Charleston - Downtown

After we left Drayton Hall we headed downtown.  One of our goals was to see Thomas Rutledge, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a few other notables in a church cemetery.  We found the church, found a place to park, and started out on the 3 block walk.  And then we came across this.

WHAT???  CLOSED???  That was not good news.  :-(  

We walked around to see if it might be a mistake but, sadly, it was not.  So we took as many photos as we could from outside the gate.  So close.....and yet so far.

The church was beautiful, even if the people wouldn't get out of the way so I could take a picture.

Not to be defeated, we decided to make the best of it and walked through historic Charleston.  There was a great historic City Market which reminded me of Pike Place Market in Seattle.

This really spoke to me - I should have bought it and hung it in our trailer.

As we walked along the streets, the carriages traveling with the cars was a site to behold.

I took pictures of several different carriages and got a surprise when I snapped this one.

As I pulled the camera away, I realized that this couple was with us during our Drayton Hall tour!  The man waved as they passed by.  What are the chances?

Here they are in the Drayton Hall gift shop earlier that day.  

Once again, we walked by a Byrd's Famous Cookies store.  Remember, Ron's mother's maiden name was Byrd.  

I took a photo of a house as we walked by.  Such beautiful architecture.

We found a cute little pub as we walked back to the truck and decided to stop in for lunch.

Tommy Condon's offers three different dining experiences beneath one roof - the large outdoor deck (too hot), the formal back dining room (too stuffy), or the pub section (yes, please).

The dining room is decorated in true Irish country style and the entire establishment is adorned with Irish antiques and collectibles, brought straight from Ireland by Condon himself.  We sat right by the fireplace which, fortunately, wasn't in use.

After a great meal, we headed back to the truck and stopped at the church again on our way back.  There was a tour in process and the guide explained to us that she thought the cemetery might be open the next day since it was Sunday and church services would be in process.  She suggested we come back the next day.  Did we?

Charleston - History Museum

We moved on to Charleston which was only about 90 minutes from Hilton Head/Savannah.  We decided to spend 4 days in the area as there was so much to see.  

The first morning we were up and our way to visit the Charleston Museum.

What a great surprise!  They not only had historical exhibits but other things, as well.  This sketch reminds me of the attitudes of today - if you don't "like" the other side, you take your ball and go home.

How many of the signers' graves will we see?

An assortment of slave badges.  These were given to slaves who were authorized to leave the plantation and do work for others.  Sometimes when the work was completed, the owners let them keep the money or other times they might split the money with the slave.

And look at this - the Levys are now making cameras!

Think you'd want to use one of these?

19th Century Cotton Scale.  Cotton was the driving force in the southern economy.  It required the labor of nearly two million enslaved people to grow, harvest, process, transport and export.  By 1860, enslaved people produced over two billion pounds of cotton annually which was two-thirds of the world's supply.

Lots of ammunition and weapons.

And if you needed to settle a serious argument that jeopardized your honor in the community, this was just the thing.

When I see uniforms, I always think about the fact that they were worn continuously in the heat.  How did they clean them?

Since it is a natural history museum, they had a great exhibit on animals.

This museum had some fantastic artifacts and was a real gem.  But we needed to get on the road for our next 'attraction'.  Stay tuned.