Numerous companies offer tours of Charleston. On this visit, however, we spent most of a day with the inimitable Laura Wichmann Hipp, a lifelong resident and founder of Charleston Tea Party Private Tours. After breakfast overlooking the harbor, Hipp led our small group around a private Italianate garden. We then toured the magnificent William Pinckney Shingler house, also usually closed to the public. Throughout, the ever-engaging Hipp would quote freely from Charleston literature. The tour concluded with a light lunch in Hipp’s well-kept home. The experience was in every way a delight, and I unreservedly recommend it. Tel. (843) 577-5896.
Illustration ©Melissa Colson