Courtesy Palmetto Carriage Works
Palmetto Carriage Works
Charleston, South Carolina
Palmetto Carriage Works’ hourlong, narrated residential tour takes passengers through as many as 30 blocks of Charleston, South Carolina’s historic downtown neighborhood, where guests will see houses, mansions and churches and learn about the Holy City’s history, architecture and culture.
“It’s a very good overview,” said Victoria Moore with Palmetto Carriage Works. “If you come to the city and do [the tour] first, you hit on all the highlights and then can go back to see all those sites.”
Palmetto’s quaint covered carriages seat up to 16 people, and its private carriages can carry four people. All tours start and end at Palmetto’s Big Red Barn, where guests can visit with the horse and mule teams before boarding.
Carriages stop in front of Calhoun Mansion, which was built in 1876 and is still the city’s largest residence with 35 rooms and more than 24,000 square feet.
Moore said other favorite attractions among guests are Rainbow Row, a stretch of historic homes on East Bay Street that are painted bright pinks, greens, blues and yellows, and Charleston’s historic City Market, where vendors have been selling food, clothing, jewelry, art and souvenirs for more than 200 years.
Carriages also stop at the intersection of Meeting and Broad streets, more commonly known as “The Four Corners of the Law.” Four historic buildings — St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Charleston City Hall, Charleston County Courthouse and the U.S. Post Office and Federal Courthouse — sit on each corner.
Evening tours of the city’s commercial district are available in the summer and showcase public buildings, churches, parts of the old walled city and the Cooper River waterfront.
www.palmettocarriage.com
Bicycle Tours
of Atlanta
Atlanta
There’s nothing quite like hopping on a bicycle to get to know your neighbors, even if you don’t live in the neighborhood.
“You really connect with the energy of the neighborhood,” said Robyn Elliott, owner of Bicycle Tours of Atlanta. “You’re experiencing it in a totally different way. Midway through our tours, people will say, ‘I can’t believe how friendly everyone is.’ You get a sense of not only the neighborhoods but of Atlanta and who the people are.”
The company can take up to 40 people on its bicycle tours and will even bring an open-air electric cart for those who can’t ride with the group because “we don’t leave anybody behind,” Elliott said.
The 10-mile, three-hour Heart of the City tour is the company’s most popular and takes bicyclists into historic residential neighborhoods and funky shopping districts.
This spring, the company is also relaunching its Atlanta Street Art Tour that showcases the city’s vibrant art scene. The tour includes works from the Living Walls program, which has brought in 70 international artists to paint murals throughout Atlanta.
In April and May, the company also does a Spring Photo Tour, designed to give cyclists the opportunity to photograph Atlanta’s blooming cherry blossoms, dogwoods, azaleas, wisteria and tulips. The company also offers theme tours that focus on topics such as the Civil War or the Civil Rights Movement or can customize tours to groups’ interests, she said.
“People just love to be on bikes,” Elliott said. “It’s the best way to learn the city.”.
www.biketoursatl.com
