She chose to paint them pink based on a colonial Caribbean color scheme. In 1931, Dorothy Hakell Porcher Legge purchased a section and began to renovate the houses. Finally, in the 1920s, Susan Pringle Frost, founder of the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings, now the Preservation Society of Charleston, bought six of the old buildings.
After the Civil War, the area became a slum. But a fire in 1778 destroyed much of the neighborhood. New commercial buildings with stores on the first floor and living quarters on the second floor were constructed by merchants. Originally, Rainbow Row fronted directly on the riverfront of the Cooper River but that land was filled in. The name was coined after the pastel colors that were painted as the houses were restored in the 1930s and 1940s. Located from 79 to 107 East Bay Street, north of Tradd Street and south of Elliott Street, it is a popular tourist attraction and one of the most photographed parts of Charleston. It is the name for a series of 13 colorful historic houses that represent the longest cluster of Georgian row houses in the United States. And that's not counting the world-class restaurants. There are so many historical sites to explore in Charleston, South Carolina, from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War to World War II.
