A Weekend in Charleston, S.C.
Map
Charleston, S.C.
Friday
4 p.m.
1) MEETING LUCINDA
In 1856, Charleston banned the buying and selling of slaves outdoors, a practice viewed as out of keeping with the city’s genteel image. Trade moved indoors to places like Ryan’s Mart, where the first slave sold was a 20-year-old woman named Lucinda. The former auction hall opened in 2007 as the Old Slave Mart Museum (6 Chalmers Street, 843-958-6467; nps.gov/history/nr/travel/charleston). Exhibitions bring slavery to horrifying life in a way few museums do, addressing such topics as the stigma attached to the slave-trading profession and how slaves were dressed, shaved, fed and otherwise prepared for market day.
7 p.m.
2) LOWCOUNTRY CUISINE
For three years running, a restaurant from Charleston has won the James Beard award for best southeastern chef (first Hominy Grill, then Fig, then McCrady’s), so guessing the next winner can be an amusing parlor game. Will it be Glass Onion, with its pickled vegetables and lunch-box aesthetic, or Wild Olive, which showcases local produce and Italian cooking out on Johns Island? A dark-horse contender is Cypress Lowcountry Grille (167 East Bay Street, 843-727-0111; magnolias-blossom-cypress.com), where the chef Craig Deihl makes his own charcuterie (served with lard biscuits, $12) and pork schnitzel ($28) while throwing a bone to value-seeking diners with a $39 prix fixe menu.
10 p.m.
3) JAZZ AGE REFUGE
Charleston is not particularly known for its night life — the options sometimes come down to one outlandishly named martini versus another (caramel macchiatotini? Charlestoniantini?). But locals with an evening to kill stop by the lounge of the Charleston Grill, a grand ballroom of a restaurant tucked away in a posh hotel, the Charleston Place (224 King Street, 843-577-4522; charlestongrill.com). From a glamorous white banquette, you can take in the sophisticated tunes of the Quentin Baxter Ensemble and the very polite antics of practically all of Charleston, from dads and debutantes to Gullah painters. Snack on the truffle Parmesan popcorn ($10) and a kiwi version of the Pimm’s cup ($12).
Saturday
9 a .m.
4) SWEETGRASS AND CREPES
The old South finds new takes at the Charleston Farmers Market in Marion Square (843-724-7305; charlestonarts.sc), a bustling downtown market where you can buy pickled watermelon rind, sweetgrass baskets and flower arrangements that make use of old windows. Be prepared to fight your way through the throngs buying their week’s supply of groceries or lining up for fresh crepes ($4.50 and up; charlestoncrepecompany.com).
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10 a .m.
5) SHOPPING BELLES
King Street has long been the stylish epicenter of Charleston, but it’s been invaded by the major chain stores. Take refuge on and around upper King, north of Marion Square, where chic shops and high-concept restaurants coexist with fading emporiums. Pick up a handy one-page guide to parking and neighborhood restaurants at Blue Bicycle Books (420 King Street, 843-722-2666, bluebicyclebooks.com). Sample a pastry at the fashionably French Macaroon Boutique (45 John Street, 843-577-5441; macaroonboutique.com), then browse the baffling assortment of odds and ends at Read Brothers stereo and fabric store, established in 1912 (593 King Street, 843-723-7276; www.readbrothers.com). For a splurge, head to Magar Hatworks (57 Cannon Street, 843-345-4483; magarhatworks.com; call for appointment), a millinery where Leigh Magar makes recherché hats ($175 to $700) that sell at high-end stores like Barneys New York.
2 p.m.
6) NOT QUITE TEETOTALING
Many people spend a lifetime trying to replicate grandma’s recipes — not so at Irvin-House Vineyards (6775 Bears Bluff Road, 843-559-6867; charlestonwine.com), a scenic vineyard about a 30-minute drive from downtown on sleepy Wadmalaw Island. The owners have spent years trying to make muscadine wine without the syrupy, made-at-home sweetness those words bring to Southerners’ minds. Two years ago, the owners took on another iconic Southern taste, iced tea, blending it with vodka to make Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka, whose authentic lazy-Sunday-afternoon flavor made it a runaway success. After the free Saturday vineyard tour at 2 p.m., you can taste both.
4 p.m.
7) OLD GROWTH
On the way back to town, take a short detour to the Angel Oak, a tree so large it could whomp 10 Hogwarts willows (3688 Angel Oak Road). The tree, which is thought to be at least 300 to 400 years old, is threatened by plans for a nearby shopping center. It is protected by a fence; the gate closes at 5 p.m.
6 p.m.
8) BIGGER FISH CAMP
Before the Bowens Island Restaurant burned down in 2006, the humble cinderblock fish camp was covered in decades’ worth of graffiti scrawled by loyal customers. In July, it reopened in a large, screened-in room on 18-foot stilts, with a nicer deck and a better view of the dolphins playing in Folly Creek (1870 Bowens Island Road, 843-795-2757; bowensislandrestaurant.com). Marker-wielding patrons have wasted no time in trying to cover the new lumber with fresh scrawls. You can try to decipher them as you wait for your roasted oysters (bottomless order is $21.50) and oversize hush puppies (a side is $4.25). Get here early to avoid the crush.
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8 p.m.
9) GEORGIAN ENCORE
When the Dock Street Theater opened in 1736, the first production had a name only a pre-Revolutionary could love: “The Recruiting Officer.” Luckily, the producers chose a different work, “Flora,” an early English opera, when it reopened this year with all its Georgian splendor restored. Said to be the first theater in America built for that purpose, the Dock (135 Church Street) hosts the Spoleto Festival, the city’s artistic crown jewel, in May and June (14 George Street, 843-722-2764; spoletousa.org) and Charleston Stage (843-577-7183; charlestonstage.com), which presents musicals and popular fare the rest of the year (tickets $20 to $52).
Sunday
9 a .m.
10) STEAMY BUNS
When it opened last year, tiny WildFlour Pastry (73 Spring Street, 843-327-2621; wildflourpastrycharleston.com) created an instant tradition with “sticky bun Sundays.” A steady stream of cravers comes through the door in search of a warm, chewy, generously pecanned confection ($2.70). Those with less of a sweet tooth will be happy with crumbly fruity or savory scones ($2 and up) or a hardboiled Sea Island egg (60 cents).
11 a .m.
11) GARDENS AND GATORS
Ever since Pat Conroy’s novel “Prince of Tides,” Charleston has been known for its mossy, Lowcountry terrain as much as for its picturesque history. At Middleton Place plantation, a National Historic Landmark, one of several plantations within easy reach of downtown, you can get a close-up view of the marsh — or, in winter, of a primeval cypress swamp — on a guided kayak tour ($40). Alligators, bald eagles and river otter are among the possible sights, as is the architectural award-winning Inn at Middleton Place, where the tours meet (4290 Ashley River Road, 843-556-0500; charlestonkayakcompany.blogspot.com). After, you can take in domesticated nature on the plantation grounds, billed as the oldest landscaped garden in the country, with twin butterfly lakes, or visit the blacksmith and cooper workshops (4300 Ashley River Road, 800-782-3608; middletonplace.org). Some things in Charleston don’t change.
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IF YOU GO
Multiple airlines, including Delta, U.S. Airways and Continental, fly nonstop to Charleston from New York. A recent Web search found round-trip fares starting at about $391.
Just off Marion Square, the Hampton Inn Charleston-Historic District (345 Meeting Street, 843-723-4000; hamptoninn.hilton.com) is in a restored warehouse just old enough to be billed as the area’s only antebellum hotel, with a fitness center, pool and 170 rooms, from $189.
The Battery Carriage House Inn (20 South Battery, 843-727-3100; batterycarriagehouse.com), has 11 rooms a stone’s throw from White Point Gardens at the Battery. Enjoy breakfast in a shady walled garden reputed to be haunted. Rooms from $150.
The Titanic Discovery
By Kate Abbott Wednesday, Sep. 01, 2010
On Sept. 1, 1985, underwater explorer Robert Ballard located the world's most famous shipwreck. The Titanic lay largely intact at a depth of 12,000 ft. off the coast of St. John's, Newfoundland
Ralph White / CORBIS
Almost 25 years to the day after the R.M.S. Titanic was discovered two and a half miles below the surface of the Atlantic, an expedition to the ocean floor has transmitted brand new images of history's most famous shipwreck. Legendary before it was found, the Titanic became even more so after the world caught its first glance of the ghostly ship, which met its end in April 1912. After years of speculation and educated guesses that had turned up nothing but empty ocean, researchers located the deteriorating bow and debris field on Sept. 1, 1985.
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Explorer Robert Ballard, an oceanographer and former Navy captain, had long wanted to find the wreck, first attempting the feat in 1977 to no avail. But it wasn't until 1985 that he would find a way to finance his research. Ballard approached the U.S. Navy for funding, which he secured on the condition of locating two sunken Navy submarines — the U.S.S. Thresher and U.S.S. Scorpion, both Cold War–era nuclear submarines — lost some years before. He was required to first find the submarines on the seafloor and photograph them (a secret mission that Ballard didn't reveal until 2008) before using the underwater robots to search for the Titanic. In the early hours of Sept. 1, Ballard, in conjunction with a French expedition, tracked a debris trail to the wreckage. Video and photographs were taken and later broadcast to the world. (Read an interview with two Titanic wreck divers.)
A year after the remains of the Titanic were discovered, more oceanographers went to explore the sections of bow and stern and the extensive debris field that lay between the two. In 1993, the company RMS Titanic Inc. (formed by Premier Exhibitions, which designs museum exhibitions and maintains artifacts) was named salvor-in-possession of the wreck, gaining the rights to collect found artifacts and launch expeditions to the ship. They did so seven times between 1986 and 2004, collecting over 5,500 artifacts ranging from china dishes to leather trunks filled with preserved bank notes. A section of the debris field even became known as "hell's kitchen" for the overwhelming amount of cooking utensils found there. Through photographs taken on subsequent trips, the company was able to reconstruct images of the grand staircase, later made famous (as were all things Titanic) by James Cameron's blockbuster film.
The largest discovery was that of a 17-ton section of the hull. An attempt to raise it in 1996 failed when the hull was accidentally dropped back onto the muddy bottom. Two years later, the section was successfully taken to the surface and is now part of traveling exhibits across the country. The piece was temporarily displayed alongside a 16-ft. frozen aluminum block meant to represent an iceberg. Although observers couldn't touch the rusted metal, they were encouraged to hold onto the ice until they could no longer stand it, though "the people in the water that night didn't have that choice," John Zaller of Premier Exhibitions told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Many argue that collecting items from the wreckage violates a sacred resting ground and that all the disturbances are causing the ship to deteriorate faster than it would if left alone. Others blame the multimillion-dollar expeditions — with their robots that land on deck and probe into small spaces — for causing regular and unnecessary damage. But those same expeditions have dispelled some of the myths surrounding what actually happened that night almost 100 years ago. Scientists recently discovered that the compartments were flooded due to several punctures (each less than a foot tall) in the hull, not one long gash as was originally believed. Regardless, time is running out for researchers, some of whom claim the wreck will not exist 50 years from now. As such, the new photographs come courtesy of a new group that is attempting to "virtually raise" the wreck in order to build a 3-D image before the ship disintegrates entirely. Ironically, the act of discovering the Titanic may be the thing that results in its final destruction.
Q&A
Yoko Ono
In December, it will be 30 years since a deranged assassin shot dead John Lennon. In the decades after his murder, Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, persevered amid her own grief and the suspicions of a public that has always associated her with the fracturing of the Beatles. At the opening of her new art exhibit in Berlin — a blend of sculpture, sound and film — Ono talks with TIME about violence, forgiveness and keeping her slain husband's memory alive.
The centerpiece of your new exhibit is a thick glass window with a bullet hole through the middle. What is that about?
You are supposed to look at it from two positions. One is from the front, so you're the shooter. And one is from the back, so you're the victim. (See pictures of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.)
Why do you want the viewer to see the world from both sides of the fence — as both victim and perpetrator?
No, no. Not to see the world, but to see themselves from both sides. You may be a shooter now, but you can be a victim the next day.
Is this ultimately about forgiveness? Aren't you really asking the viewer to forgive the shooter? Can you forgive John Lennon's murderer, Mark David Chapman?
I have not been able to forgive him yet. But I'm not thinking about him all the time. And that's good.
How have you dealt with John's death in your art?
It was an incredible disaster for me. It was a sudden thing. We were talking like 10 minutes before it happened. So it was really a difficult thing to deal with. But the fact that I survived, not just physically but mentally, is something that I give myself credit for. And I think that that's where I have my pride as a person. We all have to have pride as beings and I think that's where my pride is. (See the top 10 things you didn't know about the Beatles.)
The relationship between you and John was always described to the outside world as very symbiotic ...
Very.
And since his death you're the protector of his legacy and memory. How hard was it for you to emerge from this alone as an individual and shake off all the stereotypes that people have about you?
Strangely enough, when I was with John, I was very concerned about being drowned in it, [about becoming] a nonperson and just Mrs. Lennon. So I was fiercely independent in many ways. And when I would write a song, I would just write it myself. But there was also a lot of partnership and doing things together. John was much more used to that. You know, he had partners — he had three partners. And his partnership with Paul [McCartney] was very close. I was always used to doing things alone, like a lone wolf. And just when I got used to the partnership with John, he was taken away from me. At first I didn't know how to cope with it. Then I realized that I could keep giving things to John's fans because they were all terribly devastated at the time. I really felt that it was my responsibility as his partner to make sure that they were going to be all right. So I promised them that every year I would give them something from John. This year I am releasing remastered versions of 121 of his songs.
Are you planning anything in John's memory on Dec. 8, the 30th anniversary of his death?
Well, I got very lucky. Ten years ago the Japanese people said they wanted to do something for John and get all the big Japanese rockers to play his songs as a tribute. We wanted to give money raised to create schools in Africa. Over the past 10 years we've created more than 100 schools. And not just Africa anymore — now we're doing it for Asia and South America. (See pictures of the Beatles' final year.)
And what are you planning this year?
It's the 10th anniversary so it's going to be a big, big concert at Budokan, where the Beatles did their first concert in Japan. And this is how I changed the negativity of Dec. 8 into a positive event.
Is this your way of dealing with so many painful experiences in your life?
It's like when the whole world hated me because they thought I broke up the Beatles, and that hate vibe kept coming at me. I could have been killed by that vibe. But instead I found a way to transform that hate vibe into love energy. That's big. (Comment on this story.)
During the Vietnam War you and John held bed-ins, singing "Give Peace a Chance." If John were alive today, what do you think the two of you would be doing in the face of the wars now in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Well, I'm doing it. I'm promoting Imagine Peace every day. It's a kind of group meditation and people are participating all around the world. You just have to imagine that our society can be a peaceful society. It's a meditation. When you're imagining peace, you can't kill anyone. That's good isn't it?
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2017363,00.html#ixzz0zIduhuBb
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