We left Chapel Hill bright and early on Monday and picked up the fifth wheel that had been serviced, and headed south on that great highway linking the North of the US to the South - the I-95. We were heading for Charleston in South Carolina, some 300 miles away. Whilst not the Capitol of SC it is certainly the best known city in the state.
Next day we drove to one of the great plantations that created the wealth that the south rose to prosperity on. It was called Boone Plantation and the entrance was through a magnificent drive lined with Live Oaks (so called because they are evergreen) and draped with that uniquely southern plant - Spanish Moss (an epiphyte).
We visited the slave cabins and heard a lively talk from an African American on the Gullah language that developed after the War between the States ( as the south calls the civil war, or the war of northern aggression). It is a type of pigeon English. We also visited the lovely plantation house.
The weather was superb all week. Hot but not too hot and sunny. We also did a coach tour of the estate and saw the various crops that they still produce.
Next day we drove into Charleston and admired he lovely antebellum houses (houses built before the civil war) especially on the river in an area called the Battery.
Charleston grew wealthy on the backs of cotton and rice using the slaves for labour. After the war it fell into a long slumber and has only recently woken up. Later that day we went on a cruise around Charleston Harbour and out onto the Intracoastal Waterway which runs down the entire length of the eastern USA inside numerous barrier islands. We saw lots of dolphins and they rode our bow wave for a long time. We passed the USS Yorktown, a WWII carrier that has taken up residence in Charleston.
On Thursday we drove down the coast to a town called Beaufort, also on the Intracoastal Waterway. It was very beautiful with lots of antebellum houses.
It is quite small and very manageable to visit with not many tourists. It is surrounded as are all the southern coastal towns by salt water marshes with rivers and creeks running through them often for many miles inland.
Great fishing and boating with lots of wild life. Alligators abound in the fresh water ponds and creeks. We had a nice lunch there by the waterfront and admired the local inn that has stood there for many centuries.
Yesterday the weather turned cloudy but that brought a welcome coolness down to the mid twenties from the mid thirties. We left Charleston and headed south again for a 100 miles to Savannah in Georgia. We are staying in a lovely Island State Park right on the Intracoastal Waterway just over the bridge over THE Moon River wide than a mile which we crossed in some style. We went to a talk by the park ranger on the local reptiles and saw snakes, turtles and gators from the area. Afterwards we went on one of the many trails around the island underneath Live Oaks and Spanish Moss and the ubiquitous Palmettos that grow everywhere in the South.
Today we visited Savannah. We were a bit disappointed in it as it often run down and whilst there are some lovely squares and parks like the one below, there are also many ugly buildings.
But all the transport was free so we caught a bus with no windows down to River St and a free ferry for a tour along the river and back.
Savannah also declined after the Civil War and only recently like Charleston has it revived its heritage and started to develop its own personality. More lovely antebellum homes completed our visit to this charming southern city.
This week we visit the sea isles off the Georgian coast and head across the border to our last State for this year - Florida.
