Mount Pleasant

East of Charleston, across the beautiful Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, is the town of Mount Pleasant, named not for a mountain but for a plantation that existed there in the early 18th century. In its Old Village neighborhood are historic homes and a sleepy, old-time town center with a drugstore where patrons still amble up to the soda fountain and lunch counter for egg-salad sandwiches and floats.

A lively African American community for decades following the Civil War, Mount Pleasant has emerged since the 2005 construction of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge as one of the state's most popular destinations for Northeasterners relocating to South Carolina; the result being that this fast-growing suburb is now 92% white, according to United States Census data. The town is home to an array of upscale shops and services, but is best known among fun-seekers for Shem Creek, a former working waterfront that's now dominated by outdoor bars specializing in day drinking.

Along Shem Creek, several seafood restaurants serve some of the area's freshest (and most deftly fried) seafood. Other attractions in the area include military and maritime museums, Boone Hall Plantation, and, farther north, the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.