Charleston SC

Charleston, South Carolina
Trip Journal #9

October 1-3, 2018

Google Maps sends you a neat summation of where you have been in the last month (if you register with Google Maps). We left on this expedition on Sept 1, so this gives a good image of our trip for September from Colorado to Jacksonville, North Carolina. At Alice’s we had traveled 3,700 miles this trip. Our Odometer registers 80,000. We purchased our Coyote at 30,000 miles. She has been good to us in over 4 years of trips traveling to California to Oregon to Alaska to Kentucky to Canada to Newfoundland and now ... across the good ol’ U S of A heading east and then south.

Our discovery of southern culture and history continues as we travel down highway 17 from Virginia and through the Carolinas. Charleston smacks of Rhett Butler & something about not giving a damn. Moreover, there is good southern food with tasty crab cakes … and massive oak trees … and lots of water and swamps and mosquitoes. And… history … the beginning of the civil war began here at Fort Sumter.

Myrtle Beach
We are not planning to stop in Myrtle Beach … too touristy, too flashy and waaaay too many outlandish miniature golf courses. Nevertheless, the SkyWheel spoke to us … or rather to Vicki. Pictures taken from the top of the wheel speak of the beauty of the beaches. Early October leaves the beaches nearly unoccupied. 

We wonder what a hot summer day during spring break looks like here. We did walk along them for a bit … but the pier wanted to charge us to walk out there. Like I said, too touristy.



Somewhere between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, we sought out the amenities of a Walmart. Unlike our home in Colorado, the foliage in the southeast conceals and obscures everything. This Walmart was hard to find without a GPS guiding us and trust that it was there. Our eyes would never have guided us. Moreover, unlike most buildings of this ilk, this one is picturesque.

Charleston Plantations 

With so many impressive homes, mansions, and plantations to tour in Charleston, we chose two owned by the Drayton Family.

Drayton HallBeginning with John Drayton (1715-1779), seven generations of Drayton have owned the plantation through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries before they passed it to a conservation trust in 1974 and now preserved in its original state, without furnishings, electricity, plumbing or necessaries. The 350 acres surrounding the house are resplendent with enormous magnolia trees, mighty oak trees and perfectly placed ponds and gardens.

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Rice not cotton was the main agricultural product in this low country region with vast acreage dedicated to the periodic flooding and draining of the fields. The water source was the Ashley River that ran next to these plantations. Even now owned by the 13th generation Drayton Family dating back to the late 1600s, this plantation and the magnificent 30 acres dedicated to gardens offer tours and walking exploration. We actually spent parts of two days exploring the place. We took the overall tour on a tram includes cypress swamps and alligators and even an ancient Indian burial mound … and then the tour of the mansion which is more modernized.

Oak tree lined pathways in Magnolia Plantation

 Dan in the red shirt is on the upper porch in the center of the picture of the mansion.

The second tour brought us to the enslaved peoples' cabins and a speech about the practices of slavery at this plantation. We learned that no one here refers to the offensive term of slavery. Rather the idiom is the practice of enslaving people. The terminology of “enslaved peoples” is subtle but crucial in understanding the historical culture. 

The Gardens

We return the second day to wander the gardens for which this location is world famous. The original and still practiced plan is to have informal gardens that merge with and compliment the natural growth patterns of the area. However, everywhere we see azaleas and Camilla trees with a few blossoms hanging on into autumn. Of course, this is October. We have added to our bucket list to return one day in the spring. It must be astounding when in full bloom.

Fort Sumter

In 1861 just before the beginning of the Civil War, Fort Sumter was positioned on a manmade island. Commanding the channel into Charleston, it was three stories tall with 5-foot thick walls and manned with 15 howitzer cannon. Only 90% complete at that time, it was intended to house 135 cannon and a garrison of 650 soldiers. Named after a revolutionary patriot war hero, Thomas Sumter, Major Robert Anderson commanded the fort with an 85-man garrison on April 12, 1861. On that day, the first shots of the Civil war were fired when Brig. General Pierre Beauregard, who was Anderson’s student at West Point, brought onshore cannons to bear and pretty much destroyed the fort forcing Anderson to surrender. It then became a key confederate stronghold for the duration of the war. This picture is what we see now ... only part of the fort wall is left, as we take the ferry out to visit the island.

 

Justine’s Kitchen

Justine was born in 1885 and was the employee and lifelong friend of the Ellison family. This restaurant is the family’s way of sharing the wonderful style of home cooking and warm atmosphere that Jestine provided for generations of friends and family. She died at the age of 112 in 1997. The food was amazing. We had the fried okra, crab cakes and cucumbers soaked in vinegar and sugar. Not usually our regular fare, we mention this only because it was tasty and delightful.

Next – Savannah.