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Odd location windows
The historic single house at the southeast corner of Stoll's Alley and Church Street often perplexes onlookers with its unusual arrangement northside windows. The staggered location of windows at five levels belies the fact that the house is only three floors, but is actually very typical of a lighting necessity that provides and optical illusion.
Single houses, built with a one room width facing the street, have a central hall that separates the single rooms front and back. Those built on North-South streets typically are entered by a door on the South side, that divides the single front and back rooms by a the a central hall, while those built on East-West streets are typically entered by a door to the central hall on the East side.
The central hall leads to a stair that climbs halfway between the floors to a landing on the opposite wall, then turns 180 degrees to climb to the next floor. Where the landing turns, builders traditionally placed windows to light the staircases, and depending on the number of floors, single houses can have one or two staricase windows. Thus the Stoll's Alley corner is notable for the odd arrangment that features windows on each of the three floors, as well as two staircase windows in between.
Hurricane Lillies
Gentle fall showers have sprung to life one of Charleston most distinctive perennials, the Lycoris 
Radiata, better knon as the Hurricane or Red Spider Lilly. The member of the Amaryllis family grows to about 18 inches in height, with bright red flowers and curved reddish stalks that resemble the legs of a spider.
Like so many Charleston flowers, it is a native of Asia, intoruduced by colonial botanists who found that our temperatae subtropical climate was ideal for exotic plants and trees. The bulb of the Lycoris Radiate lies dormant until late September, when it sprouts majestically in places such as historic St. Michael's churchyard, addding a delicate border to weathered gravestones that date to the 18th century.
The color of the flowering extremities lasts only a matter of days before it turns to a leafy green, and the bright red color was considered by some to be a signal of stormy hurricane weather. Fortunately, the continental high pressure systems of 2010 have made hurrican season virtually non-existent, as it has been for several decades, and the warning reds will fade into a soothing green along with milder fall temperatures that typify the delightful October season in Charleston
Wharf Bridges
The seaport area in colonial Charleston extended as far as today’s Carolina yacht Club, whose south driveway was once the path of a riverside wharf. The high ground of the peninsular reached only as far as the East Bay Street sidewalk in those days, and beyond was marsh and shallow water.
Oak Steakhouse
Chef Brett McKee of the Charleston’s Oak Steakhouse has recently displayed his exceptional talents on South Carolina Educational Television, as a featured segment of the show “Carolina Stories”.
crown glass
A distinctive feature on many classic Charleston exteriors is the wavy ripple in historic, hand-made glass, which adds a subtle charm to windows of various sizes and shapes.
cobblestones
Cobblestone surfaces still adorn Chalmers Street, Maiden Lane, South and North Adgers Wharf, Gillon Street, and parts of Philadelphia Alley. As recently as the late 19th century, there were more than 10 miles of Charlestson street surface made from these hard, rounded stones. Cobblestones get their name from the old English word "cob", which means "lump", and the a mass of these lumpy stones was a cheap method of providing ballast for sailing ships during the colonial period. Piles of cobblestones placed in the ship's hull guaranteed it wouldn't capsize in heavy winds, but also subtracted from the amount of cargo that could be hauled.
Enterprising sea captains visiting colonial Charleston realized that the rich exports of rice, indigo and timber could be used to replace the weight of the ballast stones, thus Charleston eneded up with cobblestones dumped along its waterfront piers. Here on a peninsula that was interlaced with marshes and mud flats, Charleston was happy to receive these non-native stones to use for landfill, and tons were carted around the city to create more solid surfaces.
By the 1730's, the city was actively trading for ballast by offering ships freedom from taxes on goods in return for piles of cobblestones. Streets which once were muddy or paved in mushy layers of sand suddenly became firmer afoot with the new patina of hard stone.
Bricks, cut granite blocks, and finally asphalt spelled the end for most our cobblestone thorouhfares by the early 20th century, although a few still remain to show what a rough ride Charleston was long ago.
Grill Charms made in Charleston, SC
Leslie Haywood is Founder and President of Charleston based Charmed Life 
Products, LLC, and the inventor of Grill Charms™. She was a stay-at-home to two daughters until April of 2006 when a very spicy light bulb moment during a dinner party in her West Ashley home moment thrust her into the entrepreneurial ring. Despite a diagnosis of breast cancer in June 2006 and a bilateral mastectomy in August 2006, she launched her product Grill Charms™ November of the following year. Since the debut of Grill Charms™, she has garnered national media attention from shows like CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, and ABC's reality TV show "Shark Tank" as well as publications such as Everyday with Rachael Ray, Parenting Magazine, Inc Magazine, Health Magazine, Inventors Digest and many more.
Charleston business, Grill Charms can be purchased at www.grillcharms.com for $19.95 or at any of these fine retailers: http://www.grillcharms.com/stlocator.html
Entasis Illusion
some of the city’s most historic landmarks. A number of the grand facades on the peninsula, such as the 1825 portico at South Carolina Society Hall, feature an ancient architectural illusion called entasis.
Brookgreen Gardens
Less than two hours drive north from Charleston, Brookgreen Gardens offers a remarkable day trip filled with visual splendor. The 9200-acre tract is a famed sculpture garden and natural habitat, boasting elegant metallic and stone figures that accentuate lush botanical backgrounds.
Created from a group of former rice plantations by the Huntington family in 1931, the gardens now display more than 1200 featured works of such renowned sculptors as Adolph A. Weinman, who created the frieze of the US Supreme Court, and Glenna Goodacre, creator of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington DC. The largest sculpture at Brookgreen, Laura Gardin Fraser’s Pegasus, is carved from 1575 feet of white granite, and took nine years to complete.
Quaker memories
This August 17th marks the 315th anniversary of John Archdale’s appointment as governor of Carolina(which was not divided until 1710). It is significant because Archdale was a Quaker in a colony founded by English Anglicans, and benefitted from Carolina’s rare colonial practice of religious liberty. The Fundamental Constitutions of the colony were the work of eminent English philosopher John Locke, who was a firm believer in the right to choose one’s on beliefs. His exceptional document even provided for the right to be atheist – quite a step from those being burned at the stake up in New England, where ironically, dominant Quakers were far less open-minded.
