The city's two rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper, have flooded and shaped all my life in this storied peninsula. From "South of Broad"
In Pat Conroy's book, "South of Broad", he calls Charleston "The Mansion on the River." We spent a nice afternoon in Charleston a few days ago. Since we're on a cruise, I've, of course, lost all sense of time and place. The only way I know the day is by looking at the carpet in the elevators. So the above is approximate.
We took a guided tour. The guide was good. Born and raised in Charleston, he was funny and certainly knows the city. But I had a little trouble with his jokes. To me, he was a little bit shy of racist and a little bit shy of sexist.
When we reached Broad Street I was waiting for him to talk about Pat Conroy, one of our great southern writers. Conroy has written many well known novels about the south, including "The Great Santini" and "Prince of Tides." His last book "South of Broad" was all about Charleston; This book sort of did for Charleston what "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" did for Savannah.
All of the homes on our tour were lovely and old. But, since reading Conroy's book, I know that living "south of Broad" means that you've arrived. That you are somebody. Living in a similar house north of Broad? Not so much.
But when we stopped and I asked the tour guide why he didn't mention Conroy, he said, "We don't like him. We don't mention his name."
"What?? I guess you feel the same way about Stephen Colbert."
"No, he's not so bad". And, then, as if to make amends with me he said,
"I'm not supposed to tell you this but his mother lives right down this street."
My guess is that Mrs. Colbert isn't thrilled about having her house pointed out. So I'm not going to tell you if she lives north or south of Broad.
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