Affordable Sustenance in Downtown Charleston

Let me add a few thoughts to Jan Alpert’s Charleston restaurant perspective.  As a local, living in the Charleston Historic District, I surely agree with her that lunch is a great, economical alternative to the prices (and crowds) of evening fine dining.  And while Charleston has its share of James Beard award winners and Iron Chef competitors, if you aren’t a ‘foodie’ and just want tasty, affordable sustenance, there are other places to go.  None of these need reservations.

Whether you are looking for lunch or dinner, my first suggestion is to head up King Street (north of Market).  On the 4 blocks between Wentworth and Calhoun you’ll find an abundance of budget--friendly casual dining choices.  This area is one of Charleston’s primary shopping streets, but it also adjoins the College of Charleston campus.  You can have barbecue at Jim N Nick’s, burgers at any number of places, a great appetizer sampler at the King Street Grille (sports bar), chicken at the Kickin’ Chicken, pizza at Mellow Mushroom or Pop’s New York Pizza, Mediterranean at Sermet’s (they also offer smaller portion alternatives on their dinner menu) and several Mexican choices.  And if you venture off King Street by ½ block in either direction, you’ll find some other choices including Chopsticks House (Chinese on Society Street) and the ever-popular lunch spot, Jack’s Café (a limited menu, extremely affordable basic lunch only choice on George Street).

If it’s upscale casual you seek, try Caviar and Bananas on George Street (½ block west of King).  They have made to order upscale sandwiches (e.g. duck confit), sushi, and lots of wonderful prepared foods for takeout or very limited dine in seating.

Now, let’s talk desserts.  Bread pudding, my husband’s favorite is available at many places. He likes the version at Poogan’s Porch on Queen Street.  If you want ice cream, try Haagen Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s in the Market area or Ye Ole Fashioned Ice Cream Shoppe on King Street.  There are also several new frozen yogurt places on King.  If you’re looking for pies and cakes, you’ll love Kaminsky’s on North Market.

And when you want an afternoon iced tea or other social beverage, try the rooftop at Market Pavilion hotel (Market and East Bay) for a great view, the Mills House Hotel courtyard (Queen and Meeting) or the very casual Blind Tiger Pub (on Broad Street between Church and State) where you walk through the bar to an enclosed courtyard out back.

There’s no shortage of places to drink, dine or socialize.  Charleston’s social past is still present.  Enjoy!

Pat Kruger
Charleston, South Carolina

Affordable Sustenance in Downtown Charleston

Speaker Spotlight: Patricia Walls Stamm, CG, CGL

An article in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported on a fire at the Military Personal Records Center in July 1973. On prophetic line said that the fire “created an administrative nightmare which may torment the U.S. Military establishment for years to come.”

Beginning in 2005, the Archival Division of the Military Personal Records Center, St. Louis began opening the military files to the public. Now they receive approximately 5,000 requests per day.

For years, rumors were circulated about the fire, records found, and files destroyed. What records are in St. Louis? Ever wondered what records were burned? How they preserve the remaining files? What you might find in a file? What determines if the file was archival or a regular restricted file?  

On Saturday at 4:00 p.m., the genealogical community will hear about the fire, the resulting aftermath, and the records one can obtain in a lecture by Patricia Walls Stamm, CG, CGL, a local St. Louis researcher, who uses the St. Louis NARA Military Personal Records Center.

Speaker Spotlight: Patricia Walls Stamm, CG, CGL

One person’s perspective on Charleston restaurants

I’ve visited Charleston many times and each trip usually includes several meals.  At the upcoming NGS 2011 Family History Conference, the Hospitality Booth, across from Attendee Check-In, will have copies of the 2011 Official Visitors Guide for Charleston (Guide).  The Guide is almost 200 pages and includes “what to see” and “where to dine.” My preference is to have lunch in Charleston because the servings are smaller, the prices are lower, and the quality is the same. If you are in Charleston over the weekend, several of the restaurants mentioned below have a brunch on Saturday and Sunday.

One of my favorite restaurants for Lowcountry cuisine, including fried green tomatoes and shrimp and grits, is Magnolia’s, 185 East Bay St., Charleston, 843-577-7771, http://www.magnolias-blossom-cypress.com/.

Poogan’s Porch, 72 Queen St., Charleston, 843-577-2337, http://www.poogansporch.com/, is another choice for southern hospitality and Lowcountry fare in the historic area.

Virginia’s on King, 412 King St., Charleston, 843-735-8500, http://www.virginiasonking.com/, has great barbeque sliders, pimento cheese sandwiches, and cornbread.

If you want to eat seafood on the water, the choice is Fleet Landing, 186 Concord St., Charleston, 843-722-8100, http://www.fleetlanding.net/.

Another tourists’ favorite is Hyman’s Seafood, 215 Meeting St., Charleston, 843-723-6000, http://www.hymanseafood.com/.  They don’t take reservations and there is usually a line at peak meal times. The specialty is crispy flounder which fills your plate and the sides are served in separate dishes. When you think you’re done you turn the flounder over and eat the other side. My husband always orders something else because he knows he’s getting about half of my flounder.

If you are a vegetarian, I would recommend the Hominy Grill, 207 Rutledge Avenue, Charleston, 843-937-0930, http://www.hominygrill.com/, which has a vegetable plate entre in addition to its other southern fare.  The Hominy Grill is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

If you are looking for an upscale restaurant and an outstanding dinner you will remember, my choices are Anson’s, Fig, and McCrady’s which are only open for dinner: Anson’s, 12 Anson St., Charleston, 843-577-0551, http://www.ansonrestaurant.com/; Fig, 232 Meeting St., 843-805-5900, http://www.eatatfig.com/; and McCrady’s, 2 Unity Alley, Charleston, 843-577-0025, http://www.mccradysrestaurant.com/.

There are many great restaurants to choose from and I have only listed those in which I have personally dined in the last couple of years.  If you have others you would like to recommend to conference attendees, send you recommendations to conference@ngsgenealogy.org for posting on the blog or simply post back under the comments section at the end of this post.

Jan Alpert
Conference Chair

 

One person’s perspective on Charleston restaurants

Speaker Spotlight: Don Rightmyer

Don Rightmyer, editor, Kentucky Ancestors (quarterly genealogical publication of the Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, Kentucky), writer, and lecturer.  Following a 24-year U.S. Air Force career, Don worked as a reference librarian for eight years before taking over Kentucky Ancestors.  He has spoken on a variety of genealogical, Civil War, and Kentucky historical topics at national, regional, and local levels.    

Migration Routes into Kentucky

Traveling to the trans-Appalachian region of colonial Virginia in the late 1700s?  Over 200,000 people made that trip in the last quarter of the eighteenth century.  The two primary routes were down the Ohio River or through the Cumberland Gap by way of the Wilderness Trail.  Don Rightmyer will describe what the experience was like for ancestors who made that trip and began a new life “on the western waters.” 

 

Speaker Spotlight: Don Rightmyer

Surname Catalog - Network at the NGS 2011 Family History Conference

We are pleased to announce a new feature for conference attendees this year.  Follow this link http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/surname_search to a Surname Catalog where you can list surnames you are researching as well as information about the years you have researched each name. You can also show the migration pattern for each surname using a list of state and country abbreviations. The instructions for submitting surname listings are on the “Surname Catalog Entry” page.  Since this feature is only available to conference attendees, you must log in to submit surnames.

If everyone who is interested in participating can list their surnames by 20 April 2011, then conference attendees will have time to search the list to see if another conference attendee is researching the same surname. The Surname Catalog provides an e-mail link so you can make contact with the person who listed each surname. NGS is providing this service so conference attendees can exchange information and hopefully meet a new cousin at the conference.

You can only enter surname listings until 4 May 2011. We will keep the surname catalog available to search through the conference. If there is sufficient interest, NGS may expand the Surname Catalog to all NGS members later this summer. We would appreciate your feedback as to the ease of using the catalog as well as any successful connections made.

If you have difficulty accessing the page, contact gkher@ngsgenealogy.org.  If you have any feedback on the Surname Catalog, contact conference@ngsgenealogy.org.

Surname Catalog - Network at the NGS 2011 Family History Conference

Ancestry Day

Are you getting the most out of your Ancestry.com subscription? Need ideas to help you grow and organize your family tree? If so, don’t miss Ancestry Day on Saturday, 14 May 2011 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Exhibit Hall C of the North Charleston Convention Center.

Register Today

Schedule

The following is the schedule of this fun and exciting day:

8:00 a.m. Ancestry Day check-in opens
9:00 a.m. NGS Exhibit Hall Opens
9:30 – 10:30 a.m. Getting the most of Ancestry.com search             
11:00 a.m. –  noon Overlooked Secrets in Census Records
Noon – 2:30 p.m.  Lunch
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. Searching Your African-American Roots on Ancestry.com
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. – Getting the Most from Family Tree Maker

How to Register

Click here to register today.

Ancestry Day

Speaker Spotlight - Claire Bettag, CG, CGL

Claire Bettag, CG, CGL, lecturer, writer, and editor, has served as trustee for BCG, APG, and NGS; director of NIGR; and co-editor of the NGSQ.

BOUNTY-LAND RECORDS AT NARA

Looking for an ancestor who might have had bounty land? You might learn something in this presentation, as bounty-land research can be puzzling, sometimes involving multiple search paths to various records. Researchers working in the bounty-land records of the National Archives (NARA)—whether on site or online—frequently fail to consult all available records. At least two NARA record groups are involved: Record Group 15 for the bounty-land applications, and Record Group 49 for the surrendered bounty-land warrants. In general, the applications are more valuable for genealogical purposes, but researchers should always consult both, as some surrendered warrant files can provide a great deal of information. Various indexes to both applications and surrendered warrants are available. Some indexes, however, are incomplete. Especially for applications, unproductive index searches must be complemented by searches in unindexed record series at the National Archives. This discussion will guide researchers to all available records, and will look at many examples along the way.

RESEARCH REPORTS
If you’re like most researchers, you love the excitement of the chase, the search, the quest. You are not so excited by the prospect of writing a report about that quest. While this discussion can promise no “easy way out” and no way to avoid writing reports, it will present the essential elements for written reports—whether written for clients, for friends and relatives, or for your own files. There may be no way to make writing a research report fun for everyone, but perhaps developing a template and reporting habits can make the task less onerous.

Speaker Spotlight - Claire Bettag, CG, CGL