Our family had the opportunity to go on a Carriage Tour through Charleston one of the weeks we were traveling in that area for work. The tour was packed full of amazing history of Charleston and all of us enjoyed it (including the girls).

Carriage horse in Charleston

Brina having fun saying “Hi” to all the horses in the carriage barn

Karlie relaxing while waiting for our turn to ride the carriage!

Going on a carriage tour of Charleston.  The girls LOVED riding in the front and watching the horse as well as soaking in all the history of Charleston.  Jake and I went on one of these rides before the girls were born.  It was a lot of fun and we learned more pieces of Charleston’s history!

Beautiful iron work outside the front doors of one of the local churches.  The history of the many buildings along the ride was really neat.

The architecture of the churchs and homes was pretty amazing.  I didn’t want to take a bunch of pictures into peoples personal homes so I snapped more of the churches during the tour.

See the oval sign under the light, it is a “fire insurance” sign.  After the great fires in Charleston if your house had one of these signs that specific fire company would come put out your fire.  Also, many of the Charleston homes have a “privacy” door on their porches as seen in the picture above to allow the families to cool down in privacy on their porches during the warmer months.  It wouldn’t be decent seeing a lady in her “under garments” as she cooled off on the porch therefore privacy doors became a popular addition to the homes.

Beautiful houses in Charleston.  This house used to by at the waters edge and is now several blocks from the shore!  Charleston used to have “HAVE” and “HAVE NOT” sections of town, this house was in the “have” section. 

On the left side of the picture you can see a brown brick building through the trees.  After the really devastating fires in Charleston many of the wealthy families built their kitchens and servants quarters in a separate building outside of the home to help prevent fires from engulfing the entire home which also allowed a little extra time for the fire company to arrive and put out the fire.

Charleston’s old jail house.  Our guide had a lot of “interesting” stories about the old jail house.  Supposedly it is “haunted” and you can take tours during the day or a ghost tour at night through the old jail. 

Many of the houses in Charleston are visibly leaning due to age and the variety of natural things including settling that have occurred over time.  Also, you’ll notice that a lot of the houses are narrow as you see in this picture.  Not much of a front or side yards with a street on three sides but the house has some history!

It was beautiful and peaceful touring Charleston on a carriage.  If only I could remember ALL the cool pieces of history our guide shared with us that day!

Daughters of Confederacy building in downtown Charleston.  This building is near the market area.

Brina and Karlie saying goodbye, petting, and thanking the horse for the history tour of Charleston.  They really have a soft spot for animals and loved the long ride through Charleston just as much as we did.

Jake and I were able to “surprise” the girls with this carriage tour.  I was able to get tickets at a discounted rate through Groupon, but the company we received the coupons for refused to accept the reservations because they were too “busy” that day.  Thankfully we were able to get another carriage company to basically accept their competitors coupon otherwise we would have had two very disappointed girls (and Momma). Even though it was a busy time, we had to switch carriage companies, and it was warm we had a BLAST touring the city and learning all the history.

If you ever go to Charleston this is a wonderful activity to do with your family, just make sure to budget or plan ahead for the tour because without a coupon it could be a little pricey especially for a large family or group.  Even though the carriage rides are open pretty much year round if you are going in the summer and it gets above 94 degrees (or somewhere near that temperature) the carriage companies have to pull the horses off the street because it is too hot for them.  It was a great experience for all of us!

The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax.  Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away.  Explore with a good attitude, look for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories.  It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine.  Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn.  You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!