Thursday, July 11, 2013 – Charleston, SC
We were back on the road again after a great stay with our good friend Gary Apple in beautiful Bluftton, SC. This time it was a relatively short trip about 100 miles up the road to historic Charleston. We pulled into our campground, Oak Plantation Campground which is about 15 miles outside of Charleston proper. It is a really beautiful, quiet and peaceful park. We were greeted by a young 15 year old girl, Casey who is the daughter of the owners who live on the property in a stately home tucked away on this large property. She was very courteous and friendly, so we weren’t surprised to read in a local travel guide that the people of Charleston were voted as being the friendliest in the Nation. We were led to a very nice tree shaded spot that is really very nice and quiet. After setting up, we had some lunch using left overs from some of the previous days restaurant fare. It was delicious.
After that we decided to head into Charleston at the peak of the day. It was a hot one. The temperature was about 90 degrees and the humidity was drenching. Every once in awhile there would be a wisp of cool breeze, but there simply wasn’t enough of it. Both Elisa and I were feeling a bit sluggish today due to all the busy activities we had set out for ourselves in the preceding days. So we decided that even though there was so much we wanted to see here, we would not press ourselves. We decided to walk down King Street and that area. I was thrilled by the architecture in the city. So many of these building date back to the 1780s and 1800s. There are historical markers on virtually every building.
In the order of the photos above,
1. View of the Carolina Lowlands on the way to Charleston.
2. The Demetre Jewelers building in a renovated bank that dates to the early 1900s – on King St.
3. Lower King St with building from the 1800s and early 1900s.
4 – 6. St. Mathews Episcopal Church on Meeting St. at Broad St. Originally built in 1750s lost in a fire and rebuilt in the 1840s.
7. Statue of George Washington located in the aptly named Washington Square. This is a green space located near St. Mathews Church.
8. The old Kress Department store building (1931) that is being renovated and will now be occupied by a local law firm
9. The Old Masonic Temple (1841) is now the home of the Confederate Museum operated by the Daughters of the Confederacy. This building played a key role in the Civil war. It was a primary recruiting site for soldiers to enlist. After the war it was the regular meeting place for veterans of the war. The Daughters of these veterans began to collect relics and historical accounts of the veterans and now run this museum. It was built on an elevated landing (to cope with flooding). Below an outdoor market has been in place since it was originally built. Gulla women sell their intricately woven baskets using palmetto leaves.
10. One of the many horse drawn carriages touring the city. We felt bad for the horses in the heat.
Charleston, SC played a pivotal role in the history of the Civil War. It was here that at the Democratic Convention that the Union of the States was split over the issue of slavery. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union and it is also home of Fort Sumter, where the opening shots of the Civil War were fired.
My history was a little rusty. I had thought that it was the Union forces that fired upon the Fort. Actually, it was the other way around. Within days after SC seceded from the Union they had demanded that Union Major, Robert Anderson vacate. On his own initiative, Major Anderson moved his troops from Ft. Moultrie as it was indefensible and still under construction to Fort Sumter. The SC militia fired upon Fort Sumter to prevent Major Anderson from raising the Union colors. The timing of the hostilities were keyed to the fact that President Buchanan had made drastic cuts to the military and the South, with less industrial capability than the North believed it could overcome the armies of the North. This was an interesting history lesson gained from the Confederate Museum.
So after a couple of hours exploring, we stopped in for a spot of frozen yogurt to cool ourselves down and then we headed back to Oak Plantation to relax and Elisa took a nap. For dinner, we were both hoping for something a bit more tame from all the rich and spicy food we had been having. We saw a number of good reviews for a nearby restaurant – Ms. Rose’s Fine Food and Cocktails. It was described as having simple Southern style home cooking. We arrived and found an innovative decor that was designed to be modern with a touch of retro-flair. There was a live musician playing out some soulful, up-tempo, southern blues music that seemed to match the decor and theme of the restaurant. The menu looked good with simple fare. Elisa opted for some “home style” chicken soup followed by the baked chicken. I had 4 of their signature raw oysters with a sherry vinegar, shallots and a bit of garlic and for my main course I had the Carolina smoked ribs with their signature spicy vinegar dipping sauce for the ribs. Elisa was a bit concerned that the soup would be too spicy. She needn’t have worried as the soup appeared to be devoid of any spice at all. I took a taste and imagined that this is what dishwater might taste like. Not a good start for her. My oysters were excellent. Fortunately for Elisa, her entree was much better than her soup. Good but not great. This is also how you can describe my ribs. I’ve decided I’m not a big fan of the Carolina style ribs. They feature a relatively mild rub and are typically served “dry”, meaning no BBQ sauce but are accompanied with a vinegar based dipping sauce. My meal was also accompanied by some baked brussel sprouts. They were tasty, but a little bit of brussel sprouts go a long way for me, so there was plenty to take back to the RV with us.
By the time we got back and made a number of calls to coordinate our coming travels, check in with other family members it was going on 10:00pm. We called it an early night.
More later….
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