Sunday, November 20, 2005
South Carolina, cont
Charleston Traffic (11-18)
Kit had wanted to go to Fort Sumpter and the Friday dress parade at the Citadel.—but he also did not want to drive again into Charleston. So instead we went to the Magnolia Plantation Gardens (not far from here) to walk and bike. The gardens date from the 17th Century and are the oldest natural tourist attraction in the USA. Baedeker’s1910 travel guide listed 3 US attractions: Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, and Magnolia Gardens. There’s not much formal garden here—more like paths through swamp country enhanced with plantings and color. There’s a lot of Spanish moss (neither Spanish nor moss) on the live oak trees. (not oak) Anyway it was cold but we had a nice time—till 3pm when it was time to leave. You cannot believe the traffic even on back roads at 3 on Friday afternoon. We had to go pick up our TV (again) and get back to the Campground. It took us an hour and a half. Enough of cities!!
Our Charleston Campground was one of the best values of the trip—and on our way south we found diesel for $2.39.
Beaufort (11/20)
Weather is cloudy here in South Carolina but a lot warmer than 2 days ago. We spent the morning in Beaufort (this is Bewfert, SC not Bowfort, NC—same spelling, different pronunciations). Like Bowfort, Bewfert is on the water and has lots of historic homes. There is no nice visitor center in the downtown here so we wandered around until we met a friendly lady (at a shop) who gave us a map and pointed us in the direction of the historic homes. Mostly we walked around gawking at the amazing trees. You can’t begin to imagine the size of the branches that cross streets and yards—and all covered with Spanish moss. Not much is open on Sunday but I did find a book store where I spent more $$. We have certainly helped out the economy of South Carolina. It’s one of the friendliest states we’ve been in for sure. Our campground is in the woods on St Helena Island. Down the back road where we are, there are three Baptist churches in less than 2 miles—and all had full parking lots this morning. There is also Penn School—which was the first school established to teach former slaves in SC after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Kit had wanted to go to Fort Sumpter and the Friday dress parade at the Citadel.—but he also did not want to drive again into Charleston. So instead we went to the Magnolia Plantation Gardens (not far from here) to walk and bike. The gardens date from the 17th Century and are the oldest natural tourist attraction in the USA. Baedeker’s1910 travel guide listed 3 US attractions: Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, and Magnolia Gardens. There’s not much formal garden here—more like paths through swamp country enhanced with plantings and color. There’s a lot of Spanish moss (neither Spanish nor moss) on the live oak trees. (not oak) Anyway it was cold but we had a nice time—till 3pm when it was time to leave. You cannot believe the traffic even on back roads at 3 on Friday afternoon. We had to go pick up our TV (again) and get back to the Campground. It took us an hour and a half. Enough of cities!!
Our Charleston Campground was one of the best values of the trip—and on our way south we found diesel for $2.39.
Beaufort (11/20)
Weather is cloudy here in South Carolina but a lot warmer than 2 days ago. We spent the morning in Beaufort (this is Bewfert, SC not Bowfort, NC—same spelling, different pronunciations). Like Bowfort, Bewfert is on the water and has lots of historic homes. There is no nice visitor center in the downtown here so we wandered around until we met a friendly lady (at a shop) who gave us a map and pointed us in the direction of the historic homes. Mostly we walked around gawking at the amazing trees. You can’t begin to imagine the size of the branches that cross streets and yards—and all covered with Spanish moss. Not much is open on Sunday but I did find a book store where I spent more $$. We have certainly helped out the economy of South Carolina. It’s one of the friendliest states we’ve been in for sure. Our campground is in the woods on St Helena Island. Down the back road where we are, there are three Baptist churches in less than 2 miles—and all had full parking lots this morning. There is also Penn School—which was the first school established to teach former slaves in SC after the Emancipation Proclamation.
# posted by Carol Harma @ 12:54 PM 
