Charleston City Tours

 

Today we spent most of the day in Charleston.  We started out at the visitors center.  There are lots of tours and of course a wealth of information on what to see and do around the city.  It is also the place to purchase tour tickets, bus tickets, t-shirts, etc.

We decided to see the area “South of Broad” and to take a Gullah tour.  There is a trolley system run by the city bus company that loops through different areas of the city.  For a single price you can purchase a get-on-get-off ticket that is good on any of the trolleys. 

We rode “211” trolley to the Battery area and then walked North back to Broad.   The area “South of Broad” is one of the older sections of town and was settled by the gentry of the 1700 and 1800s.  It is full of old homes that have existed for many many years.

 

We saw mule and horse drawn carriages that are used for tours of the area.

The area included cobblestone streets (just a few) and beautiful fronts of homes, even some with gas lights instead of electric lights in front.

We had tired feet after all of the walking around this intriguing area.

 

We had lunch at a place called Virginia,s on King.  It was recommended by a local and it had really good food and I would recommend it.

Then in the afternoon we did the Gullah tour.  Gullah is a language that evolved over time and is a combination of African languages, English, and Creole basically.  It evolved by the slaves, that came from different countries of Africa and so couldn’t communicate with each other.  The tour included some sea islands in the area.  If you read Pat Conroy’s The Water is Wide, it is based on his teaching the Gullah children on one of the sea islands.  The tour guide was very interesting and fun.  He included a lot of local slave history, the story of Porgy and Bess, and information on the plantations of the area.

As an example, we went by a plantation house, which consisted of 16,000 acres, mostly planted in rice, and then went past the plantation slave cabins.

  

Live Oak tress grow readily in this area.  We stopped to look at one that is estimated to be 300 to 600 years old and is just enormous.  It is difficult to get a picture of the entire tree.

The story of Porgy and Bess was based on a real person.  Set to music by Gershwin, it is quite the story. We went past the grave site of “Porgy” on the tour.  George Gershwin visited the grave at some time and left a stone on the grave, as is the Jewish custom.  There were several stones today on “Porgy’s” gravestone and his mother’s, also buried here. 

We also saw the original city jail and paddy wagon (horse drawn of course).

Toward the end of the tour we passed a quilt shop, so of course had to return there so Katie could at least look……of course she did more than look!

At this point we decided we were hungry again.  We had another “local” recommendation for a restaurant.  Shem Creek Bar and Grill is in the Mt Pleasant area, near Sullivan’s Island. 

On the menu for tonight was:

Parmesan encrusted Mahi-Mahi

Stuffed Flounder

and Shrimp and fried Grits.

That ended our touring day, with a walk along Shem’s dock viewing the setting sun.

Tomorrow we are off to New Bern, NC.  It will be mostly driving, but we are going to travel along the coast, or as close as possible.

History Day at Charleston

 

Today was a busy day.  We spent the day immersed in history visiting Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, and Submarine USS Clamagore.

Fort Sumter was our first destination.  It is famous because the first shots of the Civil war were shot at Fort Sumter.  Fort Sumter can only be reached by boat.  The island was built up from a sandbar 10 feet underwater (at low tide), because it was the best location to defend Charleston.  When the Civil War started it was only 90% completed.  After Lincoln was elected president the union forces in Charleston were ordered to protect Union property.  Their numbers were limited and they prepositioned themselves to Fort Sumter.  The fort was fired on and eventually ceded to the Southern States of America.  Later in the war union forces regained control, but in the process destroyed the 2nd and 3rd levels of the fort walls.  Over they years its was put to different uses, including as a lighthouse.  It was again used for harbor defense until 1938 when it was retired.  It was an interesting tour.

There are at least 4 places where union shells were embedded in the walls during the battle to regain control.

There is a museum that has among its displays the flag that flew over Fort Sumter during the initial battle.

Here are some additional pictures from the Fort.

Once we got back to Patriots Point we toured the submarine USS  Clamagore.  It is one of the last deisel submarines of World War II.  It was commissioned in June 1945 and saw active service until 1975.  It is open for walking through.

The USS Yorktown is also fun to visit.  Besides the hanger deck and the flight deck, there are other areas of the ship open for going through, including the engineering areas, brig (don’t want to go there for real), the pilots’ ready room, CIC, pilot house, etc.

The Yorktown has a long and glorious history.  It was commissioned in 1943 and was retired two years after being the primary recovery ship for Apollo 8 in 1968. 

The last historical place we visited was Fort Moultrie on Sullivan Island.  It was built in 1776 and participated in the Revolutionary War when it defended Charleston Harbor from the British and was finally decommissioned after World War II.

Here are some other places of interest.  The Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge is really neat and well worth a look.

The City of Charleston looks inviting from the harbor.  We will spend more time there tomorrow.

The houses near Fort Moultrie were fun to look at.

And the Sullivan Island Lighthouse is an unusual design and reportedly is the only light house with an elevator.  We cannot vouch for that since the lighthouse is active and not open to visitors.

And finally was Sullivan’s where we had an excellent meal.

On the menu were:

Stuffed Founder

7 Layer seafood

Grouper

Bacon wrapped Shrimp

As indicated, tomorrow we will spend time in Charleston itself.