South Carolina Recap & Travel Guide
I just got back from visiting the beautiful state of South Carolina and as always, I’ll be recapping my trip! This post is full of photos from the gorgeous southern state, restaurant information, things to do, and of course, good photo ops!
Columbia
My sister, Jenna, is attending the University of South Carolina in the fall and had to attend orientation. My family decided to turn this into a vacation so we headed down to Columbia, South Carolina to explore what will be her new home.
Columbia is the capital of South Carolina; however, the campus doesn’t really feel like a city campus. It almost has that college town feel with the perks of being in a city. Meaning they have access to other stores besides Walmart within a forty-five minute drive unlike Oxford, Ohio where I attend school. Columbia has that sweet southern charm, good restaurants, and fun murals that give it so much character.
The first night that we arrived in Columbia, we ate at Liberty Tap Room & Grill - thank you Riley from the Northern Prepster for this recommendation! This place was so close to our hotel and had a tavern like vibe to it. I enjoyed the vintage-like signage outside and my Philly Cheesesteak was delicious.
Mural found close to the Liberty Tap Room & Grill
We took a tour of the campus and spent some time seeing the sites of the college itself. We also headed to Five Points, which is a section of Columbia that has some great restaurants, fun murals, and nice shopping. I got to go into Vestique, which is a boutique that is only found in southern states. I snagged a cute top, summery dress, and a new hairscarf while visiting. I was introduced to the store on my last trip to South Carolina over Spring Break and I enjoyed getting to shop here again in person because their clothes are oh so cute!
In Five Points, we ate at the Salty Nut where I enjoyed an ice cold beer and you guessed it, some salty peanuts! This was a neat place that is super laid back and has pretty good food. We also ate at the Gourmet Shop which was raved about by our tour guide at USC - and for good reason! It’s a busy little shop with a restaurant that was quick and delicious. I ate their Chicken Salad sandwich that was served on a croissant and it was so tasty! I definitely recommend this place if you’re in Five Points.
Charleston
After a couple days in Columbia, we headed down to Charleston. I absolutely love this historic city and it was so fun visiting again! We stayed at the Shem Creek Inn which is located in Mount Pleasant. This location was super nice and conveniently located to everything we wanted to do.
Our first night there we ate at Water’s Edge where I had some delicious lobster mac ’n cheese. I love lobster mac and this dish was especially good in my opinion. This place is more on the expensive side so head’s up if you plan to go there!
For our first full day in Charleston, we went out to Patriot’s Point, more specifically, Fort Sumter to see the place where the Civil War began. It was beautiful day where we took a boat tour and got to spend about an hour at the fort itself. This was an incredibly interesting experience that gave me more insight into the historical side of Charleston.
Following our tour of Fort Sumter, we went to get lunch at Okra which was about five minutes from Patriot’s Point. This restaurant has been shown on the Food Network and was pretty tasty. I got the Fried Shrimp with green beans and sweet potato casserole. It was very good but come hungry because it’s a lot of food!
After lunch we headed back to Patriot’s Point to tour the USS Yorktown. This ship is massive and the stories of the ship were very interesting, especially if you’re into history! If you take this tour, you get to see the living quarters, the planes from that time, and so much more.
The next day we headed out to Boone-Hall plantation and let me just say that this place is so beautiful. You enter in down the Avenue of Oaks- a road with oak trees that were planted in 1743. The pictures here do not do it justice as this view was gorgeous. At the plantation, we had the opportunity to take a carriage tour around the fields, tour the beautiful plantation home, walk through the gardens, view the former slave’s quarters, and learn about the history of Boone-Hall. Not only is Boone-Hall known as America’s Most Photographed Plantation, but it is the place where millions and millions of bricks were handmade. Many bricks throughout downtown Charleston and the east coast were made at Boone-Hall. Additionally, Boone-Hall has been seen in many movies and tv series including The Notebook, Queen (the sequel to Roots), and North and South. It was also the location of celebrity power couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynold’s wedding!
After spending the morning at Boone-Hall, we headed to the beach for an afternoon. Charleston is a neat city because it has so much history, good food, beaches, and great photo-ops!
For our last day in Charleston, we went to the downtown area. We took the water taxi from Patriot’s Point over to Waterfront Park. Waterfront park is where the iconic Pineapple Fountain is located. We snagged some photos at the fountain when we first arrived even though it was raining.
We then went and did a horse-drawn carriage ride through Charleston through Charleston Carriage Works. This was the same place I had done a tour before but this one was totally different! The city randomly assigns each tour a location in the city to go so that the streets aren’t overcrowded with horse-drawn carriages. It’s super cool to get a deeper understanding of the city while riding in a carriage!
For lunch, we headed to Fleet Landing which is a restaurant that is on the water. On a normal day, it would have a great view of the water while you could sit outside. However, since it was raining, we dined inside. The food here was good and it was located conveniently near Waterfront Park.
After eating, we headed in the direction of the iconic Rainbow Row, but stopped at the Pineapple Fountain to get a better photo without the rain jackets. We walked throughout the park more on our way to the beautiful street full of colored houses.
Once we arrived at Rainbow Row, we grabbed some photos with the gorgeous pastel houses and spent some time looking around. We then headed back near the Charleston Market and did some shopping before heading back to Waterfront Park to catch the Water Taxi.
This was such a fun trip to South Carolina and I look forward to many more trips to see my sister at school! Hope you enjoyed reading through this article and don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re looking for any recommendations!