Charleston

I started off my last day by heading into the heart of downtown Charleston. It was a beautiful sunny morning (still chilly though) and I strolled along Battery Park and White Point Garden and enjoyed the beautiful homes that surround the waterfront. 

I then headed over to Charles Pinckney National Historic Site which is right across the street from Boone Hall. Poor Charles is known as “the forgotten founder”.  He was a principal author and a signer of the United States Constitution. Nowadays, 28 acres of a 715 acre plantation called Snee Farm are preserved in the park. In its open spaces are wayside exhibits along the 1/2-mile walking trail describing the existing house, archeological excavations, agricultural history and how neighboring water and wetlands contributed to the plantation. I always love learning about these forgotten people of our history.

 After stopping by Boone Hall again I made a quick run over to Fort Moultrie. I didn’t realize how big it was, and I only had about 20 minutes to spend there before I had to drive over to catch my ferry to Fort Sumter.  Fort Moultrie was built to protect the city of Charleston. The first fort, built of palmetto logs, inspired the flag and nickname of South Carolina, "The Palmetto State”. 

What’s really cool is that the Park Service constructed the fort as a tour backward in time through its defenses from World War II to the original palmetto log fort constructed by William Moultrie. I literally had to run out of there to catch my boat at Patriots Point. Fort Sumter of course is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired. The boat ride over is about 30 minutes while a recorded voice tells you the story. 

  

Once you arrive, there is a short ranger talk and then there is an hour to spend on the island. When it was built it was over 50 feet tall but now is much smaller as it was left in ruins after the Civil War. What ruined the Fort for me was a massive concrete blockhouse-style installation that was built in 1898 inside the original walls named "Battery Huger" and it now dominates the interior of the fort. Ugh

I honestly was not too impressed with the whole operation of Patriots Point/ Fort Sumter and wish I could have spent more time at Fort Moultrie instead. I drove to the airport as the sun was setting to catch my flight back to Rochester. The Charleston airport is probably one of the most outdated airports I have ever seen. But the people are quite friendly and our Jet Blue agent passed around free snacks because our flight was slightly delayed. Despite the cold weather, the southern hospitality was warm and friendly and I immensely enjoyed my trip.