We started day 2 with a walking tour. We've been using Free Tours by Foot or similar services. No fee or a small reservation fee up front and then pay what you want at the end. We generally haven't been disappointed and also generally end up tipping voluntarily about the same amount as what we'd pay for a pay up front tour.

We walked around downtown getting more local and US history and learning about the city. During one stop at the Dock Street Theater we learned about Charleston's preservation and architectural restoration efforts.

We also discussed Charleston's history of religious tolerance, being known as the Holy City due to the preponderance of churches and acceptance of all religions.

We also got to see a whole lot of wrought iron created by Philip Simmons.

After lunch, Devorah and I visited KKBE - America's first reform Jewish congregation. They give an interesting tour. Jews started appearing in Charleston in the late sixteen, early seventeen hundreds. They were of Sephardic descent. This was similar to the first Jews in New Amsterdam who came for religious tolerance (but as a New Yorker, I have to say that they got to us first :-) ). The first reformers from Germany came to Charleston in the 1820s and KKBE, the first Reform Congreation in America was formed in 1841.

This is interesting for two reasons. First, this congregation, according to our docent didn't specifically follow the lead of the reform movement in Germany. Second, Isaac Mayer Wise is normally credited with starting the Reform Judaism movement in America when he settled in Albany in 1846, some five years later.

After the tour, we walked around, saw this storefront:

Neither of us knew what the old Kress building was, now housing an H&M but Devorah and I both thought "Damn, they were Scribnered" (if you know, you know).

It turns out that S.H Kress owned a series of "five and dime" stores and one was in this building. The store there was the cite of a noted civil rights protest.

We also saw some fountains in public parks including of course, the Pineapple Fountain.

We ended the day passing the historic marker commemorating Robert Smalls. How is there not a movie about this guy? I won't tell the story here but if you don't know who he was go read the Wikipedia article.

Finished off with dinner back at the Glass Onion which was again superb. If you get down to Charleston, defiantly have a meal or two there.

Tomorrow was supposed to be plantation day but there are supposed to be nonstop thunder storms so it looks like we'll probably go museum hopping instead.