South Carolina

May 31, 2010


We left Savannah and drove up to Charleston (Charles Town), South Carolina. We checked into a nice campsite called James Island County Park. What a great park. They have many facilities located in the park including a fishing pond, a dog off-leash area that includes a lake, a major water park, cycle trails, and a climbing wall/facility. The park has nice big sites amongst the trees, full hook up, and laundry facilities. The park is located about 15 minutes from the historic district of Charleston.

We drove into Charleston and visited the Charleston Museum which is the first and oldest museum in America. They have a full-scale Confederate submarine outside the building. Yes a submarine dating back to the mid 1800s. Charleston has an incredible past including the first attempt at settlement dating back to 1560, it was the nation’s commercial leader in exporting rice, and later, cotton, the area was full of plantations producing these products, it was also a major centre of the slave trade, it had a very active Pirate community (including Black Beard) that wreaked havoc on the shipping lanes, the first shot of the Civil War happened here April 12, 1861, to name just a few.

The Historic District is very well preserved with cobblestone roads and antebellum homes and buildings. Generally, the old homes and buildings are not as grandiose as Savannah, but what I liked is that many of the buildings look out over Charleston Harbor, as the Historic District is built on a large peninsula. All along the road that runs along the water are historic mansions and beautiful homes. They are the kind of homes I would love to own.

For lunch we went to Queen Anne’s Revenge which has many artifacts from the pirates of the era, and in particular, Blackbeard. The restaurant displays many pirate pistols, grenades, blunderbuss (like a spray shotgun), pieces of eight, grappling hooks, helmets and more, some of which were on Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge.

"Laurie, never mind the damn umbrella, RUN!!!!!"








Observations:

* Ever since that first night in Louisiana, we have heard a locust insect called a Cicada that makes an eerie, screeching noise that sounds like someone letting out air pressure. All it takes is for one of them to start, then the whole forest has the screeching sound.

* We have found that many cities have claimed retired Navy ships like the USS Lexington that we toured in Corpus Christi Texas. Sometimes the town has a affiliation with the ship and in others, it is claimed to be used as a tourist attraction.

* June 1 is the official start of Hurricane season. There are TV programs dedicated to preparing for, and surviving a major hurricane. They predict that this year will see a very active hurricane season as the temperature of the Gulf of Mexico has risen, plus other factors. They predict between 14 – 24 hurricanes that will actually be named, meaning that they are of major concern.