The Palmetto State - Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina 

(Sightseeing)

April 12, 2018 - April 16, 2018

We began at Charles Towne Landing, the original site of what is now Charleston.  

I just can't get over these live oak trees. 
They clearly thrive in this climate and provide lovely shade which I (not being a sun person) really appreciate.
Laura is dwarfed by this old live oak.  ("Live" is a reference to the tree being green all year)

We happened to be there when they were celebrating "Founders Day" so there were all sorts of demonstrations going on about life in the late 1600's. 

Typical dress for the late 1600's along with typical storage barrels, cooking utensils, etc.  

These young ladies were demonstrating dying cloth with indigo.

Indigo was "the" cash crop prior to rice culture.  As such the plants were harvested then composted in alkaline water to draw out the color.  The water is then drained from the leaves and allowed to dry.  The resulting powder is compressed into cakes which were then imported all over the world.  If  you look carefully at the pot of dye above you'll see the one of the pieces of cloth is a greenish color.  That is how it looks when it initially comes out of the dye bath.  Once exposed to the oxygen in the air, the dye turns blue.

We learned this interesting fact talking to these women.  With wear, blue jeans get those white creases because indigo dye does not actually penetrate into the fabric as you might expect.  Instead it is deposited on the surface of the fabric where it slowly wears off with use.

This man is showing this young man how to use a drawing knife while holding the material with a homemade vise.

Demonstration of spinning yarn from wool.

Numerous reenactors were on hand for Founders Day.  It really made the whole experience so much more interesting.

The men are going to prepare and shoot their muzzle loaders.
Prior to the use of powder horns, the men carried pre-prepared "single shot" powder packages.  The two men on the right have them hanging from a belt slung over their shoulders.

Believe me - those guns are loud!

We were also treated to cannon fire.  Really loud!  You can see the men plugging their ears.

Colonial Dorchester

Dorchester, South Carolina was started in 1696 by a group of Congregationalists parishioners from Dorchester, Massachusetts. They moved to the area and began construction of their church which was called St. George's.  Additional parishioners moved from MA to SC and soon they had a thriving town.

All that remains of St. George's church is the bell tower.

Plat of Colonial Dorchester.  The Ashley river is the dark curvy shown on the bottom third of the map.

Foundation of a house at Dorchester.

Remains of what was once Dorchester's dock on the Ashley river.

Brick powder magazine (storage building for gun powder) in foreground with the tabby walls of the fort in the background.

Laura and Barney enjoying the sunshine inside the fort.

Panorama of the town site taken from the parking lot.  The Ashley river is behind me.

Boone Hall Plantation

Boone Hall Plantation is one of the oldest working plantations in the U.S.  They have been growing crops here for over 300 years.

Yet another beautiful oak driveway.

The plantation home. (no pictures are allowed inside)

The gardens in front of the house.  

This was originally a cotton plantation and their cotton gin was in this building. 
The wooden structures on the outside prevent the building from falling down.
It's now an "official" historic building and whatever is done to it must be officially approved.

The plantation was once owned by a man who owned polo ponies.
He had this stable built especially for them and they are still in use today.

One of the many fields used to grow crops on the plantation today.
Most of what they grow are offered to the local residents using the U-pick system.

This really shocked me.  I didn't count them but 100's of slave ships arrived just in Charleston alone from 1711 - 1858.
How many hundreds arrived in other ports along the Atlantic Coast?  

One of about 10 slave cabins on the Boone Hall Plantation.

The cabins were one room only, each with a fireplace for cooking and warmth.

The knowledge of basket making was brought from their homelands in Africa and continued to be practiced here.

The essentials for making baskets - all found in abundance in this area.

Drayton Hall

Drayton Hall was built in the mid 1700's and reflects the builders love of Palladian architecture.  I actually looked that up before we visited the home and found that I am also a lover of Palladian architecture and incredibly, when our guide described Palladianism, Laura thought to herself "That's Doreen!"

Artist's rendition of Drayton Hall.

Symmetry is one of the key features of this type of architecture. 
As you can see the right side is a mirror image of the left side.

At Drayton Hall a decision was made not to restore the home to a prior period in time but rather to stabilize the house and preserve it as it was when it was purchased from the family.  Some refurbishing has been done but no furniture has been added.  All the rooms are bare, allowed visitors to take in the incredible details in the plaster and wood.

Ceiling in the entry room.
These plaster details are cast in hand carved molds, then attached to the ceiling.

Fireplace in the entrance hall. 
All the details are hand carved wood and is meant to demonstrate the wealth of the owners.

More hand carved wood details.  Note how different the details are in the room in the background.

This room had none of the ornate hand carved wood around the doors, windows and ceilings,
 indicating this room was used by family members rather than for guests.
The windows can be covered by wooden "shutters" which recess into the wall on each side of the window.

The is an example of a carved plaster ceiling.

Symmetrical stairway to the second floor.  There was another large ornate room upstairs which indicates it was used for guests.  Because guests used the stairway to access the upstairs room, it too was ornate.

Detail of the stairway carvings.  The original color of the wood is shown where two of the carvings are missing.
The care with which this was painted really stood out to me.  

Back of the home showing the entry to the "daylight basement".
Notice the symmetry of the right and left sides.

Huge fireplace in the basement.
There were rooms down here for storage as well as a room for one of their slaves.  Perhaps their cook?

Privy - 7 holes (no waiting).

Drawing for the privy.
Notice that two of the seats have arm rests and two of them are lowered for children.

Ashley River from the edge of the property.

In and around Charleston

We took a Gullah bus tour of Charleston which gave us a pretty good look at the city.  The only problem was I only understood about half of what our tour guide said.

If I were to do it again - I take the city tour in one of these horse or mule drawn wagons.

Street scene in Charleston.

One of the churches in Charleston.

You never know where you'll find tombstones in this town.
They have a lot of iron work in city just as they do in Savannah.

Nice building in Charleston.  Can't tell you what it is but it's definitely Palladian!

Charleston double house.  The doorway open to a hall with two rooms on both sides.
(I think this would also qualify as Palladian architecture!)

Three examples of a Charleston "single house" which are unique to this area.  A "single house" is one room wide with a front door that open onto a porch rather than directly into the home.  The first picture below illustrates this the best.

Louise Jefferson, one of the many basket makers around Charleston.
She was selling baskets at the visitor center the day we were there and she was kind
enough to show us how these beautiful baskets are made. 

We really only scratched the surface at Charleston.  Our AAA guide book listed many wonderful things to see and do but there's only so much time and money.  We'll definitely try to get back here again.