CHARLESTON, S.C. - This is a city known for its Southern beauty, charm, culture and hospitality.

It's also known for its history, forts, beautiful gardens and plantations. Charleston is famous for its restaurants, Low Country cooking, pastel-colored row houses, moss-draped trees, upscale shopping, galleries and antique shops.

The city's open-air downtown flea market is popular. Gullah women, many of them descendants of slaves, make and sell dried sweetgrass baskets everywhere.

Laid-back but sophisticated, Charleston is a tourist favorite. It was the third most-visited city in the United States, behind only New York and San Francisco, in a 2007 survey of Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

The city gets 4 million visitors a year, mostly in the fall, winter and spring. Tourism is Charleston's No. 1 industry, a $3 billion annual affair.

But Charleston is most famed for its aristocratic and elegant historic structures with their piazzas (porches), stately columns and cobblestone streets. Just don't ask how many there are.

South Carolina has lots of history and Charleston, founded in 1670, is at the epicenter. It was once among the wealthiest cities in the country.

The state has 1,300 National Register of Historic Places sites, including 160 districts. Charleston County has 184 National Register sites including 14 multi-building districts.

Charleston has an estimated 3,500 structures built before the Civil War.

Charleston records from 1944, 1974 and 1997 listed between 1,100 and 2,800 historic structures.

Charleston's Old and Historic District was added to the National Register in 1966. It claimed 650 buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries on the original 250 acres. The area now covers 770 acres and may include 4,800 historic buildings, says the Historic Charleston Foundation.

That number "sounds reasonable," said Robert Gurley of the Preservation Society of Charleston.

The city of Charleston created its own historic district - a first in the United States to protect old structures - in 1931. It is slightly larger than the National Register district.

The city lists 6,187 historic buildings in the National Register district and 8,890 buildings in the older city-created district, said Linda Bennett of the city of Charleston.

That's a lot of historic buildings.

Charleston retained its antebellum beauty largely because it never shared in the economic boom that swept and changed other Southern cities after the Civil War. As Charleston residents like to say, they were "too proud to whitewash and too poor to paint."

Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston hard in 1989, and that led to an infusion of insurance money that helped owners restore Charleston's aging buildings.

Charleston and its 87,000 residents take great pride in its history and architecture, and that explains why there are restrictions against high-rise buildings that might distract from the city's historic aesthetics.

The best way to get a sense of Charleston's history and beauty is to simply walk the streets and alleys south of Broad Street on the peninsula that is home to the greatest number of structures.

Charleston really is a compact walking city and you can stroll through the 1-square-mile district with its Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival styles in a few hours.

It's fun to peer through the wrought-iron gates and gaze at courtyard gardens inside.

Most of the piazzas are up high and facing the south to catch what summer breezes they could to keep the occupants cool.

You can also take a narrated horse-drawn carriage ride that will give a good view of Charleston's beautiful buildings.

Many of the buildings are one-room wide and several rooms deep. That style became known as the Charleston single house and they are everywhere. The side toward the street is most often gabled, and they feature high ceilings and stucco over brick.

Some of the buildings like the Edmondston-Alston House from 1825 have been turned into house museums with tours.

The three-story Federal-style house at 21 East Battery is where Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard stood on the porch in 1861 to view the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Information: 843-722-7171, http://www.middletonplace.org.

A tourist favorite is Rainbow Row, a stretch of pastel-colored row houses between 79 and 101 E. Bay St. They housed merchants in the 1700s. One of the best ways to see Charleston's private gardens is to sign up for the Festival of Houses & Gardens held every spring by the Historic Charleston Foundation. Advance reservations are required for the festival, which runs through April 12 this year. For information, contact the foundation at P.O. Box 1120, Charleston, S.C. 29402; 843-723-1623; http://www.historiccharleston.org/newsevents/festival.html.

In addition, the Preservation Society of Charleston will hold its 32nd annual Fall Tours of Homes and Gardens. About 180 private properties will be open for tours from Sept. 25 through Oct. 26. Tickets are $45 a person. Info: P.O. Box 521, Charleston, S.C. 29402; 843-722-4630; http://www.preservationsociety.org.

Outside Charleston, your plantation options include:

-Magnolia Plantation & Gardens. It dates back to 1676 and is 10 miles north of Charleston. 843-571-1266 or 800-367-3517 or http://www.magnoliaplantation.com.

-Drayton Hall. From 1738. It is nine miles northwest of Charleston. 843-769-2600 or http://www.draytonhall.org.

-Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens at Mt. Pleasant. A 738-acre cotton plantation that dates back to a 1681 grant. 843-884-4371 or http://www.boonehall plantation.com.

-Middleton Place. A rice plantation from 1675 and home of America's first landscaped garden (1741). 843-556-6020 or 800-782-3608 or http://www.middletonplace.org.

Charleston also is very definitely a city that appeals to foodies.

It has 130 restaurants, many of which specialize in Low Country cuisine. You can partake in cooking classes and demonstrations and food tours.

Low Country cooking - a style distinctive to the Charleston area - is a blend of local fare: oysters, shrimp, rice, tomatoes, okra, field greens. It is a mixture of American, French, Spanish, African and Caribbean influences - all rich and sweet.

Jestine's Kitchen is a local favorite, a low-cost place that specializes in fried chicken, meatloaf, red rice, lima beans, corn bread and fried okra. The lines stretch outside with those waiting for one of the 20 tables.

Other favorites include Poogan's Porch, the Charleston Grill, Hyman's Seafood, the Peninsula Grill, Magnolias, Carolina's, Slightly North of Broad, High Cotton, the Hominy Grill and Cypress.

Every restaurant in Charleston seems to have its own cookbook of favorites.

Charleston is challenging New Orleans as the Southern culinary capital.

If you need more history, Charleston also features tours of Fort Sumter National Monument where the Civil War began and what's left of the ill-fated Confederate submarine, the H.L. Hunley.

There are also ghost walks at night through Charleston's cemeteries, and slaves were once sold in what is now the Old Slave Mart Museum on Chalmers Street (843-958-6467). The USS Yorktown, a retired aircraft carrier, is now a museum at Patriots Point (843-884-2727 or 866-831-1720; http://www.patriotspoint.org).

Charleston, also nicknamed the Holy City, is filled with churches.

George Washington and Robert E. Lee both worshipped at the white-steepled St. Michael's Episcopal Church. It was finished in 1761.

The red-brick Circular Congregation Church, completed in 1806, was built in three circles so the devil would not have a corner to hide in, according to local lore. Its graveyard dates to 1680.

The steeple on the St. Philip's Episcopal Church leans slightly, in the wake of an earthquake. It was organized in 1680 and its bells became Confederate cannons.

Charleston is also home to the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. that runs May 23 through June 8 and features world-class music, theater, dance and opera. Information: P.O. Box 157, Charleston, S.C. 29402; 843-722-2764; tickets, 843-579-3100; http://www.spoletousa.org.

Charleston also has first-rate museums and a very good aquarium.

The biggest headache encountered in Charleston was the overly aggressive salespeople who bombard tourists with free carriage ride offers and dinner discounts in exchange for sitting through a 90-minute sales pitch on beach lodging. Very pushy.

For tourist information, contact the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau, 423 King St., Charleston, S.C. 29403; 843-853-8000 or 800-774-0006; http://www.charlestoncvb.com/visitors/index.html.