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Published: October 9th 2009
Charleston was next on our itinerary, full of southern charm and hospitality. We stayed at James Island County Park the night before, just outside the city. It was a great site with a good trail for some power walking around the fishing lake and swamp areas. The only downside, with swamp come mosquitoes and within 5 minutes of arriving they were feasting on English blood. The site provided a bus into Charleston for a small fee and it was great not to have to manoeuvre the RV around small roads - a downside to driving your house.
Into Charleston and once again the visitors centre was our first port of call, and like all the rest it was extremely useful. As the weather was absolutely gorgeous we decided to take off on a walk around the city, equipped with a book entitled “The Complete Walking Tour of Historic Charleston” and, as the advert says, it did exactly what it said on the cover.
In 1670 English colonists sailed into what is now Charleston harbour, on a trip which had been financed by 8 noblemen who had been granted a large piece of land by the King, which led to
these noblemen doing very well for themselves. The colonists were encouraged to build on the land by the local Kiawah Indians who hoped they would protect them from surrounding warlike tribes. After about 10 years the colonists moved their settlement to the present location of Charleston, but called it Charles Town (after the King). Unusually for colonies at this time it was not founded by any particular religious sect, but practiced religious tolerance. The city may have been tolerant as far as religion goes, but unfortunately the name is synonymous with slavery, and by the mid 18th century Charleston had become the wealthiest colony in America, partly due the success of plantations worked by slaves, as well as its successful shipping industry. The wealth is still apparent today in the architecture of some of the homes in the city and certainly if you visit any of the surrounding plantations. Over the years the city has been ruined by Federal troops, hurricanes and a great earthquake but despite all this it has survived and managed to preserve much of its history and charm.
The guide book was easy to follow offering three different routes which could be amalgamated into one,
which is what we decided to do to make the most of the short time we had. The red tour took us to the “Four Corners of Law” as referred to in Ripley’s ‘Believe It or Not’ with each corner representing a different branch of law - city, state, federal and God. St Michael’s Episcopal Church (on the southeast corner) is the oldest church building in the city and the clock and bells were imported from England in 1764. During the American Revolution the bells were taken to England as a prize of war, then returned. During the Civil War they were taken to Columbia for safekeeping, but were damaged by fire and had to be taken to England for repair. They have crossed the Atlantic more times than many of those who live in Charleston.
As we walked down the streets the famous flower ladies were still selling their wares, but to tourists now instead of the rich and landed gentry and the coiled sweetgrass baskets that they ply were originally an African art form. We walked mainly around the residential areas of the city, which demonstrate many examples of the typical Charleston “single house” and “double house”
designs. The “single house” has its gabled end facing the street and is one room wide and two rooms deep on each floor. The “double house” is (yes you guessed it) two rooms wide and two rooms deep on each floor, but with an added centre hallway and staircase. The porches (or piazza) are always on the south or west of the house to provide some protection from the hot afternoon sun - and you can see the necessity of this as we were out the in the supposedly “milder” weather.
Three single houses, built between 1750 and 1788 and lovingly called “The Three Sisters” were apparently built by a father for his three daughters, who were all very ugly. They were dowries to encourage young men to marry them! Not sure if it worked or not. The pink one was for his redheaded daughter, the brown coloured one for his brunette daughter and (yes) the yellow coloured one for his blonde daughter - methinks this may have been a tall story!
The Battery, at the southern tip of the city, got its name from the fortifications that were placed along the seafront. The park is faced by
Cabbage Row
Or was it Catfish?some very nice large old homes (or should we say mansions), and Lisa felt drawn to a number of them as possible future abodes!
A bit further on we passed ‘Cabbage Row’ (Catfish Row). It was called “Cabbage Row” because black tenants used to sell cabbages and other vegetables on the window sills. It inspired DuBose Heyward so much that it became the mythical “Catfish Row” in his novel Porgy, on which the opera Porgy and Bess was based. A crippled man called Goatcart Sammy, who lived in the area, was the real life version of Porgy.
On passed the Pink House, which was built in 1712, and is believed to have been a sailors’ pub in the red light district. It has real ‘olde worlde’ charm, with a roof that looks like it is sunken and distorted and about to fall in.
The blue walking tour took us further into the residential areas of the city and we passed the Simmons-Edwards house built in 1800. On his wedding day, Mr Francis Simmons, left his new bride at a house in a nearby street and returned to this house. They retained this casual relationship all their lives
Pink House
Just for Sailors !! - interesting concept which Chris felt shouldn’t be dismissed too quickly!! The Patrick O’Donnell house was built by another husband to be for his prospective bride, unfortunately it took so long for him to build she went off and married someone else - women!!.
During the lovely long walk of the historic city, we managed to find a pub which brewed it’s own ale , which obviously needed sampling, and the food was served in large quantities and was tasty - just what we needed on an extremely hot day. After a couple of samples (6.4%), the rest of Chris’ guided tour became even more amusing with a few interesting totally random titbits mixed into the history - it began to lose some of its historical accuracy though!
After a night of nursing our mosquito bites the following day we planned to visit one of the plantations just outside of the city, as this is what we felt most closely portrayed our ideas of Charleston. After much deliberation we decided to go to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Magnolia Plantation has, quite surprisingly, been the ancestral home of the Drayton family since 1676 and is now the home of
the 11th generation of Draytons. It has about 500 acres of gardens and grounds, some of which is landscaped to show off magnolias of all colours. Obviously it is more spectacular if you tour the gardens in the spring when the majority of the magnolias are in flower but it was a magnificent garden nonetheless. Part of the garden boasts being the oldest in Carolina, and possibly the US, constructed with the original plantation manor. The path around the garden follows many twists and turns which take you over pretty white wooden bridges, around ponds (where we saw basking turtles and other wildlife) and alongside the Ashley River. It is easy to imagine how the children of the privileged Drayton family could spend hours of childish fun getting lost in these magnificent gardens, and the other family members and guests could find a quiet spot for contemplation and solitude - it really was absolutely magnificent and so peaceful. At one spot in the garden you walk by the family tomb, but one of the family, John Drayton Hastie, was not buried there, instead choosing to be interred in an oak tree which was planted 3 centuries ago. This place is
Crossing Point
If this success had carried on we might still own America. not only a garden lover’s paradise, but it also brings out the child in you as they have some magnificent old trees which would be just great for climbing and swinging off - the temptation was almost too great.
The plantation is also the place where the British, under Cornwallis, mounted their final attack on Charleston in 1780. He pulled off an amazing coup by crossing the river here, unopposed, and laying a siege line out completely cutting off Charleston. The city had to surrender. This manoeuvre should have meant certain defeat for George Washington and an end to the rebellion (imagine the US being run today by Boris Johnson as Governor) but Cornwallis then allowed himself to be trapped in exactly the same way at the Yorktown peninsula and the rest, as they say, is history.
We also decided whilst here to go Audubon Swamp Garden, part of the plantation, in search of alligators and all things dangerous. The swamp is 60 acres of cypress and tupelo gum trees and to ensure the visitors’ safety you walk across boardwalks and dykes. The signs are there about what to do if you come across an alligator and we
The Swamp Thing
Scared (until you zoom in) walked in trepidation with that new found knowledge in the forefront of our minds, stare it down because they don’t like it and above all don’t run because they can run faster than you - I don’t think so! 10 minutes into our stroll and awesome, a Gator, sunning itself on a wooden ramp, closer inspection through the zoom shattered our dreams when we saw they were fake ones strategically placed opposite viewing stands - we would not be able to regale our friends and families with tales of our near escape from certain death this time round. However, we did find some extremely large and menacing spiders and so would have to be content with that. It was the site of the film “The Swamp Thing” starring Louis Jourdan, so obviously we were lucky to escape with our lives after all.
Reluctantly we had to continue our travels to find the RV park in Hardeeville, great name, ready for our trip to Savannah the following day. En route Chris saw a sign for the Cripple Crab Restaurant and we were so intrigued by its name we popped in for something to eat. You know when you find these
Magnolia
Turtles, lovely. little gems by pure accident - well this was one of those times. The host was extremely accommodating and friendly and as soon as he realized we were English we became involved in a lengthy discussion about places we should visit in the States and that old English favourite topic - the weather. The seafood was absolutely delicious and inexpensive - what a great way to finish a fantastic day.
Charleston, what can we say. It casts its spell of easy southern charm over you. The streets of the city are a delight to walk around and it would be easy to lose yourself in its abundant history. We felt we chose the right plantation to visit, which was like an oasis whilst reminding you of a dark past. Totally lovely - it might seem slightly over the top but we were totally enamoured by Charleston.
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Anna
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Smile!
Loving the updates...though each one does actually make me feel entirely uninformed and uneducated- you are teaching me lots! Can we please have a smile on a future photo? Maybe even some thumbs up, they are all very serious so far- just pretend you are enjoying yourself!! Ha ha keep them coming x