CHARLESTON, SC

     Charleston, South Carolina is magnificent. It's as beautiful as Pat Conroy has cracked it up to be. Mansions lined up side by side street after street. A lovely park in the shade of the live oak trees on the point. Little gardens tucked in between the antiquated old houses. Horse drawn buggies carrying tourists, (an activity that we did partake in.)
     I am not a fan of history, so I'll keep this little lesson brief. Charleston has always been a wealthy settlement. And though the Civil War started just across the harbor at Fort Sumter, the architecture there survived relatively unscathed by the havoc of the war. Thus, the really old mansions. The most spectacular are found south of Broad Street. North of Broad is also very nice, but the houses pale in comparison to the SOBs. (South of Broad houses... not to be confused with the other definition of SOB.)
     The first afternoon we were here we walked around and gaped in awe. It occurred to me that the SOB residents probably get sick of tourists constantly wandering though their neighborhoods and sniping pictures of their homes. But it's too lovely a place to resist.
     The next day we got an early start and decided to go all out and do touristy things. We took a horse drawn buggy tour of the town. I was doused with four hundred years of Charleston's tumultuous history in one hour by our tour guide while our horses plodded through the oak lined streets of the town. After that we wandered through a church's graveyard. (This has become an odd habit of my mom's. She has insisted that we explore three old graveyards on this trip. I have to admit that despite the slight eeriness, it's kinda cool.) We then toured the Calhoun Mansion. Like all things in the town, it is an old, historically significant building built by a very wealthy individual. At a whopping 24,000 square feet, it contains a huge selection of antique decor. Our tour guide on the horse buggy had referred to it as the "Oh My God House," due to the reaction most tourists express upon entering it.
     That night our friends Dave and KG showed up on the boat and hung out for a while. We have been running into them since the Dismal Swamp in North Carolina. They're both very fun people and we had a good long chat out in the cockpit. Rebekah and Ben, a on a nearby boat, came over to meet their new neighbors and ended up staying for dinner. When you live on a boat you meet all sorts of interesting people with whom you might share a dinner with and never meet again. I think that's what I like about the whole cruising thing.
     Today we met up with old family friends and spent the day with them. We toured a plantation called Middleton Place. Although the original three story house had been destroyed during the Civil War, the extensive gardens gave you a sense of the plantation's prosperity. We had a lovely lunch then headed back. It was a very nice day.
     As I am writing this, we are hunkered down in the boat getting ready for the evening. My parents are reading their books, (both of which happen to be by Michener.) I've been slowly attacking the large quantity of homework I have been given for the year. All in all, fabulous time in Charleston.

The living conditions are nice when you live SOB...

The beautiful gardens of the Calhoun Mansion.

  

A picturesque little bridge at the plantation we visited.

Many houses have exquisitely carved woodworking on them.