From Civil Rights to Civil War

From Atlanta, we drove to Charleston, South Carolina. They say that this is the friendliest town in America...I'm not so sure that Adam and I would say that Charleston is any more friendly or unfriendly compared to the next town. In fact, we actually experienced some incredibly unfriendly people during our time in Charleston (not to say that this is unlikely to happen in any other city). Perhaps it is because we aren't a 70+ old couple with money to spend on Sweetgrass baskets and horse carriage rides (that seems to be the average age of the visitors to this town, btw). But not to worry, in our future when we are 70 and in our RV, Adam and I will probably come back. And I will probably want to spend $200 on a basket and shop for antiques, but that is for the future!

Our first night when we arrived from Atlanta, we made "stuffed soup" that Jennifer had packed for us when we moved. It's essentially veggies, chicken broth, canned chicken and stuffing. Super good, quick and easy. Of course, our frozen veggies had long since expired, so we threw in some green beans that we had leftover from Atlanta. It was a nice yummy dinner of comfort food. Sorry, no pictures. And Jennifer- thanks for the ingredients and repeating to us the very simple directions (heat up half of broth, add veggies, add chicken, add stuffing, add rest of broth- now I won't forget!).

Then we went off to Waterfront Park. It was an absolutely cute park with swinging benches that face out onto the water. There was hardly anyone around so parking was a breeze. We came across this wading pool/fountain with the hilarious warning about not having any kind of diarrheal illness if you are going to play in the water. Mmmmm...!

The fountain with the warning signs- wonder if it happens often?

The next morning, we got totally ripped off on a film at the Charleston Visitor Center. They told us that they were showing this 45-minute film called "Forever Charleston" that talks about the history of the town and they were charging $2 pp. We figured we could learn a lot on a documentary about Charleston and it could help us frame our visit. Too bad it is really just a promotional infomercial about visiting Charleston- boooooo! They really should be playing that for free on repeat in the visitor center lobby. At least they had postcards for a quarter.

We then walked around downtown Charleston. We checked out a cemetery (kind of creepy to think that some were born 300 years ago!), walked through some historic neighborhoods, went through the Old Market Place and saw some of the sweetgrass basketweavers. On our way to the car, we happened to pass by Ben & Jerry's and have the pleasant surprise of "Free Scoop Day." Definitely a nice way to cool off on a sunny day!

After that, we stopped and had some Carolina bbq. For some reason, the only thing I understood to be South Carolina bbq was that they were big on pulled pork. I missed the memo that it would be smothered in vinegary seasoning and accompanied by vinegary bbq sauce. Oops. I can officially say that I do not really care for SC bbq!

From there, we decided to visit one of the plantations. We had an amazing time visiting the Drayton Hall Plantation. It is one of the plantations that hasn't been restored to look like a specific time period, so you are able to see how it has changed since the 1700s to now (from the fading of the paint, to where vandals stole a mantle to where remodeling happened). We were able to do a special archaeology tour of the home, so our tour was led by an archaeologist who is doing some work at the plantation. It really was quite beautiful and was a nice way to spend the day in Charleston. I'm really glad we did it instead of doing a historic home tour. The Drayton family still goes out to the plantation and they have a doorway where they have taken height measurements. Kind of neat to see the height of a child from year 2002 written next to one dated 1821.

Trees with Spanish Moss in them. They are all over SC. Really neat to see.

Proof that Adam and I were actually there!

This morning, we headed off to Fort Sumter. You have to pay $16 per person to catch a boat over to Ft. Sumter, and then they only give you an hour to go through the museum, check out the display, and hear the talk given by the ranger. It didn't feel like enough time but I thought it was definitely worth going to see where the first shots of the Civil War happened. The park ranger did a great job sharing facts and information (100x better than the ranger in Grand Canyon who put us to sleep!). Even the classes of 3rd graders enjoyed it. It was just too bad that we didn't have another 30 minutes to half an hour.

USS Yorktown...which we did not ride to Ft. Sumter. ;)



The six flags that have flown over Ft. Sumter, including 2 versions of the Confederate flag and the South Carolina flag.

After lunch, we went to the Charles Pinckney Historic Site where we watched a couple films about Charles Pinckney, the Constitution and slavery. We checked out some of the artifacts, and then Adam sat out on the porch in the rocking chair with a glass of sweet tea (minus the sweet tea).



We ended the day with a pseudo sunset at Battery Park and me finishing up Spanish hw while Adam did laundry. Tomorrow- Smoky Mountains NP!