“Atlas of Dream Places”

 ...the substance of a dream comes as much from within as from a place itself.  We take the facts we have, the tales we believe, and the evidence we can see, and mold them into an image that my not reflect reality per se.  It reflects the reality we want to see…

From the introduction to "The Atlas of Dream Places:  A grand tour of the world’s best loved destinations."

About 15 years ago, the famous publisher of maps, Rand McNally, produced a very special and magical book called, appropriately enough, "The Atlas of Dream Places."   When I stumbled upon and bought it a few years ago, I was delighted and intrigued by articles and pictures about places as diverse, exotic and beautiful as the poet Wordsworth’s "Grassmere," the Bay of Naples, Victoria Falls, Luxor, the Egyptian city of palaces, Versailles, Bangkok, and Katmandu, the capital of Nepal.   But then I discovered that my own city and hometown of Charleston, South Carolina was included within the pages of this book, and I was not really that surprised.   There is no place else remotely like our historic district anywhere in the country.  Hundreds of blocks are faithfully preserved as if you were stepping back in to the 18th and 19th centuries. The surrounding area contains some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the country.   As many of you who read know, I have posted numerous photos of my favorite places in and around Charleston, and I never even begin to tire of its beauty. 

The longer I live in this incomparable city by the sea, located on a peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, the more I can appreciate why there might be just two U.S. cities included in such a book, the other being New Orleans, and in particular, that city’s fabled View Carre or French Quarter.  New Orleans is the city where I was born and grew up, so I am well acquainted with its fabled history and charms as well as Charleston’s.  I have lived in Charleston since 1994, but visited it countless times in my youth during summer vacations. Now I have entered that stage of life just before "retirement" age, whatever that may mean.   As I look back,  I think, on balance, I am quite fortunate to have had close acquaintance with two such unique cities, although I am well aware of the sordid aspects of both city’s histories, tied intimately to the terrible legacy of slavery in the Old South.  Thus,  there is always that strange and haunting irony about Charleston and New Orleans:  while deservedly admired for their truly magnificent gardens, architecture and old houses, many dating back to the 1700s, one is aware of just how the great wealth of 200-250 years ago was obtained and how this wealth formed a distinct Southern civilization.   It was a highly civilized city as one thinks of that term, and yet at what price?

Today Charleston — the modern city,  the preserved historic district and the surrounding countryside — offer so much that is extraordinarily beautiful to visitors and resident alike that I could spend hours alone just at Waterfront Park or wandering the old, shady historic streets.   We have the surrounding natural beauty of salt marshes and creeks, the ocean, live oaks and maritime forests.   All of this in staggering abundance.

I am linking here a set of photographs of Charleston that I have taken over the past year or so and which represent some of my personal favorites.

My Charleston — A Personal View

http://www.flickr.com/photos/camas/sets/72157628545031945/