We got wet!!
We had a thunderstorm!!
How dare they!!
It was a toss up whether to go to Charleston or Magnolia Plantation first, and the plantation won.
Magnolia Plantation was built originally in 1676 by the Drayton family, and is believed to be the only plantation in the state to be under the same family ownership as when it was first built.The plantation house was burned to the ground by the Union Army in the Civil War, and the present house was built around 1870.
So we paid our entrance fee, parked the peril, and started our walking tour of the gardens. We saw our first alligator since Florida all those years ago, and then decided to go around the maze.
Halfway round, the heavens opened and a big old thunderstorm soaked us, coz we were lost!
After twenty minutes under a tree, very sensible in a thunderstorm, we ran, yes ran, to the plantation house and sheltered on the humungous wrap around porch/balcony.
The rain finally relented and we continued our tour.
The place is well laid out, but unfortunately there were not a lot of shrubs or bushes in bloom, so it was a sea of greens. Still, pleasant all the same.
The plantation house, is typical of the time, big doors, porches and lots of white painted columns.
There were also the original slave quarters still standing, but the rain started again so we left.
We drove to Charleston, which is a wonderful old city. The old historical downtown has a wonderful walkway market, a single story brick building with lots of openings, filled with iron grills and bars. These date back to the 1840’s when the building was built originally to hold and sell slaves as they came off the boats in Charleston Harbor.
There were quite a few women weaving and selling baskets, out of sweetgrass. These women were from the Gullah people, a group of Black Americans who live in South Carolina and Georgia, and who have managed to maintain their African heritage more than other black descendants. The Gullah speak a version of Sierra Leone Creole. The original slaves were brought in to tend the rice fields of the area, since the white plantation owners knew rice would grow in the moist conditions, but didn’t have a clue how to grow it!!Charleston also boasts Fort Sumter, a military outpost on an island in the bay, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861.
We had a very enjoyable lunch/tea at an Irish type pub, and the draught Boddingtons went down without touching the sides!!
As we sat outside, we watched life go by, consisting mainly of bike taxis and horse and mule drawn carriages. All very slow and sedate.
It was hot and very humid after all the rain.
After our walk around the historic area, which does have some fabulous old buildings, we drove out of town, and over the east side of the bay on the magnificent Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, which is virtually identical to the Sunshine Skyway bridge of Tampa Bay. The bridge was named after a state legislator, who happened to be big in real estate and general contracting, and whose son was indicted for allegedly buying and distributing cocaine.
We took some pix of the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, but did not take the tour.
We got back early to the coach, as we want to make an early start tomorrow for another destination.
A very enjoyable day, despite the rain.
Wildlife watch today was a alligator, gooses, rooster, guinea fowl, and some peacocks.
