Day 220: Friday, April 12, 2013
Port to Port: Charleston, South Carolina
Underway: 0:00 am Motor Off: 0:00 pm Miles Traveled: 0 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First Dominoes Pizza of the trip.
Mile 464 to Mile 464: Did you know that in 1708, Africans made up a majority of the population in South Carolina? (Neither did I). Or that by the early 1770’s, 9 of 10 of the richest men in the American colonies were from South Carolina? (Do you suppose there is a connection between slave labor and massive profits)?
After a rough and rolly night (this marina is not very well protected from the wind), we had all day to explore our little corner of Charleston. The only damage done overnight was a lack of sleep (lots of new noises keeping us awake) and a missing fender. Fenders are expensive so I decided to spend a few minutes searching while Cindy took a shower and got ready. It could be on its way to France by now. The marina has floating docks but there are big openings out into the bay. I was hoping it had gotten stuck or trapped by the wind or current but wasn’t optimistic. It was nowhere to be found but I decided to look in a small estuary area at the far end of the marina near an industrial loading facility. It was mostly fenced off but I saw something white high in the long sea grass – could it be? I snuck around the end of the fence and walked along the high tide line and, lo and behold, our big white fender was just waiting for me. A miracle. The rope tying it to the boat had torn right through the end where it was tied. I think I can fix it so it holds air again. I still can’t believe it didn’t escape to the ocean with the tidal currents or wind.
Our main goal today was to go to the Charleston Museum and wander around the College of Charleston. The Charleston Museum was the first museum in the American colonies having been originally formed in 1773. It’s hard to imagine. And the College of Charleston is the oldest municipal college in America. On our way to the Museum we walked by and visited a small museum about Fort Sumter – tour boats full of tourists leave for the Fort every hour just a few blocks down from the marina. Even though it was small, we learned a lot about Charleston’s key role in the civil war.
The Charleston Museum was amazing. Exhibits from ancient prehistoric creatures to the native American era to the revolutionary and civil war to today would take most of the day to do justice. Every time we turned a corner there were more exhibits on a new era of history. A lot of history has happened in this place. We took a tour of a civil war era home owned by one of the many wealthy plantation owners that called Charleston home. We ended our day’s tours by wandering around the College of Charleston. The campus is beautiful and they have preserved repurposed many old building on campus. The architecture is a joy to look at and appreciate. It’s interesting to juxtapose the source of the money that originally made much of this possible and its beauty today.
We ended the day restocking our supplies at Harris Teeter grocery store and having Dominoes Pizza for dinner (our first Dominoes Pizza of the trip). Tomorrow, we head north again chasing spring.
