Life often interferes with one’s best-laid plans and I didn’t have time to write last night, so I’ll play catch up for two days. We left Charlestown and took a leisurely trek to Savannah, with many stops along the way.
Our first stop was to a ruined church. It had been burned twice, once by the British and once by the Yankees it is a popular photo stop for people who enjoy looking at ruined columns and Spanish moss. It is a beautiful ruin.
Our morning stop consisted of a visit to another beautiful spot, Beaufort, S.C. We drove through town, and were divided into two groups for carriage rides of the historic downtown area. We were in the second group, so we wandered around, looking at the picturesque area for an hour before getting on the carriage.
Our carriage driver was Charlotte, a descendent of local folk who’ve been here since the 1600s. We passed St Helena Anglican Church, the first church of the town, and saw scores of gorgeous homes. Charlotte’s horse was Maximus, who originally worked for the Amish six days a week ; he is now in retirement and works four half days. Part of the mission of the carriage tours is to provide a kindly retirement for these lovely animals.
We also heard of celebrities who rented out homes when they were filming movies in the area: Robert Duvall, Tom Hanks, Barbara Streisand and Nick Nolte among them, as well as members of the cast of The Big Chill, which was filmed in town.
We had time for a brief lunch before getting back on the bus for our next location , the Penn Center, an African-American research center on Saint Helena island. Founded in 1862 by Quaker and Unitarian missionaries from Pennsylvania, it was the first school specifically for the education of slaves freed after plantation owners fled the island. The school provided vocational education for the people and it became the first place where blacks and whites could work together cooperatively in the United States. In fact, Martin Luther King worked on his “I have a dream”speech here. It was designated a National Historic Monument District in 1974 and is still thriving, becoming a major international think tank. We stopped at an art gallery which carried the students’ work.
Our last stop was a marina, where we saw descriptions of local marine life and I had a chance to capture some glimpses of the area photographically.
We arrived in Savannah late afternoon and had time to settle in before leaving for a sumptuous repast in the river walk area, right across the street from our hotel. We were told that we’re very centrally located, and it appears we are.
Most of us opted for the filet and praline cheesecake for dessert. Delicious!
Savannah will be the focus of my next post. My energy is waning ..
All the stories and pictures are so interesting. Can’t wait to hear about Savannah. My husband has a friend who visited Savannah and says he could live there. We hope to do a tour next spring.
Thelma