South Carolina In Review

Dismayed by the recent election of Abraham Lincoln as president, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union in December, 1860.  Written in their Declaration of the Immediate Causes of Secession was this:  "A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all states north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of president of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery."

Our home base was in Mount Pleasant, just a 30 minute drive to the incredibly charming Charleston.  And oh, how we loved Charleston!  We started by exploring on foot, with map & historic information in hand.

Said to be the oldest standing tavern in the South, the Pink House is now an art gallery and so named because of its Bermuda Stone that gave it a natural pink tint. 

Built in the mid-1690's, the Pink House had really cool features like the  original terra cotta "thigh tiles" named because each curved tile was formed over the workmen's thighs. 

The girls loved the tiny courtyard in back of the Pink House, a common feature in earlier Charleston homes.

Constructed in 1859, the Slave Mart held slave auctions inside until the Civil War brought defeat to the South.

The most well known homes in Charleston, Rainbow Row represents the very first style of the city's homes.  Paintings of them are found everywhere!

We rested for a bit on a beautiful pier, seeing one dolphin, one stingray & lots of starfish.

We took a lovely walk along the waterfront at Battery Park, which was lined with southern mansions, oak & palm trees, cannons, statues, and a great view of Fort Sumter.  Rich with history, the area was occupied by Fort Broughton & Fort Wilkins during the Revolutionary War & War of 1812, and even earlier, pirates of the early 1700's were hung from the oak trees & gallows, in hopes to deter other raiders from entering Charleston's harbor. 

"TO THE CONFEDERATE DEFENDERS OF CHARLESTON
FORT SUMTER
1861-1865
Count Them Happy Who For Their Faith And Their Courage Endured A Great Fight"

We certainly found that the most wonderful thing about the area was simply its charm... 

...and its magnificent trees.  

Just as you'd imagine them.  Huge oak, cypress & magnolia trees draped with hanging spanish moss.  Almost erie but oh, so beautiful!

We were introduced to sweetgrass baskets, one of the oldest art forms of African culture in America & a craft unique (and abundant) to the Lowcountry.  The skill was brought to the area by slaves from West Africa coming to labor on rice plantations in South Carolina & Georgia.  Sweetgrass basketmaking has been a part of the Lowcountry culture for more than 300 years.

We are collecting Christmas ornaments from each state & found the perfect South Carolina ornament at this roadside stand.  We found this woman working on her baskets inside her van & she graciously smiled for a photo:)

We accomplished some Christmas shopping at this fabulous downtown open-air Old City Market housing four blocks of displays from local artists & vendors.  

Just south of us, we found a Christmas light festival at James Island County Park.  There was a 3-mile light display drive, train ride through more lights, walking path through even MORE lights, carousel riding, hot chocolate sipping, marshmallow roasting, and of course Santa... yet, the girls were way too grown-up to visit with him:) 

I have to say, I loved seeing lit up palm trees & blue crabs... Christmas decor I could get used to!

Another 20 miles south we visited Charleston Tea Plantation, America's only tea garden.  We toured a portion of the 127 acres of tea plants and (though not in production) overlooked the factory, seeing how the machinery is used to sort, sift, cut,wilt, oxidize, and dry the tea leaves.    

Sweet tea flower

"Next Closest Tea Plantations"

This "Green Giant" is the only machine of its kind in the country and was made to custom fit the tea plants, riding perfectly over the tea bushes to snip only the new growth.  The Charleston Tea Plantation is able to operate with only 4 workers- two in the field and two in the production plant.  Five hundred workers are needed on the same size field in China to accomplish the same work without machinery.  Unbelievably, it is still cheaper in China... which is why this is the only tea plantation in the States. 

As we were leaving the plantation, we came across this sign... and of course HAD to investigate!

We took a short drive down to the water and found this beautiful dock with shrimp boats unloading their catch.

Baskets full of blue crab, fish & shrimp!

It was the first time we'd ever ordered shrimp WITH the heads still attached!  I'm sure it was our expressions that initiated the man to give us midwesterners a head-popping lesson:)

We brought our super-fresh shrimp home, popped off the shrimp heads (okay, Jim did... the girls were "busy" & someone had to be the photographer!),  & fixed a delish shrimp boil right over our campfire.

And speaking of great food, we received several recommendations for Hyman's Seafood in downtown Charleston.  Their website boasted fresh seafood, southern cuisine & over 70 names of famous visitors "just to name a few", so how could we pass it up?

The walls were crammed with photos of all the stars who had eaten here and plaques were on the tables notifying guests who had sat in their seats.

We were seated at the Kevin Costner, John McCain & Sandra Bullock table

Much more exciting than the names though, were the southern food items we'd never tried...

Boiled peanuts!  I was the only taker on this one.

Fried green tomatoes!  Fun to try, wouldn't order again.

Whole flounder & red rice... pretty yummy!

Nearly as well known was Hominy Grill.  All the reviews indicated it was the place to go to try fresh, local southern cuisine.  We loved trying more "firsts"... she-crab soup, shrimp & grits, and the girls favorite... the "big, nasty biscuit"...

truly southern!

The family favorite meal (and a favorite for Food Channel's Alton Brown) though, was at Jack's Cosmic Dog- a hot dog joint right down the street from our campsite in Mount Pleasant, but well known all around Charleston... in fact we later saw oil paintings of the place in local galleries!  With toppings like blue cheese slaw, sweet potato mustard, Jamaican relish, & mango peppa ketchup, we couldn't resist.  And it was crazy good.

The "Blue Galactic Dog": Chili, cheese, blue cheese slaw & sweet potato mustard

We couldn't leave South Carolina without visiting a plantation, so we toured the Boone Hall in Mount Pleasant, one of America's oldest working, living plantations.  The entrance was spectacular with two rows of huge, moss-draped oak trees lining the long drive in.

The current home was built in 1936, but sits on the site of the original plantation home.

The nine original cabins were home to the skilled slaves that provided the services supporting the plantation and had audio & visual presentations that told the different aspects of slave life & gullah culture.  

The lizards loved the warm brick on the buildings...

and Alayna loved the lizards!

One of the slave homes illustrated the importance of church gatherings for the slaves.  They looked forward to Sundays as a time to gather together to worship and sing spirituals for hours.

The gardens were quite bare since our visit was off season, but we found a few bits of sweet color here & there.

We took a tour ride around the grounds which were once known for their cotton & pecan crops.  The only cotton left on the plantation was a small garden, grown for display.

Cotton!

Having horrible internet coverage at the last few campgrounds, I'd gotten terribly behind on the blog (and am still trying to catch up!)  And, because of our new RV electrical issues (when we plug anything in...iron, blow dryer, laundry...everything goes out) I'm also terribly behind on laundry!  So I sent the family off to spend the day at Fort Sumter while I spent the day blogging at the KOA laundromat:)

The battle reduced the the 3-story fort to just this lower level.

Fort Sumter is the site where the first engagement of the Civil War took place on April 12 & 13, 1861- just months after South Carolina seceded from the Union.  Before shots were fired the Federal Troops controlled the fort, and with growing tensions, the people of South Carolina wanted them out. After demanding the surrender of the fort to no avail, Confederate Troops opened fire on the 12th at 4:30am, firing for the next 34 hours until the fort was surrendered the following day. No Union soldiers were killed during the battle, though one lost his life when a cannon recoiled during the 100 shot salute of their surrender.  The fort was in use until WWII when it was used to defend Charleston from German U-boats.

Loving the south... the history & the beauty!

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A) Mount Pleasant

B) Charleston

C) James Island County Park (Festival of Lights)

D) Charleston Tea Plantation

E) Fort Sumter