Knowing Charleston: What Brings Her Joy
Monica Edwards- Feb 21
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 23
A city of quiet pleasures and grand celebrations, where time lingers on sunlit piazzas and the rhythm of the tides shapes the rhythm of life itself. Her joy is not hurried—it is steeped, savored, and shared.
Charleston delights in the art of slow living. She wakes to the hush of waves brushing against the Battery, to the scent of salt and magnolia drifting through shuttered windows. She takes her mornings leisurely, her afternoons beneath the shade of wide piazzas, her evenings in the glow of lantern-lit streets. Charleston’s culture and traditions are woven into the rhythm of her days, moving with the tides, the seasons, the soft sway of Spanish moss in the afternoon light.
Her happiness is found in the details—a handwoven sweetgrass basket, the delicate curve of wrought iron, the laughter of friends gathered around a table heavy with seafood just pulled from the water. She does not rush pleasure. She lingers in it, knowing that the best moments are the ones that unfold naturally, unhurried and full of warmth.
The Music That Moves Her
Charleston’s heartbeat is heard in her music, in the echoes of spirituals sung in praise houses, in the syncopated rhythms of Gullah drum beats that still pulse along her shores. It’s in the smooth notes of a jazz saxophone spilling from a hidden courtyard, the resonance of a harpsichord in an old drawing room, the waltz of a bow against a violin beneath the glow of waterfront lanterns.
She moves to the melodies that have shaped her—some rooted in deep history, others newly written but still laced with the past. Music is not just entertainment here. It is inheritance. It is memory set to rhythm, passed down from hands that once worked the land and feet that once danced in defiance beneath moonlit skies.
The Flavors That Bring Her Comfort
Charleston’s joy is often found in her kitchen. She is a city that tastes like her past—like rice grown in the pluff mud of the Lowcountry, like she-crab soup rich with the ocean’s offering, like cornbread pulled from cast-iron skillets warmed by generations of hands.
She savors her meals as she savors life—slowly, with care, with an understanding that every dish tells a story. From the spice of red rice to the delicate crunch of a benne wafer, from the briny kiss of a freshly shucked oyster to the slow warmth of a seafood stew, her flavors are more than food. They are history on a plate, a joyful remembrance of all who have passed through her kitchens and left behind something to be shared.
The Beauty She Wears So Easily
Charleston does not try to be beautiful—she simply is. Her elegance is effortless, found in the way sunlight filters through Spanish moss, in the soft sway of a window box overflowing with blooms, in the gentle way a summer breeze stirs lace curtains in an open doorway.
She takes joy in her surroundings, in the colors of her painted homes, in the cool feel of flagstone beneath bare feet, in the way her gardens seem to spill over with untamed loveliness. There is no need for embellishment. She lets nature do the work, trusting that beauty, when left to its own devices, will always find a way to flourish.
The Traditions That Keep Her Rooted
Charleston finds happiness in tradition, in the rituals that mark time and tether her to her past. Charleston’s culture and traditions are felt in the rhythm of her days—where she knows the importance of a proper greeting, of a handwritten note, of a table set with care. She believes in the weight of history, not as something to be carried like a burden, but as something to be honored, passed down, preserved in the way life is lived.
She steps into every second Sunday on King Street with the same excitement as a debutante at her first ball. She ties her wedding bouquets with sweetgrass and watches fireworks explode over the harbor on the Fourth of July. She paints her piazza ceilings haint blue, not just for superstition but for the quiet comfort of tradition itself.
Her joy is not in the grand or the fleeting. It is in the everyday, the familiar, the things done not out of necessity but out of love.
What Brings Her Joy Brings Her Life
Joy is woven into the details—Charleston’s culture and traditions that still breathe, the flavors that still nourish, the melodies that still dance on the evening breeze. To know her is to step into a life where pleasure is not rushed, where beauty is not manufactured, where history is not simply remembered but lived, again and again.
Charleston remembers. Charleston remembers. She finds joy in the simple, the slow, the timeless. To step further into her way of life, linger in the places where tradition remains—in the kitchens where history is served, the unspoken etiquette that still shapes her charm, and the effortless grace of a city that knows how to dress for every occasion.
Continue the Journey: Read the Next Chapter in This Series… Knowing Charleston: The Company She Keeps
