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Moseying around Charleston in mid-March lets us meet and greet our fellow townsmen who also endured an Atlantic coastal February -- as well as to see and be seen in the mod spots. Exuberance over a few rays of sunshine and a phalanx of azaleas brings Charlestonians out of hibernation to reunite with friends not seen since September. Often the exhilaration dulls our awareness of visiting celebrities who like to visit our city incognito. Remember that the reason the big-name visitors love Charleston is that we don't gawk or paw over them when we do notice.

Those high-profile types love to view Charlestonians in their natural habitat. Hearing the true Charleston dialect spoken with either the Wadmalaw or the Copahee accent is value-added. Let's reminisce about some special sightings of the superstar category that a few fortunate downtowners have lucked into over the past years.

For starters, Charleston has long been known for its cuisine -- even in the decades before the culinary magazines dubbed us the Kinsale of the Atlantic Coast. Diners one evening in the 1960s at Perdita's on Exchange Street were astonished to see Kenny Rogers in a party dining across from them. No one made a stir and the legendary singer autographed twenty-dollar bills for the wait staff.

Just a few months prior to the sighting of Kenny Rogers, none other than Jacquelin Onassis slipped quietly into town aboard a New York friend's yacht. She was spotted dining upon oysters at the Market's famed Ice House. The Ice House was also a favorite of William F. Buckley whenever he was in town. Lee Atwater, the Reagan-Bush strategist, preferred Jimmy Dengate's on upper Rutledge.

A honeymooning couple in the early 1970s shared an elevator at the Mills House Hotel with none other than Peter Ustinov. The great man nodded his approval to the bride. Some may remember when Dr. Jonas Sabin of the polio vaccine spent a semester at the Medical University and was the toast of the town.

Hardly anything can compare to the visit made to The Citadel in 1979 by HRH The Prince of Wales. Never since colonialism ended has there been such pomp. The Prince reviewed the Corps from a platform specially constructed on the parade ground. Just as the Corps began to pass in review, a member of the press tripped over a cable causing a microphone stand to come crashing down with a loud crack similar to a rifle shot. Everyone jumped -- everyone, that is but the Prince. He stood regal and at attention and never flinched.

By chance on The Citadel campus that morning two RAF survivors of the Battle of Britain bumped into each other amidst the throngs greeting the Prince. Air Marshal McSwain and Vice-Air Marshal Raf Bentley recognized each other's faces before they noticed the other's RAF regimental striped necktie.

The year 1979 was a grand one for celebrity watching in Charleston. That was the year that Teddy Kennedy made a campaign speech at the Gloria Theater on King Street. Kennedy's advance team handed out playing cards as admit tickets to the lucky ones who'd waited in line. Sitting halfway back in the theater that day was an elderly Boston attorney who'd retired here to the Ashley House here. That gentleman had escorted Rose Fitzgerald to his Boston Latin School formal a half century earlier. Rose Fitzgerald was Teddy Kennedy's mother.

Only 15 years earlier Lyndon Johnson had made Charleston a campaign stop, and, as he was wheeled around the Battery and White Point Gardens, there was not a soul standing outside to greet the president's arrival. In fact, houses were shuttered as if expecting a tropical storm, and some homes had banners proclaiming "This home solidly for Goldwater!"

Natives might recall that in the late '70s on Cumberland Street between State and East Bay a grungy little out-of-the-way watering hole sprang up at 4 p.m. every afternoon in the cavernous first floor of one of those old warehouses. It had coolers filled with iced-down beer, crates to sit on, and a motley mounted blue marlin that perched precariously over the makeshift bar.

Young stockbrokers, bankers, attorneys, insurance agents, and secretaries flocked into the improvised pub complete with a huge garage-styled door open to the street. Captain Harry's Blue Marlin Bar became one of those "must experience it to believe it" eras of Charleston's pop-culture scene. Be-whiskered Capt'n Harry finagled a relatively unknown singer named Jimmy Buffett to perform there a couple of times -- and word got out!

General William C. Westmoreland lived on Tradd Street in those days and was frequently seen heading to his broker's office on Exchange Street. Many dignitaries came and went from that Tradd Street address.

One crisp, autumn day in the 1980s, who should be spotted strolling up Broad Street with one of the duPonts but Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the former president of France! With the socialists in power, he had nothing better to do than to while away some time in Charleston. Not long after one of the Rothchilds was discretely entertained here.

Many readers will recall that shortly after the convention center opened, Prince Charles returned and brought with him an entourage of the moneyed elites from around the globe. He held a conference here dealing with a range of international matters. The Prince resided as a guest of Donald Jenrette at the Roper House on East Battery.

Do you remember when Billy Joel's yacht cruised into the harbor and anchored for his honeymoon with the "Uptown Girl," Christie Brinkley? How about that warm summer afternoon when a dinghy cast out from Malcolm Forbes' ocean-going vessel anchored in the harbor - and a few minutes later Maggie Thatcher, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, and Casper Wineberger trouped into one of East Bay Street's notable establishments. Ronald Reagan dined at Saracen's just up the street a year later. Our very own Governor Edwards entertained Texas Governor and would-be Republican Presidential candidate John Connolly on the front porch of his harbor-front home the night that Connolly lost the SC primary and bowed out of the race.

The coolest frequent visitor to the Lowcountry in the mid-1970s was Susan Ford, the president's daughter. Her father's brother, Tom Ford, Lived on Seabrook, and she enjoyed being young and single in downtown Charleston.

Maybe you missed singer James Taylor putting his kayak into Shem Creek, or big-mouthed Carly Simon showing up at Boone Hall for Plantation Polo some years ago. Those were the days. And you may have missed William Faulkner's adopted step-son who resided a brief while near the corner of State and Chalmers Street in the 1970s. He authored a book on his stepfather entitled Bitterweeds.

Perhaps the oddest visitor to make it around Charleston was Merlin Charles Sainthill Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley, FSA of Sudeley Manor, England. As a direct ancestor of one of colonial Jamestown's founders, Lord Sudely was over here in 1979 to represent the House of Lords at the 370th anniversary of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in America.

Baron Sudeley figured that, while in country, he'd visit Charleston, as well. He was wearing a London-tailored heavy tweed suit when he arrived at the airport in mid-July. His only carry-on luggage was a wooden case containing the DeBrett's Peerage scroll, 26-feet long, of his family's aristocratic lineage. This aristocrat was descended from Hugh de Tracy, the knight who struck Thomas Becket the mortal blow in Canterbury Cathedral. The most recent king in his ancestry was Ethelred the Unready.

One dear little Charleston lady piped up that she possessed as a surname one of Lord Sudely's six given names and wondered if they might be kin. "Good heavens, I should think not," exclaimed Sudely, "for you see, my family have been gentlemen for a thousand years." The lady squirmed in her seat wondering how Britain had managed to hold the colonies as long as they did with twits like this at the helm.

Sit in front of your wide-screen TV if you like, but you'll miss out on some entertaining interludes if you're not out and about in downtown Charleston!

(Dr. Thomas B. Horton is a history teacher at Porter-Gaud School. He lives in the Old Village of Mount Pleasant. Visit his Web site at www.historyslostmoments.com.)