Why I fell in Love With Charles….

Intro: I don’t know why I constantly do this to myself. The alarm rang and I didn’t bother to fight the urge to snooze for 10 minutes. To make a long story short, by the time I got out of bed,  if I didn’t make like speedy gonzales I’d miss the trip all together. I ran out the house and mentally geared up to RUN, much to the dismay of my chest and legs which were quick to give out. ‘Don’t let the firefighters get you too excited’ a passerby amused by my heaving teased and I looked up to see them out washing cars. ‘Very funny’ I thought as my destination approached with minutes to spare. I dashed by and through the cemetery which felt quite ghastly and actually smelled like its residents. Must have been the impending rain … Rain?! I panicked for a second then remembered at the last-minute I had packed my umbrella -along with a sandwich, watercolours, sketchbook, pens and markers, construction notes, a book, snacks, phone charger….Austin of course. [Most of those proved only to be a burden as I later tried to navigate the city.]  Breathing a sigh of relief I looked towards the Habersham Hall tower then at my watch. Yes, I shall get there at 8:30 am after all.

As always I’m the only one riding solo. I didn’t mind, an adventure awaited me! “Poopy crap…. I forgot to pick up a map” :s

First Impressions: Welcome to Charleston South Carolina. Two hours and ten mins from dear old Savannah.

The first stop was to the market which proved to be a fascinating journey. It was similar to our typical craft markets but I was in for a surprise when I walked out of the building and crossed the street. I landed right into another section of the City Market! This continued for at least 5 blocks with the buildings transitioning from an indoor outdoor type spaces to posh air conditioned spaces still keeping a similar layout! The southern charm was certainly there as the people were so friendly and I took every advantage of the free samples.

All about food!

Was able to get a sample…really good!

The streetscapes:

Inside the City Hall:

The Council chambers which holds a painting with  a very interesting story behind it. I found it online but the story was relayed to us almost exactly by a rather eccentric guide with a severe case of CDO (as she called it)

In 1791, the city commissioned Trumbull to paint a portrait of President Washington in honor of his visit … The city wanted the portrait to show President Washington as he looked like in their modern-day of 1791, a 59 year old man. Trumbull was to incorporate the city of Charleston into the portrait as well.

The first Charleston portrait was eventually finished and our city forefather’s went to Trumbull’s studio, in Philadelphia for the viewing. The portrait that was presented to them was not what had been ordered by the city. The portrait that he painted is one of his most famous the Battle of Trenton.

It was a beautiful painting depicting Gen. Washington at the Battle of Trenton, which today is considered one of Trumbull’s best. Trumbull also thought it was one of his best and he was very unhappy with the city’s decline of the portrait. Even though it was a beautiful portrait it was not what the city had requested. The portrait was of Washington as a 49-year-old man, not the 59-year-old man that he was when he came to our city and the city most definitely did not want the Battle of Trenton in the background; they wanted our own city of Charleston’s skyline.

So eventually the portrait was rejected and another was requested. Even though Trumbull was not pleased with this decision, he wanted his commission and so he agreed paint another portrait. Since he had painted all his paintings from memory he had to have President Washington to sit for him and the President agreed to sit for the next portrait. Again, the scenario to Philadelphia was repeated to view the portrait and this time the portrait was perfect. It showed the President in his full 6’3″ frame, on the banks of Haddrell’s Point, you can see the skyline of Charleston behind him, his face is red and ruddy from riding, you can see the local flora and fauna around President Washington’s feet. The commission was paid to Trumbull and he agreed to send the portrait on as soon as he finished some small details.

When the portrait arrived there was an addition to the it, a horse. Now, look back on the portrait at the horse. First the horse is not large enough to carry George Washington, it really is somewhat out of proportion with the President. But, the most intriguing thing is the position of the horse and its rear end. The symbolism of the horse’s behind is Trumbull telling the city of Charleston to kiss his own rear end! Now, look at the tail of the horse, notice the raised position? When a horse raises his tail it usually means it is time to discard of its earlier meal and that was the very implication that Trumbull had intended. If you were to see the original portrait you can quite clearly see the boat of Charleston dignitaries positioned right under the raised tell of the horse! The portrait is known as Trumbull’s Revenge. – Source 

Walking around a bit:

tried so hard to get a good shot of this one!

Naturally, if I had only one photo of myself taken it would have to be by a stair 😛

And finally, RANDOMNESS!

400+ Photos later I am home.

Stay tuned for part 3~

In case you missed it – here’s part 1

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