Charleston and Ft. Sumter

So, the next installment of our epic trip: We flew out of Orlando late Thursday evening--after a relaxing day poolside and around Downtown Disney (have I mentioned I would like to live in that Disney Hilton hotel?)--and arrived in Charleston, SC, after midnight.

Friday was recovery day, then Saturday we picked up a rental car and headed to Myrtle Beach by way of Charleston Harbour and Ft. Sumter, which as you recall was where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. The long way around, but well worth it.

Visiting Ft. Sumter National Park is free, if you have your own boat. It's on a small, man-made island out in the harbour, so if you don't happen to have your own boat, which we don't, you probably need to take the official tour boat, which costs $17 (just in case you're in the area and want to check it out).

We went to catch the boat from Liberty Square at Aquarium Wharf, driving through the beautiful historic (colonial-era, I'm guessing) Charleston downtown. We were on time in that the boat hadn't left yet, but late in that it was completely full. You can see it waiting there behind us.

So we took some pictures and drove across that gorgeous bridge to the other side of the harbour, where the boat would take off for the next tour in about an hour.

Here we are on the other side, at Patriot's Point, with the gorgeous bridge behind us.

Why is this park on the far side called Patriot's Point? Glad you asked. Because of the USS Yorktown (which you can see behind us) is docked there.  You can go aboard for another $17, but we didn't have time either before our tour left, or afterwards because we had to hustle on up to Myrtle Beach. But we did look around the park, landside, and took some pictures.

Such as with this WWII-era big gun . . .

and this torpedo . . .

and this gun turret (looks like it's aimed to take out those threatening cars in the parking lot).

Finally, we went aboard and were told all kinds of interesting history (such as the island being made from granite brought down from New England) as we made our way to Ft. Sumter. It didn't look impressive from the approach, but apparently it used to be taller. Wars have a way of breaking things down.

Of course there was a lovely marker. By the way, don't be fooled by the bright sunshine. While the sun had been almost hot on the mainland, the wind blowing across the harbour made the boat ride and the island really chilly. Uchenna had thought ahead and brought a sweatshirt, but I just had to be tough.

We toured the low cave-like perimeter defenses where the guns were kept and fired.

And looked out through the tunnel of the entrance. Those walls are really thick!

We went to the upper deck, which gives a broader view of the harbor and an overview of those cave-like gun bays you can see behind me.

The museum was small but informative, with all kinds of background information. Major Anderson, the Union commander of the Fort, was actually a good friend and mentor to Brigadier General Beauregard, the southern commander. The South laid siege to the Fort, and when they knew supplies were on the way, they figured they'd better act fast and started firing. After 34 hours of bombardment, Major Anderson agreed to surrender and evacuate.

This flag on wall of the museum was much bigger than it looks here (guess we should have included a person to provide scale), and was the flag that hung over the fort at the time of the bombardment. Have you ever seen that configuration of stars on a flag? It was a new one for me.

After enjoying our brush with history, we hopped in the car and drove two hours up the coast to Myrtle Beach. But that's a story for another day.