The Charleston City Market is a huge place in the heart of downtown Charleston. It started as a place for farmers outside the city to sell their produce, and has evolved into one of Charleston's biggest attractions.
They have everything from junk to high-end boutique items.
This is Sue L. Middleton, one of the Gullah women who make sweetgrass baskets. There were several booths of basket makers, all using weaving skills that were brought from Africa with the first slaves that were imported at Charleston Harbor. She told me she had lost count of the number of baskets she had made.
The baskets are woven so tightly, they are waterproof. Someone told me it was a basket like this that the baby Moses was hidden in.
The larger baskets are priced from $400; the tiny ones are about $25.
The market has several large buildings. We were told that the booths were rented for $40 per table per day, and vendors have to pack and move their items every night.
We were at the market on a cool, rainy day, and it was packed with people. Not bad for a place started over two hundred years ago by a farmer wanting to sell his squash and beans.
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