Charleston, S.C., Chapter 2

     Here is a very short summary of the founding of Charleston.  The city was settled by English colonists (and a few slaves from Barbados) in 1680, on what was known as Oyster Point (still lots of shells there).  The colonists named the city after King Charles II (they first called it Charles Town), who was happily sitting on his throne on the other side of the ocean.  And if you want to know anything more about the history of Charleston from then until now, you need to visit the city or read your history book.  Too much other stuff to cover in this small space.
     Charleston's nickname is "The Holy City," both because there are so many churches and because the skyline of the city is dominated by church steeples.  Here is St. Philips Episcopal Church, one of the oldest in the city.  Now just picture the skyline dominated with beautiful steeples like this one (and the photo below).  You have to "just picture it" because I forgot to take a photo!

    

     If memory serves me, this church sits on one of the highest points in Charleston--a whole 20 feet above sea level--not exactly like the hills in San Francisco, but our tour guide thought it was a big deal to take us to "the top of the hill" to see the church.

      Before I end the topic of churches, Charleston has the very "first" First Baptist Church, founded in 1682.  All the rest of the First Baptists came after that.  I thought that was interesting.

     Moving on.  Art spent part of a day at the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, which is best known as the home of the World War II aircraft carrier Yorktown.  He toured the ship as well as the submarine Clagmore  (most famous for patrolling the waters around Cuba during the tense US/Soviet relationship in 1962).   Here are some photos of the ship, its planes and the submarine.

    

The USS Yorktown

F-4 Phantom on the Yorktown flight deck

Submarine Clagmore

     Traveling from our marina to Patriots Point, Art had to cross what is one of the most beautiful bridges we have ever seen (okay, so the Golden Gate still gets our first place vote, but the beauty of this one rivals it in many ways).  Anyway, it is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere and was the most prominent feature in the view from our boat.  We loved it day and night, as you can see below.

     One more thing I forgot to mention when I was writing about the architectural charm of Charleston, was the cobblestone streets.  They were made from the ballast of ships bringing goods into the city in the1700's.  They really are charming, but not too cool to walk on--I nearly fell on my face numerous times trying to walk and take in the beauty of the street at the same time.  Here's one of my favorites:

      A few more odds and ends before I end this long post.  The restaurants in Charleston rival any in the U.S. and we dined like kings (and queens).  We had a spectacular meal at Magnolia's and it seems everyone in our marina as well as the other boaters we met in Charleston raved about that very same restaurant (thank you Robin for letting us know about this one).  Since arriving in the Low Country, I am eating my way through Shrimp & Grits, and each dish I have had so far has been different, yet wonderful.  So far Magnolia's wins.  We also had a fabulous meal at Virginia's on King (also thanks to Robin), with a new twist on my favorite dish--shrimp, fried green tomatoes and grits.  Wow is all I can say.  We barely touched the list of fine dining there, so come prepared to eat when you visit.

     At last, I am done.  Charleston is special.  I was called "Sweetie" so many times there, I was beginning to believe it.  This is one place we will return to!
     Next we are off to Georgetown, S.C. and then on to Myrtle Beach, where we will stay for 5 or 6 days while we attend the Spring get-together of the Great Loop organization.  We hope to learn a lot more about the remainder of our trip at this meeting, as well as meet a few people who will be traveling the route along with us.