes replete with crabs, shrimp, oysters and other seafood, partnered creatively with rice, beans, okra and tomatoes.

Brunch at iconic Poogan's Porch exemplifies the gastronomy. Here, for three decades, locals have lined up to start their weekend with flaky buttermilk biscuits with spicy sausage gravy, fried oyster omelets, shrimp with grits and blue crab gravy and fried green tomato and bacon Benedicts.

First-timers to the Lowcountry food culture might want to acquaint themselves at the City Market, a 2-century-old stretch of vendor sheds undergoing a massive renovation that's slated to be completed by April. Between East Bay and Meeting Street, this series of sheds is one of the nation's oldest public markets. Its extant buildings date to 1841. While restoration of the immense venue (33,000 square feet and space for 100 vendors) preserves its architectural integrity, construction also creates a corridor for locally owned micro-boutiques. It's the best place to nab local souvenirs, like benne wafers (a sesame sweet treat) and hand-crafted seagrass baskets made according to Gullah tradition.

Other temptations at City Market? A panoply of chocolatiers, bakeries, artisan food producers, butchers and shops selling rice, grits, shrimp sauce, mustard and more.

Go behind the scenes with Culinary Tours of Charleston's "Savor the Flavor" tour of the market (culinarytours ofcharleston.com).

Reserve one day for a scenic field trip to Wadmalaw Island to continue your pursuit of Lowcountry taste treats. Here, on a picturesque plantation, discover the only tea garden in North America. A trolley transports guests through the 127-acre farm, while a factory tour conveys harvesting techniques and relates stories about tea's fundamental role in Colonial times.

Nearby, family-owned Firefly Distillery (fireflyvodka.com) brews up something even more potent: vodka. Don't leave the joint without tasting their Southern charmer, Sweet Tea Vodka, made with tea leaves grown down the road at — where else ? — the Charleston Tea Plantation.