Congratulations to our friends at Wild Blue Ropes for making it as a finalist in ActivityHero.com's Small Business Grant Competition! If you haven't visited Wild Blue Ropes yet, you definitely should. It really is an exhilarating way to spend a couple of hours with your family, friends, or even by yourself. As someone with a fear of heights, I felt incredibly confident and strong after completing the course over at Wild Blue Ropes. Read on for more information about the Small Business Grant Competition and what Wild Blue Ropes is doing for the Charleston area.

The lot at 35 Meeting Street was acquired by Stephen Bull in 1694, and his son William built the stuccoed brick house (minus the piazzas, which were added much later) around 1720. Three and one-half stories on top of a raised basement make this single-family residence one of the most imposing houses of the colonial era in Charleston. 35 Meeting Street is also a house infused with the early history of Charles Town.

The Bull family, originally from England, was much involved in the early proprietary and royal governments. Stephen Bull of Kingshurst Hall, Warwickshire, England came to Carolina in 1670 on the first ship to settle here, the "Carolina." He came as the personal representative of Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, one of the eight Lords Proprietors to whom King Charles II gave the land known as Carolina in gratitude for the restoration of the English monarchy. 

Water activities such as swimming, scuba diving, jet skiing and water skiing, fishing, and swimming are common throughout Charleston’s waterways. Such watersports and boating experiences can be so engaging that sometimes we can get caught up in having fun and forget about the importance of safety. This post explores the safety precautions that should be observed as you take part in these adventurous water sport activities.

Charleston Zipline Adventures is positioned right at the edge of the Francis Marion National Forest, so although we are only 15 miles from Downtown Charleston, we are technically in Awendaw, South Carolina. We absolutely adore all of the adventurous spirits who take the time to come out and zip with us! One of the biggest questions we get from our guests is about what there is to do in the area once they're done ziplining. And that's exactly why we've created this guide for you. We want you to be able to continue your adventure by exploring all of the amazing attractions and experiences (many of which are free) that Awendaw has to offer. This area is part of the Bulls Bay National Historic Passage and is a mecca for nature-based tourism surrounded by the Francis Marion National Forest and the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.

Approaching June 28, Carolina Day, and July 4, Independence Day, we visit 34 Meeting Street with its long and storied history, especially in connection with the birth of the United States. The large pre-Revolutionary structure is a double house, two rooms wide and two rooms deep; the piazza was added after 1900. Constructed around 1760 by the Bull family, the house was rented by Lord William Campbell in 1775 while serving as the last royal governor of South Carolina.

How my husband and I saved $180 with Charleston Tour Pass.

Here at charleston.com we know Charleston inside and out and what visitors should go see and do. When we came across Charleston Tour Pass (tourpass.com/charleston), we decided to check it out and write a review to tell you whether or not we think it’s worth the cost.

143-145 Church Street with its hipped roof, dormers and red shutters is a familiar site to Charlestonians. The structure was originally built with brick and Bermuda stone as a double tenement around 1740 by Alexander Peronneau, a wealthy French Huguenot. The double tenement was renovated and converted into a single-family residence in 1928, at which time the buildings in the back were constructed with brick recycled from Shepheard's Tavern, which had been torn down in 1924.

Whether you’ve built a custom home or remodeled an existing one, every homeowner knows selecting the right light fixtures is one of the toughest stages of a project. Not only are there an endless number of options, but light fixture trends and technology also change so quickly that it can sometimes be difficult to keep up. Where do you even start? Based on our experience of helping clients with the selection process, we have put together the following 5 tips for selecting the right light fixture for your home.

St. Michael's Church is normally open for visitors during the day Monday through Saturday. If the main doors or the door on the right side are open, you have an invitation to go inside to visit and/or pray.

Behind the altar is an 1893 Tiffany window of St. Michael slaying the dragon. When you go there, notice the magnificent wrought iron altar rail, imported from London in 1772. Years ago when I was a member of St. Michael's, the altar rail was black; I remember when the church, after study and analysis, decided to paint it an historical color. We have no documentation that the altar rail was painted the Prussian blue with gold highlights it bears today, but the blue is a period color, and the altar would have been painted in 1772.

This week we'll visit St. Michael's Anglican Church, 80 Meeting Street, at the fourth Corner of Law. St. Michael's represents God's Law. There has always been a church at this site since Charles Town settled the peninsula in 1680.

If you read the buildings at the Four Corners of Law, you will see that the top of City Hall is not as tall as the top of the Old State House. The United States Post Office has a tower that is much taller than either city Hall or the Old State House. However, the tower is not as tall as St. Michael's steeple, because "nothing is higher than God's Law."