Charleston, SC

Easter Sunday in Charleston is time for decorations, Easter Eggs and Easter Bonnets.  We were able to get a photo of an Easter gathering of the local women in their beautiful bonnets at a home along the waterfront. Even the dogs were decorated. 

 The photos below shows 2 pigs decked out in their Easter decor.  

We did rent a car during our visit here so that we could go visit a couple of the old plantations.  Magnolia Plantation, which is situated along the Ashley river, was at one time a 2000 acre parcel.  Following the war, the Draytons had to sell off some of the land and now it has a remaining 500 acre area with beautiful magnolia trees, historic gardens, an Audubon swamp garden.  The original home was burned twice.  There is a home that was rebuilt on the old foundation but it had been modernized with electricity and plumbing.  At one time this area produced "Carolina gold", which was rice that had a huge market and made many a plantation owner very rich.  The slaves from west Africa had all the skills to grow rice as they had done this in their native lands.  The surrounding swamps have alligators swimming and sunning themselves.  Apparently the young have to hide from the adults because they do eat their young ( so we were told).

They also had a petting zoo at this plantation and while eating our lunch at a picnic table, we had peacocks wander over to pick up any crumbs available even as the male peacocks displayed their beautiful plumage. 

Magnolia Plantation House

Alligator Resting in old rice pond

Garden Pond

Camilla

The following day we drove to Drayton Hall, another plantation "next door" to Magnolia.  This is the oldest unrestored plantation house in America open to the public built in 1738.  It is renowned for its Palladian-inspired architecture and undisturbed historic landscape.  There, we were able to take in a program about the story of African American life from Africa to the new world, through slavery and emancipation. The tour guide for the house was also well informed.  This house has no furnishings, no electricity or plumbing.  It does have some of the original paint and is basically intact with some of the original plaster ceilings, chair rails and paneling.  It also had the kitchen in the basement which was quite modern for the time period.  Kitchens were usually housed in a separate building.  They are planning on building a museum with climate control to display the artifacts that they have as the house must remain preserved.  

Drayton Hall 

We have walked miles in this city and it is filled with beautiful old homes, flowers everywhere, and enticing alley ways to explore.  They usually lead to more homes with hidden courtyards and gardens.  Then, of course, there is the food.  There is the low country menu filled with fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits

etc., endless seafood selections including oysters,  key lime pie and on and on.  Early on, we took a carriage ride with a self declared "redneck" who gave us his version of the historic areas of Charleston that he chose to take us through.  It has not been dull! 

We are leaving Emme in Charleston and returning to Maine by train. Randy will return in a couple of weeks with a crew of friends and bring Emme back to Freeport in May.

Cumberland Island to Charleston

We had a very pleasant sail from St. Augustine to Cumberland Island. Most of the Island is a National Park with a few private residences scattered about. This is one of the few barrier islands that still has live oak forests and in many places retains a wild untouched atmosphere.  We were able to anchor by the dinghy dock so going ashore was easy.  As we approached the island, the wild horses were grazing on the sea grass.  We hear that there are over 150 horses at last count.  They are feral and do tend to avoid the tourists passing through. Ferry boats bring people from the mainland for day-trips and to camp in the rather primitive campgrounds; they have no hot water so it felt luxurious to come back to Emme for a hot shower.   We walked over to the beach through the beautiful dunes and saw horseshoe crabs, numerous sandpipers and shells galore. We also hiked a mile or so down the sandy road to the old Dungeness mansion which was built and owned by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie.

 They entertained during the gilded age at this beautiful location.  They had a  green house, and a hunting lodge and were basically self sufficient.  We walked around the grounds of the burned out mansion trying to avoid the horse manure which was everywhere!  We read that the house ruins are inhabited by diamond back rattle snakes so needless to say we avoided that area.

 In the marsh area we saw hundreds of fiddler crabs scurrying around and diving into holes in the ground.  At first I thought they were giant spiders!!! There were many butterflies, lots of live oaks, grape vines, and palms.
We spent our first full rainy day just hanging out in the anchorage reading and cooking a few meals for our overnight sail coming up.

On April 1, we hauled anchor and set sail for Charleston, SC.  We started the day with fair winds and 1 foot seas.  The winds clocked around from the west to the NE to the E during the daylight hours so we were able to sail a good deal.  By sunset the wind had moved around to the southwest and was now behind us making a very lumpy wave combination.  This persisted all night long.  The sunrise was spectacular and with it the winds once again returned to the west and gusted to 25Knots as we sailed the final leg into Charleston Harbor.  We tied up to the dock as the sky was darkening.  A few drops of rain started to fall and then the wind picked up and up.  Our knot meter was still on and measured 42 knot winds which is about 50 mph.  We timed that one just right!

Now we will take our time to enjoy Charleston and what it has to offer.