Charleston

On Saturday we ladies visited Charleston. Mrs. H and I, and the other lady volunteer, who we'll call Miss ShR from this point on. Charleston is just under an easy two hour drive from our home spot.

"An easy distance do you call it? It is nearly fifty miles.''

"And what is fifty miles of good road? Little more than half a day's journey. Yes, I call it a very easy distance.''

We started out walking down the large indoor-outdoor market. Everything in the market was pretty pricey. What a contrast from the Russian market! American vendors can be so placid in comparison to those Russians. From there we walked down church street and saw all the old churches and burying grounds. Sad to say they were all locked.

The French Huguenot Church was pink. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Everywhere we looked there were gorgeous homes and mansions dating from the colonial period on. There was a great deal of Victorian wrought iron, and brick and cobblestone streets. We walked up and down the historical section, which goes right up to the waterfront. I could see why people would move off plantations to Charleston in the summer; it was warm but there was a stiff breeze off the water.

Mrs. H celebrating history at the Nathaniel Russell house. We enjoyed the garden, but didn't have time for the tour.

When I have my own house, it will need to have a floor like this.

We did pay for the tour at the Exchange building and Provost dungeon. There are placards of information over the first and second floors, and then a guided tour of the "dungeon". The first floor had two 18th century dresses and several waistcoats on display. The second floor was used as a combined meeting room/social hall. George Washington was entertained here during his tour in 1791, and there was most certainly dancing here, too. The dungeon was basically a basement, built on top of the 17th Century waterfront wall. The brick ceiling of the dungeon was made of roman arches. Patriots were held here during the British occupation of Charleston, and pirates were held here during Blackbeard's time.

The pineapple water fountain. My time in Charleston convinced me that I need to take home a pineapple-engraved souvenir. I just haven't found one within my budget yet.

We had lunch at a local seafood restaurant. I had crab legs for the first time, and if you must know I didn't like them. I'm going to stick to shrimp from now on.

Our last stop was the Heyward-Washington house. I took the tour while Mrs. H and Miss ShR sat out back in the lovely formal English garden. The picture above is from the back of the house, with the garden, outhouse/shed, kitchen/slave quarters, and finally the house. It was a short tour but a beautiful house, with some truly amazing custom woodwork furniture done by local craftsmen in the 18th century.

At the end of the day, footsore and warm, we stopped at the beach on Sullivan's Island and dipped our toes in the water. This was what Miss ShR had been waiting for all day, and it made my dragging her all over historic Charleston worth it, I think. My story has rather a more sad ending- apparently my poison ivy hadn't quite healed up, and being out in the 90F sunny day brought back my rash. I have a red face again.