CHARLESTON

A sports lovers guide to the city.

Was it frivolous to be traveling to Charleston, which some have called America’s Rome for its historic and architectural riches, for, well, sport? To reimagine its streets, barrier islands, beaches, and salt marsh estuaries as a megagym or giant playground? With its more than 1,000 pre-Revolutionary and pre–Civil War buildings, Charleston, perhaps more than any other city, makes you think deeply about the beauties and complexities of America’s past. My plan this time was to spend five days living physically in the present. No galleries, museums, or historic mansions—just biking, golf, kayaking, pickleball, standup paddleboarding, and even crabbing. The novelty was intriguing, as was one historical tidbit I picked up, which made my enterprise somehow historically juste: King Charles II, for whom the first colonists named their settlement in 1670 (and who was the last British king named Charles until now), was a lover of sport. Charleston’s Jockey Club was America’s first (1734), as was its golf club (1786).

BIKING