Touring Charleston in the Fall
Every destination has its ideal season…and for Charleston, it’s fall. We’re sharing the top five reasons why so many of Charleston Carriage Works’ guests, local residents and our friendly neighbors consider this the very best season to visit Charleston.
Come Inside our Homes and Gardens
Since 1977, a calendar highlight every October is the Fall Tour of Homes and Gardens presented by the Preservation Society of Charleston. This year’s event is October 1-25, 2015, when visitors are invited to experience the charming interiors of the city’s exceptional historic homes, among America’s most distinguished homes.
Everybody’s Gone Back to School
After Labor Day, when the school gates open and summer vacationers must depart, you’ll enjoy fewer crowds and attractive shoulder season rates.
On weekends during the school year, some 2,000 cadets at The Citadel kick off with a traditional troop parade at 3:45 every Friday afternoon. Visitors are welcome to observe their impressive precision marching carrying swords, rifles and musical instruments, as the military college of South Carolina performs the esprit de corps ceremony.
While the cadets don their finest uniforms for the occasion, there’s no need for you to pull on any woolens. The weather is never better than in autumn, ideal for your sightseeing tour on Charleston’s best carriage ride.
Perfect Weather For Sightseeing
Imagine delightful room temperatures, without a trace of buggy or muggy when you step out. October’s daytime average temperatures are 75 degrees, with an average overnight low of 62 degrees. Precipitation in October is half that of August, so you’ll likely enjoy strings of sunny days whenever you visit Charleston.
We’d love to save your seats. Book your guided tour with Charleston Carriage Works for the city’s best, and most comfortable, escorted horse-drawn ride through historic cobbled streets. Our friendly, professional guides and wonderful Percheron horses are a delightful way to spend some time on a glorious autumn day in the Holy City.
Fall Colors and Gray Beards
We’re fired up for fall foliage. From pines to palms, the Palmetto State’s wide variety and abundance of trees is a much-loved local feature. While the peak of autumn leaves varies from year to year, the last week in September through the middle of November brings bright red, yellow and scarlet displays throughout the Carolinas.
Charleston is a city of beautiful trees at their showiest in fall, when you’ll fall in love with our legendary Angel Oak Tree. Some say this beloved oak is North America’s oldest, at an estimated 1,500 years of age. With a circumference of 28 feet, spreading its massive limbs up to 187 feet, this marvel of Mother Nature attracts visitors to enjoy the picnic tables beneath it.
At Boone Hall Plantation, the sun peeks through the branches of two evenly spaced rows of 270-year-old giant live oak trees. They majestically line the ¾-mile-long entry to one of America’s oldest living and working plantations, the most photographed in the South. Appearing to wear beards of gray, the oak branches dangle distinctive Spanish moss, as though every day were an excuse for Halloween dressing up.
October is for Oysters
Love oysters? The start of October brings the opening of the shellfish season to the waters of Lowcountry. All along the Carolina coast, outdoor oyster roasts spell autumn every bit as much as football, fairs, autumn leaves and harvest moons.
Charleston’s oyster bars and restaurants are well known throughout the nation. Here’s a rundown of the Holy City’s top 10 restaurants for oysters from USA Today, featuring those with water views, oyster happy hours, oyster shooters, fried oysters and more.
Charleston Carriage Works suggests, “Come and see us in fall, y’all!”
