Sep 1 - 9, 2015 Last updated: 9/12/15 3:00pm PT
Another year, another long driving vacation. This one was not as long as last year’s however, at only 1690 miles. And there wasn’t much variety in scenery. Driving through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi all kind of looked the same. Once we got far enough south in Louisiana did the scenery change.
We visited Charleston, Savannah, Andersonville, Atlanta, Huntsville, Birmingham, Vicksburg and New Orleans.
Not a lot of pictures were taken. I’d like to blame museums for prohibiting pictures, but usually I’m not thinking about taking pictures, I’m just enjoying where I am.
It was very hot everywhere we went, mid-90’s and humid. Good thing the car was air conditioned.
First stop Charleston, SC
We visited the Charleston Museum, the oldest museum in the U.S., opened in 1773. We walked down Museum Mile (aka Meeting Street) and visited the Heyward-Washington House (Heyward signed the Declaration of Independence, Washington’s name is slapped on because he slept there for a week – why is everyone obsessed with where Washington slept?) and the Old Slave Mart Museum.
The Old Slave Mart was not what I expected. It contained information about slavery. The slave mart was just a small office in a nondescript building. Selling slaves on the street became illegal at one point, so they opened offices. Interesting fact from the museum: 3% of whites owned 95% of all slaves.
Below is a picture of the Heyward-Washington house from behind. The far building is the house. The building on the left was the kitchen.
Here is a corner of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, but it was closed by the time we arrived. Construction of the fort was started during the Revolution.
We also watched the sunset over the Atlantic, wait, what?
We were looking at the Atlantic Ocean, and the island curves a bit, so it was confusing which direction we were facing. There was water to the west, where the sun was setting over Charleston, not the Atlantic.
We visited the Magnolia Plantation. Founded in 1676, I believe the main house was destroyed twice and the current one is from the 1800s. We toured the gardens, the main house and the slave quarters. Below is a picture taken while strolling the gardens.
We had an excellent dinner at Page’s Okra Grill, a recommendation from Carrie. We ate shrimp and grits in a rich but tasty sauce, red neck rolls (cheesy BBQ egg rolls), pimento cheese, fried green tomatoes, triple chocolate cake, and pecan pie. It was all very good.