Sept. 27, 2005Viewed as a whole, that bit of drifted yesterday caught between time and the rivers, called Charleston, is a city set in a garden.
E.T.H. Shaffer, Carolina Gardens, 1937
Late in the day this past Tuesday, not much before sundown, I took a walk with my camera through an old neighborhood in the historic district of Charleston, near the Battery and Colonial Lake. As always, I was enchanted and fascinated by the gardens, or entrances to them, that I saw as I passed by on the sidewalk. I love the old houses and porches with hanging baskets of geraniums. The gardens, though, are special -- tucked away in the back past gates or brick walkways, inaccessible but just visible enough to make the passerby curious to know what lies therein. What flowers, fountains, and benches in shady nooks await weary souls who seeks refuge in those gardens?Many of the gardens, however, can be readily seen by just peering in the gates or looking to the backs of the yards, the front yards or the side gardens of the many classic Charleston single houses I saw on the way.
I think there is nothing quite so peaceful as a garden in summer, and in this entry I want to share some of my photos taken during that walk. Charleston is such a beautiful city. Every time I venture into one of the old neighborhoods, I see things I would not have imagined encountering, and think about all the many past summers in the gardens I pass on my walk.
(Written June 9, 2005)