Once the center of the American slave trade, Charleston is a city always contending with the good and bad of its history even as it has transformed into a food-centric and sophisticated Southern city where wealthy New Yorkers and Hollywood types flock for the easygoing pace and refined lifestyle and have scooped up homes at a ravenous pace that has threatened to price-out locals. Charleston is consistently named one of the country's top cities by glossy travel magazines and websites beguiled by its idiosyncratic beauty and charm. Homes, gardens and the people of Charleston are exceptionally gracious (especially so considering the 7 million tourists who flock to the city each year), furnishings lean toward the traditional but there is experimentation galore when it comes to the arts and food. There are endless options in high-end lodgings from the nouveau luxe Hotel Bennett to the bespoke, chic Zero George whose epic porches are the local answer to Prozac.
