Great Expectations: Charleston Sights

We visited so many sights in Charleston. One of the first was Fort Sumter. This completed the circle for us - we visited the site of the the end of the Civil War. This site is the beginning.

South Carolina was the first state to seceded from the Union. Union forces remained at Fort Sumter. The South demanded the Fort be vacated but the North refused. The shots fired at the Fort on April 12, 1861 began what the Confederates thought would be a little skirmish and would be over very quickly. No one predicted the horrendous consequences. Fort Sumter was bombarded with 46,000 shells - estimated at seven million pounds of metal over the next four years.

Fort Sumter is reached by ferry boat from Charleston. It's a 30 minute ride to the Fort. As we approached we were struck by how small it is. It's easy to understand the strategic location to protect the city, but its size is disarming. It's a National Park Service site and it sits mostly in ruin.

The ferry boats dock just outside the Fort where a Park ranger meets the group and then escorts the group into the Fort. This view faces the city of Charleston.

The walls of the Fort were once 500 feet above sea level. This is all that remains.

The cannons are placed as they would have been in 1861.

There's a small museum that describes what happened to Fort Sumter. Basically - it was destoyed by cannon fire during the Civil War. This poster from the museum shows it as it was...

...and as it is today. The large black iron structure in the center was placed there during the Spanish American War.

We toured some of the historical homes in Charleston. Some we liked...and some we didn't.

This one was our favorite. It's the 1820 Aiken-Rhett House. What makes it so interesting is that it's a virtual time capsule unaltered since 1858. The exterior has been restored by a grant from the National Park Service, but the inside remains untouched and houses some of the original items purchased for the rooms. The is called "conservation" restoration. There's value placed on the crumbling plaster and wallpaper remnents. The house is toured by audio tour. The result is a real sense of life during this time.

The back of the house has a kitchen building with slave quarters upstairs, a stable, and a garden
Thanks to the audio you can stand and listen to the sounds of life in this urban plantation.

Photography is not allowed inside of most of the historic buildings.

The Heyward-Washington house is known as Charleston's Revolutionary War House. It was built in 1772 by Thomas Heyward, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. George Washington stayed here during a week long stay in Charleston in 1791. It's a townhouse built close to the street with a lovely garden in the back.

This view of the rear of the home also shows the kitchen building. Kitchens were always seperate from the house and most homes have had more than one kitchen building. It was common for them to burn down since all cooking was done on open fires.

The Calhoun Mansion, circa 1876, is privately owned and currently lived in. The owner is a collector of everything (!) and the home is stuffed with expensive antiques ranging from glass to stuffed animals, religious items to furniture. The lighting in the house was designed by Tiffany. Sensory overload...

The Joseph Manigault House, known as Charleston's Huguenot House was built in 1803. It belonged to a wealthy rice-planting family of French Huguenot descent. The outstanding feature is the floating staircase. This building was a USO during WWII and there were photos of the GI's and the girls on the stairs.

Charleston has a long Jewish history. Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim is a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1749, it is the oldest synagogue in continous use in the United States, and is the founding Reform Jewish congregation in the U.S. The original building burned down in the Charleston fire of 1838 and was replaced in 1840 with the colonnaded Greek Revival temple.

The sanctuary is lovely with high ceilings. Our docent guide spoke about the trials the congregation endured to have an organ in the synagogue.

The Charles Pinckney National Historic Site in Mount Pleasant just over the Ravenal Bridge from Charleston is a remnant of his plantation. Pinckney is called "the forgotten founder." He was a principal author and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The little house above houses a little museum that tells his story. We found the beautiful trees on the property the most special part of being there.

We wanted to visit a plantation. Cotton was important here, but rice was king. The wealthy plantation owners owned more than one farm and often lived in the city. A bit of internet research and we found the Hampton Plantation. It's a South Carolina State Historic Site and is a 35 mile drive from Charleston. We didn't know what we would find but decided to go and see and then do a little shopping on the Sweetgrass Highway on the way back. We were so glad we did!!!

This place is all about the lowcountry rice culture and plantation life. It stands as a monument to the labor of enslaved Africans and the wealth and social prominence of the families who occupied the home. Rice was a very labor intensive crop. There were as many as 350 slaves working this plantation.

The Georgian style mansion is the centerpiece. It grew from a simple farmhouse to a grand mansion.

This beautiful oak tree stands right in front of the house. The story goes that when George Washington visited Hampton Plantation in 1791 he was told that this tree was to be cut down because it blocked the view of the property. He is said to have stated, "Don't cut it down," and it became known as the George Washington Oak. I reached up to touch the moss and was warned that chiggers live in the moss. No more touching for me!!

That's the kitchen building behind the house and the walk down to the river.

Looking across the Wambaw Creek are the remains of the rice fields. We could close our eyes and imagine the sounds of the plantation...over the sound of the buzzing mosquitoes. Rice fields...standing water...billions and billions of mosquitoes. The owners could leave and go to other homes, but the slaves remained to work.

I took a cooking class in Charleston. No photos, but I can now make Seared Pork Chops with Bourbon Bacon Sauce, Cheddar Apple Grits, and Pumpkin Pie with Ginger Snap Crust. It was a great class because the chef knew the chemistry of cooking and taught techniques as well as demonstrating recipes.

Ed went to tour the Yorktown Aircraft Carrier. This ship played a role in the Pacific in WWII. It was decommissioned in 1970, moved to Charleston in 1975 to become the centerpiece of the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum.