Sunday, April 24, 2011

Over the past few seasons, I have become a huge fan of the Lifetime series Army Wives - so this year, for spring break, my mom and I decided to take a trip to Charleston, SC to try and find some of the set locations and just explore the city in general. I am not an army wife...just a
dedicated fan!

The first day we were here - it rained! But no fear, we stayed holed up in our hotel and researched some of the locations. A big help in pointing us in the right direction was from the blog site, "He wears combat boots..I wear stilettos."

During our research, I became a fan of Catherine Bell (a.ka. Denise on the show) on facebook. She had just posted that she woke up from a nap after a lazy, rainy day in Charleston. How cool! I was just excited that I was in the same city/same time zone as her - and was experiencing the rain too.


Anyways, I wanted to share my experience with you….in case you are just as big as a fan as I am - and want to take your own self-guided tour of Army Wives. Hopefully, my photos and directions will help out.

Since my mom and I flew into Charleston, we had to rent a car. It would be very difficult - and expensive - to get a taxi out to these places and find them. I recommend getting a GPS system and a local map of Charleston, SC. Riverfront Park - where most of the locations are - is a bit tricky to find without these essentials (if you're not from the area). Even some of the locals
had a hard time pointing us in the right direction.


Directions to Riverfront Park:

Riverfront Park is located in North Charleston, SC. My mom and I were coming from downtown Historic Charleston. We took 26 West, got off on the Montague Ave and took a right. We went straight for about 5 minutes...and got to Park Circle. When you get to Park Circle...drive half way around the circle and get back on Montague Ave. Keep going until you get to Virginia Ave and take a
right. About a block onto Virginia, you will start to see signs for Riverfront Park. (This is probably not the fastest or most convenient way, but it's the way that we figured out.) We followed those signs...and voila! It led us to Frank and Denise's house.  

The house is on the corner of N. Hobson Ave and Turnbull Ave.


                                                        Front view of the house.


                                                                  Front door.



                                                         A side view of the house.


Claudia Joy and General Holden's House:

Claudia Joy and General Holden's house is just down the street from Denise's house - about two or three blocks.  The cross streets are Verdum Ave and Marne Blvd.



                                                               Front of the house.


                                                     A closer look....



The Holden's gazebo.




To find Roland and Joan's house, keep to your left on Verdum Ave.  There were two men working on the house right next to the Holden's house and they were kind enough to let us know, "there was one more house up the street."  Well that house turned out to be Roland, Joan and Sarah Elizabeth's house.





The Administration building is in the same area as the houses.  The cross streets I found were Everglades Ave and Navy Way.  However, from Roland and Joan's house, you can get back on Verdum Ave and following that all the way to the Administration building.


                                                   The Administration Building.




General Holden's Parking Spot














Riverfront Park is right behind the Administration Building.  I thought I would share a few pictures from the relatively small park.



 
From Riverfront Park, we ventured on to find the Hump Bar. This was by far the most difficult location to find! From Riverfront Park, you need to make your way to Spurill Ave and head south. It's about a good 8-12 minute drive from Riverfront Park - depending on traffic. Stay on Spurill Ave -
you will pass the highway 26 entrance. Spurill Ave will connect with Meeting Street. The Hump Bar will be on your right hand side. The closest cross street I could find was Meeting Street and Algonquin Road. A store - Fine Rugs of Charleston - was right next to the Hump Bar. In addition, across the street was a Pepsi Company.


                                                                                                                    







One more thing...when looking for set locations in Riverfront park...look for the "private property" signs as well as the stakes around the house. Looking for these "clues" makes it a lot easier to find the character's houses and the administrative building.  Happy hunting! I hope you have as much fun as I did connecting with the characters of Army Wives!