Mystical Gates & Doorways
This week’s travel theme at Where’s My Backpack is “mystical”. The hostess for this event, Ailsa, said:
Mystical is an evocative term with many nuances. I chose this word because it can be interpreted in so many ways. It can mean spiritually symbolic, otherworldly, ethereal or mysterious. I also love how this word sounds when you speak it aloud, and I can’t help but associate it with mists that conceal the everyday, cloaking the mundane in a veil of mystery. The verb ‘to mystify’; to make mysterious or obscure, is derived from the words mystic and mystery.
I enjoy the mystery of doors, gates and pathways. It is mysterious and mystical, wondering where it goes and what is next. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it isn’t. But it has an allure that is hard to resist.
Here’s a photo from a vacation trip to Charleston, South Carolina. If you look carefully at the far back, there is a second gate that leads to a secluded garden:
Still round the corner there may wait,
A new road or a secret gate.
J. R. R. Tolkien
Charleston SC Travel Charleston SC doorways gates mystical weekly travel theme
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I am a backyard adventurer, philosopher and observer, recording my life in journals and photographs. Visit my blog at www.livingtheseasons.com.
Living The Seasons 
That photo brings back fun memories of our visit to Charleston and the wonderful tour of homes we so enjoyed! Thanks for the memory jog. :)
You’re welcome!
Charleston has some of the most spectacularly ornate gatework anywhere. The above may well have been fashioned by the noted metalsmith Philip Simmons, a Charleston-area native who was born in 1912 and lived until 2009. He apprenticed under a former slave and his work was incredibly detailed and became highly sought after, especially after gentrification began throughout Charleston.
Thanks for the added information! I took a number of pictures of the lovely gates and will be posting them over the next few months. That is so nice that you took a few minutes to add to my knowledge as I did not know this.
I live within a couple of hours of Charleston and have seen Philip Simmons’ craftsmanship on several occasions. If you ever want to learn more, the University of South Carolina Press published a book about him which detail his life and work.
Charleston is an amazing city; there is so much history and beauty. It’s wonderful that you captured something that most people overlook because they’re too focused on the churches, old homes, etc.