April 11
Today we drove out to the site of the first settlement in the Carolina’s at Charles Towne dating back to 1670. It is now a State Park. They have done some archeological digs and know where the original fort was plus some of the buildings. Items have been found in the digs but nothing like they have found in Jamestown. The museum is probably one of the best I have seen as for as hands on and getting kids involved. They gave a run down on the English wanting to find new land to expand the sugar cane fields. Wealthy Englishmen were looking at it strictly as a money making endeavor. The first settlement was set back in the marshlands up the river rather than right on the point where Charleston is today, a much more secluded area. The British land barons had used up all the available land in Barbados and need to find new territory. The new colony included free men and women, indentured slaves and slaves from Barbados. In a short time the slaves were by far the largest population. The museum displays did not hold back on the treatment of the slaves. The exhibits did an excellent job of comparing life in the settlement as a land owner, a woman, an indentured slave or a slave. A woman could actually own land. The Carolina colony welcomed all religions with open arms. One of the underlying reasons was bringing wealth to the colony. The fort was built more as protection from the Spanish than the Native Americans as relations with them was pretty good in the early days. The local Indian tribes were warring with other tribes and they looked to the English for weapons and strength in numbers. Even the slaves often carried guns when working in the fields. The early settlers had to send ships full of goods to Barbados in order to get much needed supplies in return. Furs and barrel staves were two of the big items traded. Barrels were needed for the rum trade and they had really deforested Barbados. The early settlers had lots of wood and the know how to make the staves. They sent to staves to Barbados and the barrels were put together there. We headed outside and walked the trail to a wild animal area with animals and birds of North America. A black bear gave us quite a show. We then walked by the area that was once the settlement stopping at the site of some of the reconstruction and dig sites. Much was guess work as to the buildings. A highlight for us was a reconstruction of the ship, The Carolina, that was used for trading between the Carolina settlement and Barbados. As we boarded, I was reminded at how small these ships were, 65 feet, to be crossing the Atlantic on a wing and a prayer.

I'm trying out a coat like ones worn by the wealthy businessmen on the early 1600's.
Charles Towne State Park - Site of the first settlement in the Carolinas.

Endentured Slave Quarters

The Carolina - 65 Foot Trading Ship of the 1600's

Ready to Head to Barbados

Charles Towne State Park

We went into town for a late lunch at Hyman’s Seafood on Meeting Street. The building has been in the family for four generations starting out as a ware house and then a store before becoming a restaurant. It has been voted the best seafood in town over and over. We had a little wait in the middle of the afternoon! I had Carolina Shrimp and Grits that was heavenly. The fried green tomatoes we shared for an appetizer went really well with an ice cold local brew. Brad, one of the owners and descendents, came out to talk to us [of course he talked to others also]. We finished off the day with a walk through the City Market and a visit to St Michael‘s Episcopal Church. The white steeple stands tall at 186 feet and can be seen from afar. The church was begun in 1752 and the clock tower has been keeping time since 1764. George Washington and Robert E. Lee both attended services in this lovely church. The pews are individual family boxes rather than rows. I saw this at a church in Alexandria, Virginia. Charleston is certainly on my favorite list.

Dinner at Hyman's
Norm with an ice cold local brew and Chris with a
fabulous restaurnat sauce that was yummy on fried green tomatoes.

Chris and Norm are trying out the joggling board used in courtship.
The more you bounce around the closer you each move to the middle! 

April 12
We were looking for something new to do today. The Aquarium sounded really interesting with displays on all of the different ecosystems with water. Having spent time on this coast with the estuaries etc, we thought it would be informative. Well, it was very expensive, the information was very elementary, and it was really crowded. We enjoyed the displays but it was the first disappointment in our travels. I guess that is actually pretty amazing. We watched a 4D movie that was good but short. It was titled “Pole to Pole” and had great animal clips. We got sprayed when the sharked jumped out of the water, snow fell on us at the Arctic, and bubbles floated around us when the fish were under water. Our seats rumbled and shock when the elephants were walking in Africa. Fun.

We are staying down on James Island just south of town. We had heard from the volunteer here at the camp ground that Hurricane Irene had washed away the beach and the pier at the county park. We drove down to check it out. Folly Beach is a cute little beach town and it seemed to survive the hurricane but the county park was closed.

When Suzanne and I visited here a few years ago, we stayed in a carriage house behind one of the big houses. It was really a treat! We rode bikes into town for dinner, took different tours of homes, went out to plantations, and took the boat out to Fort Sumter. It was a lovely first visit! This time we stayed in the Manor on James Island, enjoyed the city with our walks and did some different things like Charles Towne. Dinner at the Hyman was delicious. Another wonderful visit!