" -Well Dan, let's get started!"

" -Let's go!"

" -And we're in the heart of the Battery looking through the live oak trees at Charleston harbor. And over there, I guess is Fort Sumter, right?"

" -Right!"

" -That's not where the civil war really began though."

" -Actually, it started at Fort Johnson, and they fired on to Fort Sumter."

" -So Fort Johnson is where the first shot was fired and along the Battery, there's some beautiful Victorian homes including this one on the corner which is actually a bed and breakfast. But many of the house is just off the, the Battery, actually [unk] in 1700 [unk] ."

" -Yes!"

" -Let's go Bob!"

" -Typical, many Charleston houses from 1800 and 1700 has the side entrance and the beautiful gardens. Many of these homes are beautifully maintained. Some of them painted in lovely pastel colors. Now Charleston is a town famous for its churches and its steeples right?"

" -Correct!"

" -How many churches are there here?"

" -Probably about a hundred and seventy active congregations just in the Charleston area alone."

" -And what about this one coming up?"

" -St. Michaels, it's the oldest church building in the city. It was built in 1751. Not the oldest congregation but oldest church building."

" -This is a very typical Charleston garden. Garden wall and of course, the beautiful side verandas, the two storey verandas. Tell me about these colorful houses on the right."

" -This Rainbow Road here on the right built in 1723 to 1740 right around there."

" -Rainbow road because of all of the pastel colors, right?"

" -Right! All the pastel colors reflect the sunlight. It helped cool the homes down."

" -Yes."

" -These were merchant homes. The walls of the city actually fold up here in our left hand side and they did all their business from the first floor and lived in the second and third floor."

" -Well Dan, thanks for the ride. [unk] can drop me off close to our house."

" -Sure! Let's go Bart."

" -Drastic changes came to Charleston after the civil war. There simply wasn't enough money in this town to maintain some of these beautiful palatial homes. From a period of time from the 1860's until pass The Great Depression, they just fell into disrepair and you can still see one of them that's waiting for someone to restore it on that corner over here. But across the street, we have one of the most magnificent houses in Charleston. And we're gonna meet Richard Marx, restoration contractor who did the work here. Hey Richard!"

" -Hello Bob!"

" -How are you? -How are you?"

" -Just fine."

" -This is a beautiful, beautiful home. It's one of the finest I've seen in this town. What's it called?"

" -This is called the Gilliard-Bennett house that was built in 1803 by Theodore Gilliard."

" -Yes."

" -Who was a wealthy rice planter, and it's got a T-shape plan. The interiors are very ornate and federal style."

" -Yes."

" -The Portico was added around 1820 by James Schulbred [unk] , who purchased the house and it's very Palladian in its design."

" -Yes."

" -And then the Bennett family purchased it in 1851 and they owned it up until 1950 and they are tributed with building the New Orleans style piazzas on the side."

" -Gorgeous! So the Bennett family was in it for a hundred years. What do you call this, this double approach? This double stair casing?"

" -That's a very Palladian design and it relates to the rest of the portico."

" -Is it also like a belvedere when you get into the top?"

" -It is, yeah!"

" -Boy, look at the marble work in here."

" -It's beautiful, and dates from the period of the portico, 1820."

" -It's gorgeous! What about the iron works, is this original also?"

" -Yes, we think its part of that period as well."

" -Very simple, but substantial."

" -And the door surround is unlike anything I've ever seen."

" -It, it's Adam style. It is a very, very ornate carved wood, probably Cyprus wood cause it is a very soft wood to carve."

" -Yes."

" -We had to strip a lot of layers of paint to bring back the detail."

" -I bet you did. Tell me about this door, is it original?"

" -The door is original as well. We think its 1803 and through scraping in, looking at the paint, we determined it was grained and the mahogany graining was throughout the interior doors as well."

" -So it's meant to look like mahogany. "

" -That's correct."

" -Brilliant!"

" -It's really a Cyprus door."

" -Yeah."

" -Lets go around this side and take a look at the property"

" -Okay."

" -Bob, this garden wall, we've recently found the invoices for it in the 1840's. So it dates from that period."

" -And the backside of the house seems to have some different detail in there."

" -It's gothic revival and its part of the Bennett's remodeling of the house."

" -In the 1850's?"

" -That's right!"

" -Yeah, as were."

" -These gates probably date from 1803, It was part of the original entrance of the property."

" -It's interesting that you can do all this archaeology and determine what came first."

" -And, and style plays a big part of that."

" -Sure, what about this little house?"

" -This was the original kitchen house for the property, in 1803."

" -Is it stone?"

" -It is brick and it's been stuccoed and scored to look like stone."

" -That's a funny roof on the porch. Is it?"

" -Yes. Well the porch dates with the Bennett's 1850's gothic revival."

" -I see."

" -So all the periods are shown."

" -Time ties together yes."

" -What about the building over here?"

" -It's again, It's a gothic revival from the Bennett's period, 1850's."

" -Brick with the dark Charleston green, how pretty huh? And then would a garden had been pretty typical in this location?"

" -Well, No. It wouldn't have been because these were all the support buildings from the main house."

" -Okay."

" -So you see here, we've uncover the foundations."

" -Oh sure, of a former building right along here."

" -Right! It was a, and originally a flanker building for the kitchen house------"

" -Yes."

" -later a tack building and we have photographs of it from the 1930's and the owner's plan to reconstruct it."