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Charleston is better than all of the cities in North Carolina. Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and Raleigh look like they could be anywhere in the United States. There's no city in North Carolina that's as unique as Charleston.
I'll give you Raleigh (which you mentioned twice, LOL), Charlotte, Durham, and Greensboro, but not Winston-Salem. What other Southern city you know has beautifully preserved Moravian historic districts downtown (Old Salem and Bethabara Park)? And even the CBD has a good bit of industrial grittiness; Winston-Salem reminds me a little of a mini-Richmond. I think it's a pretty underrated city, especially when we're talking about historic Southern cities.
And while I definitely agree that Charleston is the most unique (and urban) city in the Carolinas, besides Winston-Salem, I do give NC credit for Asheville, Wilmington, and New Bern.
SC definitely has a huge advantage in Charleston. But NC advantage is Charlotte and Raleigh. The beaches in SC are better, but in NC we have the Outer Banks and the Appalachian mountains. Sites SC have a city like Asheville? Does SC have the corporate prowess of Charlotte? Or the high tech savvy of RTP? And I'll tell you now NC doesn't have the southern charm of Charleston, the beach town of Myrtle Beach, our BMW. So it really depends. I like NC but I would take Charleston, I men SC as well. Lol.
SC definitely has a huge advantage in Charleston. But NC advantage is Charlotte and Raleigh. The beaches in SC are better, but in NC we have the Outer Banks and the Appalachian mountains. Does SC have a city like Asheville? Does SC have the corporate prowess of Charlotte? Or the high tech savvy of RTP? And I'll tell you now NC doesn't have the southern charm of Charleston, the beach town of Myrtle Beach, our BMW. So it really depends. I like NC but I would take Charleston, I men SC as well. Lol.
Greenville and Asheville get compared a lot because they aren't far from each other, both being in the foothills/mountain region, and have active downtowns. The cultures of the two cities are pretty different though, and Greenville pretty much craves big business while it seems Asheville almost shuns it.
I find it interesting people give it to SC for its beaches. What exactly is worse about NC's beaches? The Outer Banks? Jockey's Ridge? Cape Lookout? Ocracoke? Pea Island? This is all very suspicious.
Sure there is nothing like Myrtle Beach. I don't know if that outweighs some of the unique geography of NC's coast, but it is true that SC is better situated to handle large volumes of tourists. Wrightsville has the potential to develop into a similarly built-up beachfront, particularly with the growth in population of Raleigh, which is much closer to NC's beaches than SC's and devotes more tourist traffic to those areas, but that is very speculative.
Charleston I'm guessing is the main reason. I'm not certain how much of an advantage that really is though. Wilmington may be half the size but it's still a decent coastal college town in its own right, with its own history and character.
Neither state's beaches are all that special, in the grand scheme of things. They're not Florida's white sand beaches. They're not the Bahamas or Hawaii. They're not the Mediterranean. They are an endless stretch of monotonous beige sand in a humid subtropical climate, which requires driving 2 hours over a boring coastal plain to get to, and many of them have been ruined by private housing developments that require constant sand-replenishment to keep from washing into the ocean as the barrier islands move around, which ruins the quality of the sand on the beach. They're not bad beaches, definitely. They're not Galveston or *shudder* the Bronx beach. They're just... average.
This is all ignoring that comparing the mountains between the two states, there really isn't a contest. NC has the tallest mountains on the east coast, and a lot more of them than SC, and much more important things in its mountains than SC.
Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro and so forth may not be Atlanta or New Orleans, or have the character and history of any other major southern cities, but that's not what the thread is about. Compared to Columbia, they stack up well.
I find it interesting people give it to SC for its beaches. What exactly is worse about NC's beaches? The Outer Banks? Jockey's Ridge? Cape Lookout? Ocracoke? Pea Island? This is all very suspicious.
Sure there is nothing like Myrtle Beach. I don't know if that outweighs some of the unique geography of NC's coast, but it is true that SC is better situated to handle large volumes of tourists. Wrightsville has the potential to develop into a similarly built-up beachfront, particularly with the growth in population of Raleigh, which is much closer to NC's beaches than SC's and devotes more tourist traffic to those areas, but that is very speculative.
Charleston I'm guessing is the main reason. I'm not certain how much of an advantage that really is though. Wilmington may be half the size but it's still a decent coastal college town in its own right, with its own history and character.
Neither state's beaches are all that special, in the grand scheme of things. They're not Florida's white sand beaches. They're not the Bahamas or Hawaii. They're not the Mediterranean. They are an endless stretch of monotonous beige sand in a humid subtropical climate, which requires driving 2 hours over a boring coastal plain to get to, and many of them have been ruined by private housing developments that require constant sand-replenishment to keep from washing into the ocean as the barrier islands move around, which ruins the quality of the sand on the beach. They're not bad beaches, definitely. They're not Galveston or *shudder* the Bronx beach. They're just... average.
This is all ignoring that comparing the mountains between the two states, there really isn't a contest. NC has the tallest mountains on the east coast, and a lot more of them than SC, and much more important things in its mountains than SC.
Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro and so forth may not be Atlanta or New Orleans, or have the character and history of any other major southern cities, but that's not what the thread is about. Compared to Columbia, they stack up well.
The coastal argument isn't necessarily about the beaches themselves, but the variety of destinations along the coast of SC compared to the coast of NC. Because of NC's relatively jagged coastline, it lacks some of the development found along other Eastern seaboard states and is the reason why it doesn't have a major port. Most notably, you just have Wilmington and the Outer Banks for SC--which are certainly destinations in their own right. But in SC, you have the popular tourist trap of Myrtle Beach (it's entertaining if nothing else), which is actually said to be one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country without direct interstate access; the historic, cultural city of Charleston; and Hilton Head, the millionaire's playground. Then you have the smaller historic cities like Beaufort and Georgetown and even the more secluded and undeveloped beaches like Edisto Island. Coastal SC also has some of the best golfing in the nation as well. Coastal SC is just a bit more well-rounded than coastal NC.
I'll give the vote in NC only because they have bigger cities. I think SC has better historic districts overall but NC just seems more progressive. I could easily live in certain cities in both states to include Charlotte, Raleigh, Charleston, and Columbia. I would consider Greenville and Greensboro as well.
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