Southeastern Wildlife Expo – Winter in Charleston warms to the excitement of the 28th annual Southeastern Wildlife Expo February 12-14, 2010. This internationally-acclaimed artistic event is a showcase of wildlife art and live exhibits from the animal kingdom, drawing more than 30,000 participants for three festive days packed with activities throughout historic downtown Charleston. Featuring an incredible array of stunning wildlife paintings, sculpture, carvings and photography, the Expo also offers a lively mix of retriever events, exotic species exhibits, wild game cooking, environmental education workshops and glamorous social gatherings. For ticket information call 843-723-1748 or go online at www.sewe.com.

Festival of Houses and Gardens – 63rd Annual Spring Festival of Houses & Gardens beginning March 18 - April 17, 2010.  The festival takes place during Charleston's peak bloom time.  These tours provide a rare opportunity for guests to go inside the private houses and gardens of some of America’s most beautiful historic residences, dating to the 18th century

More than ten thousand people and 65,000  pounds of oysters come together for a memorable outdoor event at historic Boone Hall Plantation.   Named one of the “top 20 events in the Southeast” by the Southeastern Tourism Society, this fabulous food fest highlights the shellfish delight savored for its steamy taste. With live music, food, wine, beer, soft drinks, oyster eating contests, and a waterfront venue overlooking the scenic marshland tributaries of the Wando River, the outdoor spectacle is a winner with all concerned, culminating popular Winter oyster roast season.

The natural beauty of Boone Hall Plantation features an awe-inspiring avenue of towering live oaks, horse pastures, plantation buildings, and habitat filled with egrets, herons and osprey. Information and advance tickets can be found online at www.charlestonoysterfestival.com, or by calling 843-452-6088

Ducks Unlimited Oyster Roast - 2010 Ducks Unlimited Southeastern Wildlife Exposition Oyster Roast & auction. Friday, February 12, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. Charleston Visitor Center Bus Shed - 375 Meeting Street. All-you-can-eat oysters and Lowcountry cookout! Live entertainment, huge silent auction and raffles for shotguns, trips, artwork and other great merchandise. Tickets are $60 per person if purchased in advance and $75 per person at the door. Call 843-224-5142.

South of Broad Street along East Bay lie the east-west passages of Stoll’s Alley and Longitude Lane. Both have an interesting past that belies the cozy residential beauty today. Stoll’s Alley was named for a blacksmith, Justinius Stoll, who practiced his craft there in the 1740’s, and whose eighteenth century home still stands. Later, the alley would feature various enterprises including two private academies and a laundry house. Facing Vanderhorst Creek to the south until that body was filled as an extension of Water Street by the 1820’s, Stoll’ Alley was home to numerous harbor pilots, who parked their boats inside a flood gate leading out into the channel.

A century later in the early twentieth century, Stoll’s Alley was considered a slum, crowded with low-income renters. As Charleston’s preservation movement took hold in the 1940’s, the value of historic real estate jumped, restoring the character of Stoll’s Alley. Today, its vitrified brick pavement opens from a narrow corridor swept by fresh harbor breezes into a garden-laden courtyard of beautiful blooms. Some of the most tantalizing vistas are through delicate wrought iron gates, a scene that would surely please Justinius Stoll.

  Charleston Architecture - Sword Gate House

The statuesque beauty of 32 Legare Street is somewhat obscured by a much more famous aspect of the property, its magnificent wrought iron Sword Gate. The extensive three-story structure was completed by 1818 on the site of a former hide-tanning business, featuring a modified Federal style that included attached masonry and wooden sections, a regal balustrade rooftop parapet, and a decorative fanlight doorway with attached columns. Acquired by cultured French immigrants, the house was opened as Madame Talvande’s Academy for Young Ladies in 1819, its high brick wall with heavy wooden gate adding an aura of seclusion that was famously pierced when one of the girls eloped in 1828. In 1849, wealthy merchant George Hopley bought the property and refurbished the house with lavish interior designs, but his most memorable addition was actually a mistake.

 The City of Charleston had commissioned a wrought iron gate for its Guard House in 1838, hiring famed local iron master Christopher Werner, who crafted a stunning frame featuring swords and spears representing authority. Werner mistakenly fashioned two sets of gates, and when the city refused to buy the copy , Hopley bought it and used it to replace the front wall’s wooden gate.

  Charleston Market Report - January 2010

Hyper Local Statistics: Historic Downtown, Mount Pleasant, Sullivan's Island.    Please email me if you would like information on any of the 15 hyper local markets.