Charleston-Savannah 2023

Spent most of the day hiking at Congaree National Park - about 7 miles. It was both beautiful and interesting. It's an old growth floodplain forest, so lots of very big bald cypress, tupelo and loblolly pine. I'm sure the cypress knees are really trolls, though this photo doesn't show them at their troll-like best. Just a few inches change in elevation changed what plants were growing. Also saw some wild boar, which are terribly destructive invadors, but still cool to see. They could have cared less about us! Had just the right amount on time to visit the McKissick museum at the University of South Carolina. Interesting exhibit about women and textiles (spectacular crazy quilt) and also some oddities like a bread machine from the early 1900's (not at all clear how it worked) and some petrified palmetto root, which turns out to be beautiful when polished.

Starting towards home, but with stupid. We got to Columbia by way of the South Carolina Artisan's Center and Batesburg, SC. The Artisan's Center is an interesting juried collection of art from artists all over South Carolina. We treated it as a museum!  The Batesburg stop was to visit Henry's grandmother's grave. His grandmother more-or-less raised him because she lived with them and his mother was working. It took some doing to find--we knew the name of the cemetery but nothing about where in the cemetery to find the grave. We went to city hall, explained what we were trying to do, and a very nice man recommended we talk to Ms. Gail, and even called her for us. She met us at the cemetery and took us to the grave. So nice! On the way, we though we took a slight wrong turn. We're told Sweden is nearby! Very yummy wood smoked BBQ for dinner... We were there in time for happy hour so got the sliders, one each of pork, brisket and chicken washed down with a quite tasty ...

First up today was going to church with our friends, but this wasn't just any church service. They do a whole series called "God on Broadway". Today was The Addams Family. Several skits and songs, complete with costumes and sets--and worked into the service. Sounds crazy, but it was outstanding. Then to Tybee Island and a visit to the Marine Science Center (inquisitive turtle!) followed by a walk on the beach. Perfect weather, so super nice.

Spent most of the day at the Pin Point Museum. The museum is a former crab and oyster processing factory. All the work was done by hand in cold and difficult conditions. Photo is off the building that was where the women picked crabs, but now has exhibits.The community was and is a very close-knit Gullah- Geechee community. Our docent grew up in the community and still lives there, though has a "regular" day job and doesn't have to pick crabs for a living. She was an excellent story teller and talked about the seafood processing, the culture in general, religion, and language from the perspective of one who grew up with it. Then back to the historic district to wander around and  find lunch that had become dinner (crab cake sandwich, because of course we had to have crab after that).

Started out with a visit too Wormsloe State Historic Site. Got some nice reminders about things we learned previously: tabby construction (a kind of concrete made with oyster shells), and that Georgia started with "worthy debtors" (not wealthy aristocrats) and three rules (no Catholics, no hard liquor, and no slaves). None of the three rules listed very long. Picture shows tabby construction. Spent most of the afternoon at and urgent care place trying to find out what Henry's hand is red and swollen. No definite answer, but he'll be taking an antibiotic and a steroid to try get it under control. More fun was the tour our friends took us on around the historic district and a very nice walk along the river.

Started with walking tour that got us through a bunch of Savannah's famous squares. The focus here is much more on the original colony and  the revolutionary war, not so much the civil war. Fish downspouts are a thing in Savannah, apparently helping keep away evil spirits. Then a visit to Congregation Mickve Israel, the oldest Reform congregation in the US, founded by Sephardic Jews in 1735. The current building was built in 1878. Beautiful, but strange to us as it looks so much like a church, complete with nave, apse and stained glass. We then squeezed in a visit to the Savannah Historical Museum before heading home to our feet up and have a nap before meeting our friends Barbara and Chris for dinner.