Charleston isn’t really where one goes in search of the avant-garde. (Well, maybe if it’s the avant-garde of Southern cooking that you’re after, but more on that later.) This is the Old South at its most enduringly genteel, a place where even the words coming out of people’s mouths take their time to get where they’re going. And it’s here, at the heart of the city’s historic district, where we find the Charleston Place — an old-fashioned grande dame of a hotel for a town that just wouldn’t be complete without one. Remarkably, it’s not a particularly old place — just old-school. The hoteliers behind the Charleston Place are of that hospitality school which holds that a lobby just isn’t a lobby without several acres of marble and a crystal chandelier, nor a bathroom a proper bathroom without some gleaming fixtures. The service, as one would expect, is as professional as can be, solicitous without being intrusive. It’s the kind of place where, should you have a souvenir to send off to someone, they’ll gladly do the wrapping and put it in the mail for you. The guest rooms are conservative in style — neutral tones, antique furnishings, marble bathrooms — but it’s all meticulously well-kept, and thanks to recent renovations, never crosses the line into stuffy territory. All the modern conveniences, plus cloud-like king beds and plenty of sunlight and space, help as well: master-controlled lighting, high-speed wi-fi, and the like. The hotel’s fine dining restaurant, Charleston Grill, is something of a local gathering spot. And in a city that has become a destination for the best new Southern cooking, a local following really means something. A somewhat masculine, clubby bar with daily live music and a courtyard restaurant round out the drinking and dining options, while a rooftop spa and a gorgeous saltwater pool beneath a retractable glass skylight are like the cherries — two cherries here — to cap it all off.