Charleston, SC - Part Two

After lunch we wandered down to the wharf.  There was a Carnival cruise ship loading up.  At the next wharf we boarded our tour boat, Carolina Belle for a harbour cruise.

Customs and Excise building

The Battery - huge homes worth millions

White Gardens named for the old oyster shell dumping grounds and also where pirates were buried after being hanged and left dangling for about 2 weeks

Fort Sumter This fort used to be 50 feet high.  It was fired on so many times during the civil war, that it is about 1/3 shorter now.  This is an island at the mouth of the harbour and where the civil war began. 

A beautiful bridge spanning across the harbour

This is a confluence of the two rivers leaving Charleston.  The boat captain said it is very rare to have such a definite line and colour change between the two rivers

Aircraft carrier Yorktown.  This is the second Yorktown as the first was lost at Midway. The second ship was used during the movie Tora Tora Tora. This ship was used for both American and Japanese carriers.  Half of the ship was painted in American colours and half Japanese.

After a great day being tourists, we headed back to Edisto Island.  Due to the volume of traffic, it took almost an hour to travel the first 10 miles.  After we turned onto the small local highway, it was clear sailing home tired and sunburned.  Lots of fun.

Charleston, SC - Part One

Monday morning we ventured into Charleston, SC.  We had prebooked a carriage tour, harbour tour and all day parking.  Made life very simple as we were not wandering around aimlessly.  Traffic was good and Lulabelle (our gps) took us directly to our parking spot.  Yeah!

It was a long wonderful day.  We saw so many beautiful sights that I need to break this into two separate blogs.

Part 1 will be our carriage ride.

It was extremely cold by SC standards in the morning.  My hands and feet were frozen when we finished our tour, despite complimentary blankets.  I soon warmed up as we had lunch and then walking to part 2 of our tale.

So we begin:

One of the first churches built.  The spire has a 3 degree lean due to an earthquake.

This is an ammunition bank.  There is an old law limiting the amount of gunpowder kept in your home. The rest was deposited here.  Walls are 30 inches thick and roof filled with sand.  If it exploded the walls and sand were intended to limit damage.

One of only two remaining cobblestone streets.  Stones were ballast in the ships coming from England.

The old buildings require almost constant maintenance.  Price per square foot is over $1,000.  Homes are priced in the millions.

This home was a wedding gift to a daughter of one of the richest families.  It has a replica of the Arc d'Triumphe  mounted on the roof.  The daughter spent time in Paris on her honeymoon.

There is a law stating that no structure of 75 years can be destroyed by man.  The grey stone is a part of the original seawall.  Construction  crews had to work around it when making this street corner.  You really have to watch where you are walking.

This is a Sears Craftsmen house.  You ordered it from the catalogue and built it yourself.  There are about 20 left with 2 in Charleston.

These side patios, I believe they are called piazzas, were designed to catch the breeze.  The families would spend a lot of time here during the hot season.  If the door was open, the family was welcoming visitors.  If closed, they wanted privacy.

Side view of the market.  Built over 200 years ago and open every day except Christmas.  It has sunk over time, is below sea level and floods regularly.

Front of market.  A museum operated by the Daughters of the Confederation.  The civil war started in South Carolina.

I will continue our day in part 2 later.  Now I need to get dressed and hit the beach. ttfn

A Breezy Sunday at Edisto Island

Walking along the beach is a great way to start the day.  Even if it is very breezy and getting cooler every minute.  Exhilarating!

Wayne and a massive amount of shells on the shore

 I took a few shots of some of the homes on the way home from the beach.  Wayne looked up some real estate prices.  Ranges from $50,000 for an empty lot away from the water to $1.6 million for a beachfront mansion.

This is a beautiful area.  Far off the beaten path and not very commercial for a beach town.  Most of the homes are built on stilts at least one floor high.  This helps reduce damage from flooding.  Even though Hurricane Irma hit here, there is very little apparent damage.  Mostly, the beach sand was pushed onto the main road and there was a moderate amount of flooding.  The town and department of transport bulldozed the sand back to the beach.  Dune grasses and plants however,were lost.

Our complex and condo.

Today we took a drive to see a monument to the Tuskegee Airmen.  It is located in Walterboro, SC.  This is where the black pilots were trained during WWII.  The airfield is also the site of a POW camp.  German prisoners were brought here to be housed and used as labourers in the area farms.  Many prisoners and farmers developed enduring friendships.

And so ends another lovely day at the beach.

A Lovely Lazy Day At Edisto Beach

Not much happened today.  We went for a walk along the beach.  Then enjoyed a drink on our balcony.  We just relaxed and mostly stayed home today.  It was good to relax and unwind.

After supper, we walked down to the point to view the sunset.  It was very buggy with annoying gnats.  We'll try again to see a great sunset.

Not sure what we will get up to tomorrow.  For sure we will do more walking.  Maybe a bit of swimming.  We both met our step goals for today.

View from our balcony

Our condo building.

Pool building

We Made It - Edisto Island

On the way to Wyndham Ocean Ridge Resort (our home for the next week) we made a pit stop near Columbia, SC at another JC Penney.  More fantastic sales. Wayne has been outfitted from head to toe.  As I write this, he is busily washing and drying his new duds.

We also stopped at a small farm market on the way to the island.  Felt right at home.  They are selling glass balls from Kitras Glass in Fergus. lol

Even though we are tired from all the travelling and shopping, we went to a local hang out for shrimp and scallops.  Very yummy!  I am going to enjoy all this seafood.

This restaurant makes their own chips - called raw fries.  

We are going to walk the beach tomorrow, although we may get some rain. Looking forward to some r & r.