middleton inn by clark/menefee, and the middleton gardens while you're near.

I'm not sure if Aaron's Deli is still there, but if it is, it's worth a visit.

I spent one night in Charleston on business...

I only went to "Liberty"...

I ended up driving home drunk at 1am because I made friends with some guy who wouldn't stop buying me shots (after I called a David Ortiz walk-off homerun)

Headed over to Fort Jackson at 6 am to survey a site with a monstrous splitting headache, not to mention it was like 1 billion degrees.

Drove out shortly after...

...so I guess I don't have any advice, sorry

i used to live there.

take a carriage ride. yes, it's touristy but you learn tons about the city. go to the bagttery. check out the gibbes art museum. eat at a restaurant called the mustard seed. walk into the charleston civic design center on calhoun street. the folks in there are usually really helpful and love to talk urban design, architecture, etc.

i would definately stay in downtown at a bed and breakfast. you can find some that are well priced. but stay downtown, its the well worth it. or priceline it. whenever i go, i priceline and usually end up staying at the francis marrion hotel (best in town) for a great price.

if you have a car, hope over to see the angel oak tree on john (or james) island.

the gibbes museum of art is very lovely. make sure to see the veiled lady by pietro rossi

the historic charleston foundation is right across the street - their gift shop has an interesting view into a well or some other excavation.

the south carolina aquarium by eskwew +

drive over the new ravenel bridge

morris island lighthouse

old city market aka "old slave market"

try to visit during piccolo spoleto, the little sister of the more expenive spoleto ( late may / early june )

eat at california dreaming on the ashley river - it has a magnificent view, expecially in the evening

if you like forts, skip fort sumter and opt for fort moultrie on sullivan's island. sullivan's also has several bunkers from ww2, i believe, that were built into large berms - hills, actually. when they were decommissioned, they were sold off and i think they are now private residences.

if you make it up to columbia, there is a flw exhibit at the columbia museum of art that is supposed to be quite good

I have eaten at the "Sticky Fingers" place downtown, good barbeque though I am far from a gourmand, and I had a nice time there (though I hear they are a local chain?) And a thai place... maybe with Ginger in the name? They have a nice aquarium and the place is very romantic if you are able to ignore the "daughters of the confederacy" signs on buildings.

For some weird reason, I always end up buying favorite articles of clothing in the Banana Republic downtown in Charleston. It's a pretty place.

But the strange thing is that if you order a drink they give you the little bottle for each ingredient. I heard they were phasing that out, but it's worth choosing something with few ingredients for your first drink to see if they do that. It can get pricey if you order something complex. Pricey even by NYC standards.

My friend took me to a place where you bang a pipe on the table to crush your crab legs. Excellent. Cheap beer too, what could be better? No idea where we were... some name like Mt. Pleasant... on the water... no idea. Cheap gas though, so no worries about driving around. And catch all the huge bridges, say yea Strom!

Just bumping this thread to see if anyone knows of any firms in Charleston doing interesting work.

Huff + Gooden Architects

great thanks! Their work looks pretty decent. Is that pretty much it for Charleston or are there other firms in the area doing similar work?

Forgive my ignorance but I have an opportunity to move to Charleston and I have never been there and know nothing about it.

is a big firm there ... differing opinions exist on the quailty of their work, but they're the main thing going on in Charleston.