Our Week in the (Hot) South

Greetings from Beautiful Beaufort!

We have had a whirlwind week. There’s way too much to cover in one post so I’ll just touch on the highlights of each day.

Monday: I already covered the morning. In the afternoon we drove over to Hilton Head just to say we’d been there. Found a little park called Mitchelville Freedom Park. It is on the site of a town called Mitchellville which was built by the slaves who were freed during the Civil War. We also walked around the ruins of Fort Howell, a Union Civil War fort. All that’s left are the earthwork walls and the moat. It gives you a good idea of what these costal forts were really like.

Tuesday: We drove to Charleston and took a carriage tour of the Old Town. It was interesting. Saw lots of churches and historical homes. Heard several stories. Not sure how true they were. I learned that Charleston is called the Holy City because of all the churches. It was a little like they were trying to see who could build the tallest steeple!  I also learned that Charleston has had 1 major earthquake, two major fires and a few hurricanes. It was also severely damaged during the War Between the States. The main thing I got from the tour was that the guide was having a difficult time controlling the horse because he was new. That was interesting. We pooped out after lunch due to the heat so we just drove around a little and then visited the Fort Sumter Visitor’s Center. The highlight of the day was dinner with my aunt Luana and my Uncle Adrian. It was so nice to see and visit with them. Our time was not long enough.

Wednesday: Our day was spent in Savannah. What a beautiful city! I just love how all the neighborhoods in the old part of town were built around gorgeous squares.  We took a hop on/hop off trolley and rode it all the way around first. Then we hopped off and toured the Historical Museum. It’s a typical smallish museum with semi old displays. I did enjoy the special exhibit on Juliette Gordon Lowe, the founder of the American Girl Scouts who is from Savannah. She was an interesting lady.  We hopped back on the trolley and hopped off again at Chatham Square.  Why? Because that’s where they filmed the bench scenes from Forrest Gump. We saw bench #4 from the movie in the museum. Ken took my picture and that’s all I’m going to say about that.  Back on and then off the trolley at St. John the Baptist Cathedral. WOW! It was gorgeous. Then the thunderstorm rolled in so we sprinted through raindrops back to the trolley after spending a few minutes in a parking garage. Dinner was at Paula Deen’s Lady and Sons. A bit of a let down but ok.

Thursday: Back to Charleston we go. We took the boat out to Fort Sumter. The fort began as a blockade fort during the War of 1812. At the beginning of the War Against the States it was a Union fort. The Confederates starved them out and took over the fort. The Union bombarded the fort down from 5 stories to the foundation and regained control. It was rebuilt and eventually turned over to the Park service. It was a very interesting place but we didn’t have enough time to see everything as they only gave us 45 minutes on the island. On the way home from Charleston we stopped by the ruins of the Old Sheldon Church, a Revolutionary War structure that was plundered and burned during the War Against the States. Beautiful!

Friday: I think we saved the best for last. I hadn’t intended to go to the beach because I figured we would be busy seeing history. However, our hosts insisted that we needed to go out to Hunting Island State Park so we did.  Oh my was it beautiful and well worth it. We took off our shoes and socks and strolled through the 84 degree water for about a quarter mile. It was fantastic. I got my beach fix. Then we climbed 167 steps to the top of the lighthouse in the 90 degree heat. From the top you could see for miles and it was degrees cooler. I could’ve spent all day there but we didn’t have appropriate beach attire and we were both feeling the heat so we threw in the towel and went back to the apartment for the afternoon. Dinner was at a cute restaurant called Wren. I had Shrimp and grits. A first for me. It was tasty.

So that was our week in the Lowcountry. We didn’t see or do everything we wanted to do so we will just have to come back some day. Tomorrow it’s off to Charlotte.