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Kevin Matkoski of Columbia took this picture in November 2009.
He writes: "I was invited to go sailing in Charleston and arrived early, so I took the logical detour to Battery Park (White Point Gardens). Rather than being drawn to the sunrise over the water, I found the soft morning glow of Rainbow Row to be captivating. The contrast of the black balconies against the golden house drew me in closer and closer until the shadow of the Palmetto stood up and said, "This is Charleston."
In the early 1900s, Dorothy Pocher Legge purchased a section of houses on East Bay Street and painted them pastel pink based on a colonial Caribbean color scheme. Current and future owners followed her lead when painting their houses, and soon a 'rainbow' of pastels emerged which is still there today.
It has also been suggested by locals that the houses were painted in the various pastel colors so that intoxicated sailors coming in from the port could remember which houses were their own!
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