AvRutick - Glimpses of Charleston

While originally from off, David R. AvRutick has been a full-time resident of downtown Charleston for almost twenty years, having been a part-time resident for the previous ten. As the founding president of the American College of the Building Artsthe only college of its kind in the United StatesDavid led the creation of this unique Charleston institution which educates those who now help restore, maintain, and create lasting beauty in the structures of Charleston, the nation, and beyond. When not taking photographs, David is a serial entrepreneur (check out what Alices Clubhouse is doing for families suffering with Alzheimers and dementia) and lives two blocks from the Battery in downtown Charleston with his wife, two children, and their cats Max and Lola. You can reach David through the Glimpses of Charleston Facebook page or the Glimpses of Charleston website.

Shortly after the horrific shootings at the Mother Emanuel AME Church, Charlestonians came together after a Charleston RiverDogs baseball game to form a giant heartshowing that the beauty of Charleston is much more than skin deep.

An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Lanham, MD 20706
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Copyright 2019 David R. AvRutick
All photos by the author

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

ISBN 978-1-4930-3753-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4930-3754-4 (e-book)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992

Printed in the United States of America

To my daughter, Morgan, whose idea planted the seed that blossomed into Glimpses ; my son, Ben, whose fastball gets scarier to catch every day; and my wife, Kay, whose deep love for Charleston brought it all together.

I was lucky to be born in Charleston and have lived here my entire life. Still, each day as I walk about this historic and enchanting city I am surprised by its beauty and detail. From the blooming flower boxes, to the colorful stucco, from the aging stone, to the crawling vines covering gates and walls, each glimpse down its streets and alleys hold limitless appeal. How these details come together are not only inspiring, but nourishing to the spirit. It is one of the many reasons Charleston is so desirable to live in and visit.

David has found a way to capture this appeal in his book, Glimpses of Charleston . Each page represents Davids love for our dear city. I know his love for Charleston runs deep, as I have had the great pleasure of knowing and working with him and his wife Kay over the years, and in 1999, even performed their wedding ceremony at our historic city hall. They and their children, Morgan and Ben, are our neighbors. And it is so wonderful to see their family flourish here in our city.

Davids interest in taking photos of Charlestons appeal on his cell phone has now turned into a passion project that is shared on these pages. For Charlestonians, visitors, or those who hope to one day visit, this book is a treasure. It reveals how captivating this city truly is and why so many people fall deeply in love with it, whether theyve visited once, or like me, have spent the past seventy-five years here.

Joseph P. Riley Jr.

Mayor of Charleston from 19752016

I first visited Charleston in 1989 with my then girlfriend, now wife (who is a Charleston native). It was a month after Hurricane Hugo had roared ashore and wreaked havoc on the city and the surrounding Lowcountry of South Carolina. Despite the destruction, I was struck by the incredible beauty and history of the area. What was even more notable was how the residents felt about the citythey just oozed love and passion. They could not stop talking about how much they loved their home and how it so strongly defined who they were.

Ive now lived and worked in downtown Charleston for nearly twenty years, having discovered the truth of the saying that if you marry a girl from Charleston, youd better pack your bags. I must admit that the city has worked its magic on me, too. While a native might still consider me as being from off (the term used for those not born on the Charleston peninsula), I am now tied to this beautiful city and very much feel like a local. My children were born here, and it is our familys home.

As many times as you might visit Charleston (and I certainly came often in the ten years between my first venture and the day I moved here), living here is very different. The beauty and history just seep into your soul and become part of you. With the passion of a recent convert, I wanted to share this feeling with others. I began using my cell phone to photograph some of the sights, details, and beauty that caught my eye, and then I posted the photos on my personal Facebook page.

On a chilly January day in 2013, our daughter, Morgan, said, Dad, you take such great photos. Why dont you create a page and share them that way? Thus, Glimpses of Charleston was born. The online following grew tremendously and continues to do so not just on Facebook, but on other forms of social media and the Glimpses of Charleston website as well. In each case, the photos and commentary were, and are, offered with my locals-eye view.

While the Internet is a wonderful and dynamic place to share the beauty of Charleston, having grown up in a family of authors and from working at a large New York publishing house, I always looked forward to creating a tangible Glimpses book. It always seemed like a natural thing to do.

I hope some of my love for and perspective of Charleston come through on these pages and that you enjoy this locals-eye view.

With the popularity of Charleston booming (Really, how often can you be named the best city in the universe?), the sites and sights that attract everyone have become more and more familiar and increasingly well known. Movies and TV shows are now often filmed here (Did you hear who is in town this week?), and the city is so frequently featured in magazines, books, and websites that all the attention is now greeted with a shrug or sometimes a wince. The world has embraced Charleston. Rainbow Row, the steeples of St. Michaels and St. Philips, and the City Market (or Centre Market) are all so beautiful and filled with history, its easy to see why they attract a lot of attention.