Savannah, Georgia where we lived for a few years is (arguably) just as nice. It has a well maintained old part of the city with scenic squares and 18th century houses. Like Charleston, it has a terrific restaurant scene. So, put Savannah on your list for your next visit.
The most attractive American cities are generally ones that are surrounded by water so builders were forced to go up rather than out and thereby create the density that fosters true urbanity. Elsewhere, the abundance of land combined with the ubiquity of cars encouraged low rise sprawl.
The most attractive American cities are generally ones that are surrounded by water so builders were forced to go up rather than out and thereby create the density that fosters true urbanity. Elsewhere, the abundance of land combined with the ubiquity of cars encouraged low-rise sprawl.
"How many modernist architects inhabit their creations, rather than choosing to live in Georgian houses quite unlike the designs they inflict on others?"
Michael Scott, who designed the hideous Busáras building in Dublin, had the integrity to live in an ugly house of his own design. (It's in Sandycove, and can be seen from the door of the Joycean Martello Tower.)
From the perspective of an Englishman who has had limited direct experience of the US, I find The Old South and The Old West to represent the most authentically "unique" sense of US culture, in the meaning of something confidently original and particular. And probably the most interesting part.
By contrast, New York, DC and The North represent something abstracted, intemporal, internationalist and universal, perhaps by necessity as the engine of global capitalism. Yet the predominance of Federal, international and neo-classical architecture suggests they do so deliberately and self-consciously, to an extent.
If you get away from the metropolitan areas the North also encapsulates something very traditional and American, albeit with a different subculture than either the South or the West. Visit the boondocks of Maine, or northern Michigan.
"This issue goes back to the earliest constitutional debates, and twenty years ago American democracy was an idea still lauded by some British liberals. I don’t think that’s true anymore, and today American democracy is seen as a problem, a grotesque spectacle (with some reason)."
It's funny how the book you referenced came out just a couple years before 2000 election. One often overlooked legacy of this election is that in the controversy over who really won Florida, TV commentators first started using the now ubiquitous terms "blue states" and "red states". Besides the colours being the opposite of the usual representation ("red" equals "left", "blue" equals "right"), this would solidify a kind of permanent divide that has persisted throughout the 21st Century between states dominated by cosmopolitan, diversity-worshiping liberals, and more rural states inhabited by traditional conservatives. Even as late as the two Bill Clinton elections, he routinely won states like Arkansas, Louisiana, and even Montana in 1992. In the 1980s, Reagan and Bush Sr., regularly won states like California, Vermont, and Maine.
The colours on the map were more random and unpredictable in the 20th Century than the 21st (so far), precisely because the USA had a greater confidence in itself and it's identity and more of a sense that it shared more in common with those in other states and cities than those in other countries. Thanks to its 21st Century elites, that is very much not the case now, in the US or in other countries!
Re: this would solidify a kind of permanent divide that has persisted throughout the 21st Century between states dominated by cosmopolitan, diversity-worshiping liberals, and more rural states inhabited by traditional conservatives.
Of course most of our states are really various shades of purple. Utah and Oklahoma are the reddest, Vermont the bluest. Big states like California and Texas include vast numbers of people who vote the opposite direction from how the state falls out in a presidential elections. And down ballot red states occasionally elect Democratic governors (e.g., Kentucky with Andy Beshear) and blue states will elect Republican governors (Vermont right now has a GOP governor). Though gubernatorial elections tend not to be driven by national level parties or concerns and candidates can gain the nomination who are not in lockstep with party ideology and who can appeal across the divide on practical issues where ideology takes a back seat. (Louisiana recently had a pro-Life Democratic governor, for example, replacing an ideology-driven GOP governor whose mismanagement left the education and healthcare in the state on the verge of collapse).
One of my team mates lives in Charleston. It seems lovely, but the high humidity and heat all year round would be hard for my Anglo-Saxon body to deal with. He’d never told me how pretty it was though. Lovely article and pics, Ed.
I lived in Charleston (well, actually west of the Ashley and then later on James Island) for five years. It is a lovely city, the beaches are gorgeous, and if you’re into sea kayaking it is quite heavenly. The humidity, however, is insane. I don’t know how people survived there before air conditioning was invented. I’m a native New Englander and missed having proper seasons, so we moved back to the North; but Charleston will always have a special place in my heart.
One thing that is strange about the metro Charleston area is that the extremely walkable and charming peninsula is surrounded by a lot of car-centric suburban sprawl. James Island drove me nuts because of the lack of sidewalks and walkability. I remember people honking and yelling at me when I would ride my bike there (this was back in the mid-90s). People seemed to view walking and biking with suspicion in the suburbs, yet everyone agreed that downtown Charleston was so pleasant largely because you could walk everywhere.
In the U.S., what seems to determine whether a city is walkable is whether it predated the car. Outside the Northeast and the Midwest, hardly any cities do. Charleston and Savannah are among the very few in the South.
The U.S. accounted for 85-90% of the passenger cars in the world in 1920, 8-9 million vehicles. The country was the same size as now, but only 100 million lived here. Even today US population density is 1/8 that of Britain. For better or worse, America was built around the car.
Well done! Yeah we love our 2A here in America. We do shoot each to other too much, but the hundreds of millions of firearms in private hands keep the wackos out of government and the evil bastards who do get in from pulling anything truly crazy.
I got the European Vacation joke about roundabouts: I can’t see the one on the south side of Lambeth Bridge without thinking of the Griswolds (the director must really have had Hyde Park Corner in mind, which certainly used to be almost impossible for the out-of-towner to exit once on it). Brilliant series of films, especially if you are a slightly controlling parent trying to organise a FUN holiday for all the family…
Where he apologises profusely for being hit by their car, as blood spurts from his wrist? I also liked Mel Smith’s incomprehensible London accent and the waiter in Paris, who makes smutty remarks in French about Mrs G, as Mr G beams at the way knowing a few words of French can transform the locals’ attitude to tourists 😁
"Much of the inland region is poor, historically settled by Scots as the low country was settled by the English (a huge simplification), and the poorer it looked, the more American flags I saw."
It must feel in many ways like being an inhabitant of a major Roman city in the late 4th or early 5th Century travelling in the country and seeing how the "pagani" still openly build shrines to archaic idols and worship them (relatively) openly. Especially when contrast to the symbols of the Church of Victimhood that prevail everywhere on major metropolitan centres.
"Someone on my trip joked that the Americans should issue warning broadcasts to any Middle Eastern country that angers them, with footage of Detroit and the chilling words ‘this is what we do to our own cities – imagine what we’ll do to the enemy’s’"
This honestly made me snort with laughter.
Imagine if when Detroit was first set on fire in 1967, the footage was broadcast as a warning to the Viet Cong the following year!
I think that joke first came from PJ O'Rourke in his dispatches from the first Gulf War for Rolling Stone magazine. I remember it from his collection "Holidays In Hell."
Savannah, Georgia where we lived for a few years is (arguably) just as nice. It has a well maintained old part of the city with scenic squares and 18th century houses. Like Charleston, it has a terrific restaurant scene. So, put Savannah on your list for your next visit.
Definitely! There was someone I wanted to visit there but I didn’t have time and couldn’t face any more driving.
Savannah is my favorite US city. Charleston impresses me as a bit snooty where Savannah is nicely laid back.
The most attractive American cities are generally ones that are surrounded by water so builders were forced to go up rather than out and thereby create the density that fosters true urbanity. Elsewhere, the abundance of land combined with the ubiquity of cars encouraged low rise sprawl.
The most attractive American cities are generally ones that are surrounded by water so builders were forced to go up rather than out and thereby create the density that fosters true urbanity. Elsewhere, the abundance of land combined with the ubiquity of cars encouraged low-rise sprawl.
"How many modernist architects inhabit their creations, rather than choosing to live in Georgian houses quite unlike the designs they inflict on others?"
Michael Scott, who designed the hideous Busáras building in Dublin, had the integrity to live in an ugly house of his own design. (It's in Sandycove, and can be seen from the door of the Joycean Martello Tower.)
From the perspective of an Englishman who has had limited direct experience of the US, I find The Old South and The Old West to represent the most authentically "unique" sense of US culture, in the meaning of something confidently original and particular. And probably the most interesting part.
By contrast, New York, DC and The North represent something abstracted, intemporal, internationalist and universal, perhaps by necessity as the engine of global capitalism. Yet the predominance of Federal, international and neo-classical architecture suggests they do so deliberately and self-consciously, to an extent.
If you get away from the metropolitan areas the North also encapsulates something very traditional and American, albeit with a different subculture than either the South or the West. Visit the boondocks of Maine, or northern Michigan.
"This issue goes back to the earliest constitutional debates, and twenty years ago American democracy was an idea still lauded by some British liberals. I don’t think that’s true anymore, and today American democracy is seen as a problem, a grotesque spectacle (with some reason)."
It's funny how the book you referenced came out just a couple years before 2000 election. One often overlooked legacy of this election is that in the controversy over who really won Florida, TV commentators first started using the now ubiquitous terms "blue states" and "red states". Besides the colours being the opposite of the usual representation ("red" equals "left", "blue" equals "right"), this would solidify a kind of permanent divide that has persisted throughout the 21st Century between states dominated by cosmopolitan, diversity-worshiping liberals, and more rural states inhabited by traditional conservatives. Even as late as the two Bill Clinton elections, he routinely won states like Arkansas, Louisiana, and even Montana in 1992. In the 1980s, Reagan and Bush Sr., regularly won states like California, Vermont, and Maine.
The colours on the map were more random and unpredictable in the 20th Century than the 21st (so far), precisely because the USA had a greater confidence in itself and it's identity and more of a sense that it shared more in common with those in other states and cities than those in other countries. Thanks to its 21st Century elites, that is very much not the case now, in the US or in other countries!
Re: this would solidify a kind of permanent divide that has persisted throughout the 21st Century between states dominated by cosmopolitan, diversity-worshiping liberals, and more rural states inhabited by traditional conservatives.
Of course most of our states are really various shades of purple. Utah and Oklahoma are the reddest, Vermont the bluest. Big states like California and Texas include vast numbers of people who vote the opposite direction from how the state falls out in a presidential elections. And down ballot red states occasionally elect Democratic governors (e.g., Kentucky with Andy Beshear) and blue states will elect Republican governors (Vermont right now has a GOP governor). Though gubernatorial elections tend not to be driven by national level parties or concerns and candidates can gain the nomination who are not in lockstep with party ideology and who can appeal across the divide on practical issues where ideology takes a back seat. (Louisiana recently had a pro-Life Democratic governor, for example, replacing an ideology-driven GOP governor whose mismanagement left the education and healthcare in the state on the verge of collapse).
Subsidiarity in action. This goes nicely with my own localist sensibilities (which sadly I think are more and more difficult in this century).
Until the big structures collapse, as they are likely to do.
Then, only local initiatives will be able to save us.
One of my team mates lives in Charleston. It seems lovely, but the high humidity and heat all year round would be hard for my Anglo-Saxon body to deal with. He’d never told me how pretty it was though. Lovely article and pics, Ed.
Yeah August doesn’t sound much fun
I lived in Charleston (well, actually west of the Ashley and then later on James Island) for five years. It is a lovely city, the beaches are gorgeous, and if you’re into sea kayaking it is quite heavenly. The humidity, however, is insane. I don’t know how people survived there before air conditioning was invented. I’m a native New Englander and missed having proper seasons, so we moved back to the North; but Charleston will always have a special place in my heart.
One thing that is strange about the metro Charleston area is that the extremely walkable and charming peninsula is surrounded by a lot of car-centric suburban sprawl. James Island drove me nuts because of the lack of sidewalks and walkability. I remember people honking and yelling at me when I would ride my bike there (this was back in the mid-90s). People seemed to view walking and biking with suspicion in the suburbs, yet everyone agreed that downtown Charleston was so pleasant largely because you could walk everywhere.
A lovely place.
In the U.S., what seems to determine whether a city is walkable is whether it predated the car. Outside the Northeast and the Midwest, hardly any cities do. Charleston and Savannah are among the very few in the South.
The U.S. accounted for 85-90% of the passenger cars in the world in 1920, 8-9 million vehicles. The country was the same size as now, but only 100 million lived here. Even today US population density is 1/8 that of Britain. For better or worse, America was built around the car.
We were there in February for the South-Eastern Wildlife Expo and will be going again in February 2026. Jeff Corwin will be speaking!
https://www.sewe.com/
Among other amusements, there were many beautiful and well-behaved dogs.
tangentially related, this is great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb1uqPTMFnY&list=RDQb1uqPTMFnY&start_radio=1
Great essay, Ed. I’m in Florida and we go to Charleston every couple of years. We absolutely love it.
Nice pics!
Well done! Yeah we love our 2A here in America. We do shoot each to other too much, but the hundreds of millions of firearms in private hands keep the wackos out of government and the evil bastards who do get in from pulling anything truly crazy.
I got the European Vacation joke about roundabouts: I can’t see the one on the south side of Lambeth Bridge without thinking of the Griswolds (the director must really have had Hyde Park Corner in mind, which certainly used to be almost impossible for the out-of-towner to exit once on it). Brilliant series of films, especially if you are a slightly controlling parent trying to organise a FUN holiday for all the family…
Loved that film when I was a kid. Eric Idle getting knocked off his bike was right next to my school (Addison Avenue in Holland Park)
Where he apologises profusely for being hit by their car, as blood spurts from his wrist? I also liked Mel Smith’s incomprehensible London accent and the waiter in Paris, who makes smutty remarks in French about Mrs G, as Mr G beams at the way knowing a few words of French can transform the locals’ attitude to tourists 😁
"Much of the inland region is poor, historically settled by Scots as the low country was settled by the English (a huge simplification), and the poorer it looked, the more American flags I saw."
It must feel in many ways like being an inhabitant of a major Roman city in the late 4th or early 5th Century travelling in the country and seeing how the "pagani" still openly build shrines to archaic idols and worship them (relatively) openly. Especially when contrast to the symbols of the Church of Victimhood that prevail everywhere on major metropolitan centres.
"Someone on my trip joked that the Americans should issue warning broadcasts to any Middle Eastern country that angers them, with footage of Detroit and the chilling words ‘this is what we do to our own cities – imagine what we’ll do to the enemy’s’"
This honestly made me snort with laughter.
Imagine if when Detroit was first set on fire in 1967, the footage was broadcast as a warning to the Viet Cong the following year!
I think that joke first came from PJ O'Rourke in his dispatches from the first Gulf War for Rolling Stone magazine. I remember it from his collection "Holidays In Hell."
Ah that wouldn’t surprise me! I read that a long long long time ago
I so enjoy your point of view on America. I love Charleston. Beautiful city and great restaurants.