The photos below are what we saw.
Our
plan was to be in Charleston sufficiently early to allow a real
meal. We met that objective and once we offloaded our stuff at the
hotel, we hit the bricks to walk to one of the many nice
restaurants in the area. Our choice was Blossom and it had
great local dishes. I had soft shell crab and Kathleen had
trout. The outside seating area was small, but a) they had
outside seating; and b) the weather was nice enough to allow
sitting outside comfortably. It was a good dinner.
Next
morning, we headed over to meet Jim and Michele. Enroute, we
passed this large church. There are many churches in the
downtown Charleston area.
We
decided
to do tourist things and one of the points of interest is Market
Square. This is a several-blocks-long covered area where
local vendors sell their wares: knick-knacks, baskets, jewlery,
etc.
Michele's
parents were with us, so mobility was a factor. We elected
to opt for a carriage tour with a guide to get a better view of
the local sights. Above is one of the 20 carriages that
operate on the streets of downtown Charleston. The city
limits the number of carraiges on the street to prevent intense
traffic congestion with a lottery system. And, they force
the geographical distribution of the carriages by having them
awarded a route to travel once they are fully loaded. The
driver does not know the route they will travel until they arrive
at the checkpoint. And, a new carriage cannot depart until
one returns from a tour. This was a somewhat odd
arrangement, but it seemed to work ok.
On
our walk to the carriage barn, we passed this gal washing her
Percheron draft horse. Dakota was big. Really
big. Draft horses or draft beer; your choice.
Not
surprisingly, the barn was an assembly line operation getting the
tourists into and out of the carriages. They used both
horses and mules as motive power.
As
we rolled past Church street, we got a view of one of the many big
churches in the area. A number of these were quite old, some
dating back to the 1700s. Charleston has what is referred to
as the "seventy five year law" that forces the preservation of any
building, good or bad, that is still standing after 75
years. This generates some predictably uncomfortable
situations for the property owners that insures (forces) the
external appearance of the structures to be preserved. More
on this later.
This
German Lutheran church had ornate French-style iron work gates.
Most
of the churches had grave yards that were adjacent.
Most
of the area that we saw was very tight quarters. But, this
place had a nice stone driveway. Note the porch on the place
on the left.
While
the photo above is somewhat unnoteworthy, the story is more
interesting. The landmass of downtown Charleston grew over
the years due to land fill and swamp reclaimation. The house
in the photo above was one of the first stone structures and was
built in the late 1700s. Nicely preserved, note the
subsidence of the retaining wall. At the time this house was
constructed, it had a waterfront view. Now, it is quite a
distance from the water.
Many,
if not most, of the houses that have historical status are
wood. Given the subtropical climate, rain, bugs, fungus and
other issues, I shudder at the thought of the preservation
committee forcing me to repaint my house frequently and always in
the same color, no matter how hideous. The pink was not so
bad, but there were others that were more offensive. Note
the color of the window shutters - Charleston Green, a very
frequent color.
Original
hand carved wooden door and jam.
Another
huge place that used to be waterfront property "back in the
day". The guide claimed that a Confederate submarine was
washed ashore on the beach in front of this place (now in
the middle of the street where the photo was taken) and that it is
still there today.
Some
of the houses visible on the tour were huge.
This
one was in great shape and had intricate wood railings and
windows.
Note
the details in the door and alcove.
Interestingly,
these were military housing that recently became controlled by the
seventy five year law.
In
the distance, we could see the fringe of the local college area
and one of the frat houses.
A
large fire in dowtown left swaths of new and old, controlled
buildings right next to one another.
The
theater is a controlled structure and is frozen in time, for good
or bad.
The
carriage went past the confederate museum at the end of the
market.
After
the tour and lunch, we decided to take the ferry to Ft.
Sumter. As the boat left the dock, we got this view of the
USS Yorktown, now a floating museum.
The
local navy doing maneuvers in the bay.
The
boat tour gave us a nice view of one of the large bridges in the
Charleston area.
In
addition to being a tourist town, Charlestown also has a large
harbor area that receives both automobiles and container
cargo. The ship above is a car carrier that is just
completing the unloading process.
From
the tour boat, we got a glimpse of one of the other harbor
defenses that were left over from the civil war.
Our
first view of Ft. Sumter, the starting point for hostilities of
the civil war.
Despite
the obvious explanation, there is a story here. Several
stories, in fact. The first story is something that we were
confronted with repeatedly, which is something that I jokingly
refer to as "FFA". No, not Future Farmers of America, but
rather Fantastically Fat Asses. There were plenty of them,
waddling their way down the sidewalks. Men, women, children
of all ages, of every ethnicity, everywhere we looked. So,
this was a refreshing sight. The second story is despite
both Kathleen and I seeing her repeatedly from every angle, we
could not agree on her age (Kathleen guessed 16, I guessed
18). Nor could we determine if the man to her right was her
father, which would have been pretty odd, or her boyfriend, which
would have been even odder given that he appeared to be in his
mid-thirties. The mystery was never solved, but I did
appreciate the view.
One
of the many cannons on display at Ft. Sumter.
The
main visitor's center and museum was painted this ugly color
called "Charleston Green", which is not really green at all.
This was the color used to paint old cannons and was really ten
parts black and one part yellow.
Some
of the old cannons were very impressive in both their mass and the
size of the bore.
Another one of the large cannons. This one called a Parrot after the inventor. It hurled a 200 lb projectile and featured a rifled barrel. Look closely at the photo above and you will see the gal with the skirt at the top center of the photo. This was just a happy coincidence and I only discovered her in the photo when it was examined on my laptop.
Charleston,
SC is a large, active seaport and gets ships of many kinds.
While we were on the top of Ft. Sumter, we spotted this
car-carrier ship leaving the channel. We had seen it earlier
in port discharging its cargo of new cars to the staging area at
the port.
Ah,
the other side of the story. I saw plenty of FFAs all day
and this one was reasonably representative of their "scope".
We saw one at our lunch spot, a man, whose gut was so big it hung
down between his legs and hit the bar stool underneath. By
that standard, this one is a ballerina.
A
container ship putting out to sea after discharging cargo at the
Port of Charleston.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2012, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.