Charleston, SC

We had a long, windy run from Beaufort to Charleston. When we arrived at the City Marina, docking was a challenge.  They call this the “Mega Dock”, and for good reason. The main dock is 1/4 of a mile long! As you can see from the photos above, there are some large boats here!
The tidal current was running hard, and the wind blowing, but we managed to get the 20BUCK$ parallel parked between two other boats without incident.

On Friday, we did a walking tour of portions of the city. Above is the City Market. If you look along the left side of the building, you can see it stretches for about four blocks.

The other photo shows some of the original streets that are still in place. Many people refer to these as cobblestone. They are actually ballast stones from ships. They were placed in the hull of a lightly loaded wooden ship to add stability. When those ships arrived in Charleston to take on goods, the stones were tossed overboard. They were then retrieved from the ocean, and used to pave the streets. 

Above are photos of the “Battery”. The Battery is a peninsula that sticks out into the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and those rivers form Charleston Harbor. Out in the harbor is an island which is the location of Fort Sumter. This is where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

This city has numerous preserved mansions. Above is the Calhoun Mansion.

This home was built in 1876 by George Williams, a local business man. It was, and still is, the largest single family residence in Charleston. It is 24,000 square feet, with 35 rooms, and 23 fireplaces. At the time of construction, it cost $200,000 to build on the $40,000 lot. After the owners death in 1903, the house went through a succession of other owners, and fell into disrepair. In 1972, it was condemned by the City. An unnamed local business man purchased it, for $200,000, and spent the next 25 years and $5 million dollars restoring it.

We toured the interior, but no photos were allowed, as the owner lives and works there. Believe me when I say it is magnificent!

Above is another home we toured. This is the Drayton Mansion, built by John Drayton in 1738. This home is owned by a National Trust, and is in a “preservation” state. The house remains as it was when acquired by the Trust, with the only repairs being necessary ones to maintain its structural integrity.

The woodwork and the hand carved plaster ceilings are in very good shape, considering no restoration work has been done.

And of course, all that touring means we have to stop occasionally for nourishment! There are numerous very nice taverns and restaurants to choose from. We had our last dinner with Jim & Linnea on Saturday evening, and they departed for home early Sunday morning. It was nice to have friends from home aboard! After all, it was they who got us hooked on this trip when we traveled with them up the Hudson River in 2006. It’s all your fault Jim & Linnea!!!

Captn Ken