It was on to Charleston and the KOA in Mount Pleasant. Coming to Charleston was like coming home. We found our old notes from our trip in 1994 and started to re-discover our favorite spots. We ate at The Wreck on Shem’s Creek – the best fried shrimp in the world.We spent the day exploring Charleston – driving the streets and looking at the spectacular houses and neighborhoods. We stopped for lunch at Poogan’s Porch on Queen Street and I had their fried chicken salad – it was wonderful. We knew that this city was a possible “home base” for us so we met with a realtor in the morning and got an introduction to the neighborhoods, the market and got some listing sheets to give us the chance to drive around and get a bit more comfortable with the city. We looked at South of Broad, Harleston Village, Wraggsboro and Ansonboro. We grabbed lunch at Cru Café (another re-run for us) and it was wonderful to sit outside in 70 degree weather in November.
Thanksgiving Day- November 28th- We had the option of doing the traditional turkey dinner at one of the local restaurants, but opted instead to go to one of the two Indian restaurants in the city- Nirlep (which means ‘peace’ in Hindi). It was spicy hot and the perfect way to spend the holiday.
The day after Thanksgiving and it was time for some serious house hunting – we started with the $1.3M house on Pitt Street. It was simply stunning – double piazza, high ceilings, perfectly decorated with two “dependencies” in the back bringing in about $2000 in rental per month. They had incorporated the ruins of the old stable into a beautiful garden complete with potting shed. But, it was a bit too much house for us- and the price tag was just a bit too high. We went to a series of other houses, primarily in Harleston Village and they ranged from charming to over-priced. But, the house on Wentworth, however, got our attention. It was built in 1810 and moved to its’ current location (= new foundation). It had a grand piazza, 3 car garage, spectacular garden, 12 foot ceilings and was stunningly decorated (the current owner was an interior designer). They had a tragic story- they lost their oldest son in a car crash and the womans’s health went down hill. So, they were moving to be close to their other son in Tennessee. We loved the house – it had “oomph”.
We headed out to Bowen’s Island for dinner to talk about the house and whether we really wanted to get a house at this stage. We had many glasses of wine and a full dinner of shrimp and oysters and talked with the “chef”, Henry.
The next day, we drove through Sullivans Island and Isle of Palms, had a great lunch at the Banana Cabana. The beach communities here are done very tastefully. The housing stock was mixed, with huge houses on one side of the street and 60’s style housing on the other. But, the prices were well over $1M-and it’s still a beach community.
December 1st and the weather is beautiful- sunny, crisp days – sweater weather. We had a quiet Sunday morning- reading the paper and having a big breakfast. We had a few more houses to look at/drive by. Lina, the realtor, has ignored our $$ limit and had us looking at houses from well over our budget. We tried to do a modeling of the cost/benefit of the house on Wentworth- but still need some information to fill in the blanks. At lunch, Poogans Porch, we talked about a lifestyle where we would be always available to rent out the house. It might be a possibility- a justification to getting this beautiful house. But there was still that nagging doubt that we just weren’t ready for a house commitment yet.
We met with Lina at 10:00 and spent about an hour at the Wentworth house. Hoping that our second impression would find fault with the house, we found that we were still bowled over by the beauty of this place. It was truly “Debbie’s Dream House”. We took a look at a few other properties but nothing could compare to this house.
Thanksgiving Day- November 28th- We had the option of doing the traditional turkey dinner at one of the local restaurants, but opted instead to go to one of the two Indian restaurants in the city- Nirlep (which means ‘peace’ in Hindi). It was spicy hot and the perfect way to spend the holiday.
The day after Thanksgiving and it was time for some serious house hunting – we started with the $1.3M house on Pitt Street. It was simply stunning – double piazza, high ceilings, perfectly decorated with two “dependencies” in the back bringing in about $2000 in rental per month. They had incorporated the ruins of the old stable into a beautiful garden complete with potting shed. But, it was a bit too much house for us- and the price tag was just a bit too high. We went to a series of other houses, primarily in Harleston Village and they ranged from charming to over-priced. But, the house on Wentworth, however, got our attention. It was built in 1810 and moved to its’ current location (= new foundation). It had a grand piazza, 3 car garage, spectacular garden, 12 foot ceilings and was stunningly decorated (the current owner was an interior designer). They had a tragic story- they lost their oldest son in a car crash and the womans’s health went down hill. So, they were moving to be close to their other son in Tennessee. We loved the house – it had “oomph”.
We headed out to Bowen’s Island for dinner to talk about the house and whether we really wanted to get a house at this stage. We had many glasses of wine and a full dinner of shrimp and oysters and talked with the “chef”, Henry.
The next day, we drove through Sullivans Island and Isle of Palms, had a great lunch at the Banana Cabana. The beach communities here are done very tastefully. The housing stock was mixed, with huge houses on one side of the street and 60’s style housing on the other. But, the prices were well over $1M-and it’s still a beach community.December 1st and the weather is beautiful- sunny, crisp days – sweater weather. We had a quiet Sunday morning- reading the paper and having a big breakfast. We had a few more houses to look at/drive by. Lina, the realtor, has ignored our $$ limit and had us looking at houses from well over our budget. We tried to do a modeling of the cost/benefit of the house on Wentworth- but still need some information to fill in the blanks. At lunch, Poogans Porch, we talked about a lifestyle where we would be always available to rent out the house. It might be a possibility- a justification to getting this beautiful house. But there was still that nagging doubt that we just weren’t ready for a house commitment yet.
We met with Lina at 10:00 and spent about an hour at the Wentworth house. Hoping that our second impression would find fault with the house, we found that we were still bowled over by the beauty of this place. It was truly “Debbie’s Dream House”. We took a look at a few other properties but nothing could compare to this house.
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