Featured Press Releases

Use this library of press releases written by the Charleston Area CVB media relations department to mine for story ideas, stay abreast of what is new in the destination and learn about the special events that take place throughout the year.

For additional story ideas, we invite you to visit our blog.

For Immediate Release, October 2010
Celebrate Christmas in Charleston

African American praise house spirituals, authentic Victorian era trimmings and heirloom recipes illuminate some of the nation’s most historic homes and plantations during the holiday season in Charleston, South Carolina. Visitors can experience a traditional colonial Christmas with costumed interpreters at Middleton Place plantation, sugared fruits and sweetmeats at the Aiken Rhett house museum, candlelight concerts at Drayton Hall plantation, storytelling at Wentworth Mansion hotel and carriage tours through antebellum neighborhoods.

The Charleston area’s culinary scene celebrates the holidays with special events and seasonal dishes. At Circa 1886, the century old horse stable turned AAA Four Diamond Award restaurant, a special four-course dinner is paired with noted wines and a lively retelling of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Children can have tea with Santa and gaze at a gingerbread village at Woodlands Inn, the beautifully restored 42-acre private estate turned AAA Five Diamond Award hotel. Visitors can take a taste of the Lowcountry home with them by purchasing fresh baked benne wafers, a traditional treat, at the holiday farmers market held every Saturday morning in Marion Square.

Sunny skies and mild winter weather mean snowfall in the Lowcountry is a rare occurrence, but the Charleston County Parks and Recreation’s three miles of holiday-inspired light displays is a sparkling wonderland—minus slushy conditions—that culminates with s’mores and hot chocolate. Other city sponsored outdoor events include tree lighting ceremonies and a wildly popular parade of boats.

'Tis the season to buy a special gift for the one you love and with more than 50 art galleries, scores of esteemed antiques purveyors and a variety of specialty boutiques, the Charleston area’s shopping options cater to every whim. Indigenous handcrafts, including sweetgrass baskets and welcome plaques emblazoned with the pineapple motif, can be purchased at the newly renovated City Market. Meanwhile, Historic Charleston Foundation’s collection of ornaments depicting local landmarks is a handsome souvenir of Christmas spent in the Charleston area.

A complete list of holiday events and packages can be found at christmasincharleston.com or by calling (800) 868-8118.

Illumination at Middleton Place: December 17 and 18, 2010
Guests step back in time to the 1700s at Middleton Place, home of America’s oldest landscaped gardens, during its two-day celebration of yesteryear. Costumed interpreters tell stories of the plantation’s founding family; the grounds are illuminated by torch, candle and starlight; and the Southern-style dinner includes shrimp and grits, collard greens and pecan pie. For more information, visit middletonplace.org or call (800) 782-3608.

27th Annual Spirituals Concerts at Drayton Hall: December 4 and 5, 2010
Performed on the grounds of the nation’s oldest surviving example of Georgian architecture, these concerts are an indelible melding of Lowcountry tradition and culture. Many of the songs originated several centuries ago in the fields of area plantations and have since become a form of oral history, vocal expressions of the Lowcountry’s forbearers. For more information, visit draytonhall.org or call (800) 769-2605.

Yuletide in the Lowcounty: November 23, 2010 – January 6, 2011
Experience the feast, festivities and Lowcountry traditions at Historic Charleston Foundation’s two museum houses, the Nathaniel Russell House (c. 1808) and Aiken Rhett House (c. 1820). For more information, visit historiccharleston.org or call (843) 724-8481.

25th Annual Progressive Dinner hosted by Charming Inns: December 1 – 23, 2010
A horse-drawn carriage carries guests from Kings Courtyard Inn to the John Rutledge House Inn and ends at the Wentworth Mansion, all of which are decorated in grand style, during this progressive dinner. For more information, visit wentworthmansion.com or call (888) 466-1886.

‘Tis the Season for Holiday Cheer at Wild Dunes: December 19 – 26, 2010
Book by November 30, 2010, to save 20% off nightly rates on this barrier island resort’s homes and villas good during December 19 – 26, 2010 (requires a four-night minimum stay). This package includes a complimentary Christmas dinner complete with roasted whole turkey, giblet gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes with garlic, green salad, nut bread, sweet potato pie, pecan pie and apple pie (feeds 10 – 12 people; limit one per booking). Enhance this package further by ordering a Christmas Eve stocking delivery by the resort’s elves, a peppermint pedicure, Christmas morning brunch or round of golf. For more information, visit wilddunes.com or call (888) 778-1876.

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