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I wouldn’t be lying if I told you I took hundreds of pictures of this beach during our trip.
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And while I promise I won’t share them all…
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I am going to post quite a few.
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It was just that good.
The trees.
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The sky.
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The shapes.
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The weird and wonderful sculptures of nature.
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I see a person running here, anyone else?
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💕
❤️
💕
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Day 7, the last full day of our southern anniversary vacation started like the previous 6… with a card.
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This trip was our gift to each other so I opted for a card a day instead.
I’m thoughtful that way. 😉
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It also started with the malfunction of my very last can of (the now reformulated and totally awful Aussie instant freeze… may a pox fall upon their houses and render every last one of the executives bald) hairspray.
Oh, the horror!
With my drastically unsecured hairdo, we headed out that morning to buy a thank you gift for our neighbor who was caring for Lord Dudley Mountcatten in our absence. On the way out of the store I chuckled at the appropriate license plate of the elderly owner.
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And speaking of moss…
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We decided to make the most of our last day and return to the Botany Bay preserve to fully explore Boneyard Beach at low tide.
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Passing under that gorgeous canopy of trees again on the way in.
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It never got old.
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Our previous two trips to the beach were shortened first by loss of daylight and then by rising tide.
We hoped for better viewing this time.
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I know the pictures don’t do it justice…
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But you have to trust me, this place was amazing in person.
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Even with bad hair and high winds.
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The skeletal remains of all those trees made it feel like another planet.
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Or maybe this one after some kind of Planet of the Apes scenario.
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Look…
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My husband smiled, so you know it was special.
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I swear if I lived in this area I’d be here everyday…
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❤️
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After an interesting but not nearly long enough tour of Fort Sumter, we disembarked the ferry and spotted a resort with a highly recommended restaurant called the Fish House.
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Arriving at 4:00pm since we’d skipped lunch…
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We had the place to ourselves for a short while and moseyed up to the bar.
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One Harborview with Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka, Lemon Simple Syrup, Prosecco, and fresh basil in… things were looking good.
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The view on one side was the USS Yorktown… which I wanted to tour but with only an hour before it closed and $100 for two tickets the husband said no. He’s lived on those ships and had no desire to pay to see another.
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Low country shrimp appetizer? Yummy.
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A Siren’s Mule with Mount Gay Rum, Ginger Beer, Lemon Simple Syrup, Mint Leaf, Lime and Blue Curacao?
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Even better.
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We had to laugh at the menu typo and passed on the She Carb soup.
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Husband had the lobster ravioli which he said was wonderful and silly me… who thought since I was down south I should try local seafood… ordered the tilefish.
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Word of advice – do not order the tilefish.
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The sauce? Flavorful. The risotto? Creamy. The charred lemon broccoli? Perfect.
The tilefish?
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I think this fish made out of actual tile in the rest room would have tasted better.
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This one as well.
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Yup. Those too.
Lesson learned? If you don’t know what it is, don’t order it.
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Bad fish aside, it was a nice place.
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It must have been because we stayed until after dark and the beast of a Lincoln was lighting our way when we left.
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At least we had good timing for some beautiful Charleston skies on the way back.
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😊
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Time was ticking away and before we knew it we had less than ten minutes left on the measly hour allotted us to tour Fort Sumter.
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The views from the top of the old battery were the best.
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So I raced around snapping pictures.
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The famed 200 pounder.
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Dashing down the stairs as they gave the five minute warning for ferry departure….
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We didn’t have time to do anything but a quick run through.
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I’m smiling, but I wasn’t happy.
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Too much to see, too little time.
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Didn’t have time to read any of these so I took pictures for later.
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I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I was to be rushed through a historic site I’ve read so much about.
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And as much as I’d like to recommend the trip to other visitors, I can’t.
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We didn’t walk the outside the Fort, or the parapet, or the rocks and the beach. We didn’t check out any of the interior spaces at all.
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I didn’t mind paying the $37 per person ticket price.
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But I did mind spending almost as much time on the boat as we did at the Fort.
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Boo to that.
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I’m a history nerd buff with a specific interest in the Civil War and was really looking forward to exploring Fort Sumter.
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But there was a problem.
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The only way on and off the island is by ferry and even though it was the slow season and there was just one trip a day from Patriots Point? Our time limit was an hour.
60 measly minutes wasn’t nearly enough and to be honest it ticked me off. I understand during the tourist season they have to move as many people on and off as they can, but with only one lousy trip scheduled in the winter you’d think they would allow us more time… but no.
This meant kicking my husband into high gear and almost jogging around the fort to make sure we saw it all. No lollygagging and absolutely no chatting with strangers!
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This is the old battery that they’ve turned into a museum… so we started there.
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The Fort as it looked pre Civil War.
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During the war…
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And after.
The museum itself was small, with lots to read but very few artifacts.
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But a Civil War toothbrush? That’s history nerd buff gold.
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I won’t bore you with a lot of history but this was especially poignant to me.
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Those Who Would Be Free
African-Americans and the Fight for Fort Sumter.
Thousands of African-Americans were involved in the Civil War, either by force or by choice. The South used slaves as laborers at war points within the Confederacy. The North enlisted more than 170.000 free men of color in the Union Army. These willing soldiers saw action in virtually every theatre of the war, including Charleston.
As soon as war commenced in 1861, slaves were gathered from Southern plantations and sent to such Confederate strongholds as Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter. Amid the chaos of battle they repaired the forts, built batteries, mounted guns, waited on officers and acted as messengers. At Fort Sumter, slaves worked in constant danger to help defend the fort against the very forces seeking to win their freedom.
African-American soldiers in the Union Army served voluntarily distinguishing themselves at such battles as the assault on Fort Wagner on Morris Island. Here, the 54th Massachusetts made history as the first African-American military regiment to ennoble themselves in battle. As word of their
courage spread, thousands of other African-Americans volunteered in the war to reunite the country.
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Imagine being forced to defend an installation that’s fighting to keep you enslaved.
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Soldiers were basically living like tunnel rats.
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And the armament that was used back then?
Wow.
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Unbelievable.
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Too bad they didn’t have duct tape.
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Short on time, my speed reading came in handy. Not so my husband who read one placard to my 6. That’s him in the background way back at the beginning.
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In 1858 Fort Sumter became involved in one of the most notorious episodes in slave smuggling. On August 21 the U.S. Navy captured the slave ship Echo
and brought it into Charleston Harbor. Of 450 captives, mostly young African girls and boys, 144 had already died. Initially held at Castle Pinckney,
the Africans were moved to the larger Fort Sumter still under construction.
Following sensational descriptions of their emaciated state, entrepreneurs arranged harbor cruises to witness the grim spectacle at Fort Sumter.
Thirty-five captive Africans died while kept at Castle Pinckney and Fort Sumter. Although some Charlestonians provided food and clothing, oth-
ers argued that the captives should be sold into slavery. On Constitutional grounds, President James Buchanan ordered the Africans transported home
onboard the steamship Niagara. Even with medical care, only 196 of the original 450 captives were still alive by the time they reached Monrovia. The captain and crew of the Echo were tried and acquitted on a technicality.
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That’s a horrible story I knew nothing about before this visit.
One half of the museum was devoted to the Civil War, the other to its previous life.
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Yes, this cross eyed gentleman is the Fort’s namesake.
Sadly I had to drag the husband outside before we’d even glanced at the second half of the museum but my watch said we only had 18 minutes left and missing the boat was not an option.
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To be continued… quickly.
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On day 6 we headed back to Charleston.
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Or more precisely over the locally famous Ravenel bridge …
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To Patriots Point where we had tickets for a ferry. We arrived early as traffic can be tricky and stumbled on a press conference in the parking lot with the USS Yorktown in the background.
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The mayor and two other officials were rambling on about an upcoming spring yacht race…
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Which we wouldn’t be in the area for nor cared anything about, but my husband being my husband…
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Had to stand there and listen to the whole thing because at the end there was a question and answer period and he asked a question. Why? Because the man has to talk.
While he was doing that I looked around and took photos…
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The bridge from Patriots Point.
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The memorial and half of the Yorktown. I wish I’d known the ship was here, I would have scheduled time to tour her.
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Our ferry.
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The harbor.
And since my husband was still standing at the press conference? I checked out the gift store.
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Where the gifts were decidedly low brow.
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As well as deadly.
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This was absolutely bizarre to me. You’d never see ammunition for sale like this in Maine. It was just sitting there on the floor, in open boxes… where any child could take one.
WTH?
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Press conference over, we boarded our ferry.
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Under the watchful gaze of some pelicans.
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Who pose quite nicely for tourists.
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The ferry had two decks but it was a cold and windy afternoon so we went downstairs to cut the breeze.
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Charleston.
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A U.S. Park ranger gave an interesting lecture on the history of the place we were going to see.
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And though it was an overcast sky…
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It was still a lovely ride once I dragged my wind beaten spouse upstairs to the open deck.
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After 20 minutes…
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There it was.
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Sitting at the mouth of Charleston harbor.
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We disembarked…
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And walked on the very ground where the Civil War began.
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Returning to the condo after Boneyard Beach, we met the nightly herd of neighborhood deer.
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They wander the area at will, not the least bit scared of cars or people.
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Southern deer are much smaller than the ones we’re used to seeing up north.
To me these are basically large dogs.
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We wondered where they slept in this area… it’s a beach after all, crowded with houses and very little undeveloped woods.
Did I mention we had dolphins in front of our resort twice a day? Two hours before high tide and two hours before low. They follow and drive the fish and we loved seeing them frolic.
Of course every time I tried to film them they stopped. Pay close attention here and you’ll see one break the surface.
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And speaking of sea creatures, Edisto Island is all about the turtles.
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Brightly painted and prominently displayed.
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Some of them were quite creative.
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On the main drag?
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The sand seemed to be gaining ground.
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And every time we drove by this rental house? We laughed.
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Oops. Major parking dimension miscalculation there.
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Another balcony selfie, slightly squinty as I was looking into the sun.
😉
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I’m not sure my vocabulary contains enough adjectives to properly describe how sublime Boneyard Beach at sunset can be….
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Mysterious.
Spectral.
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Otherworldly.
Striking.
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Wondrous.
Captivating.
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Preternatural.
Glorious.
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Exquisite.
Magical.
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In other words… fan-flippin-tastic!
We really didn’t want to leave but the tide was rolling in fast and there are warnings everywhere about being trapped, so we headed back down the marsh land path.
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Where the sunset was also pretty sweet.
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As we left, I knew if we had the time I wanted to come back at low tide and walk the whole beach.
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It was that good.
😊
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The sun was going down as we took our first steps onto Boneyard Beach.
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To say I was blown away is an understatement..
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Boneyard Beach is a weird and wonderful place littered with the skeletons of trees.
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And while the severe erosion that’s responsible for this crazy display is an environmental nightmare…
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I have to say it was jaw dropping in its grandeur.
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Unfortunately we’d arrived at high tide so our exploring was limited to the shoreline.
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But the light was fabulous and made what we could access all the more eerie.
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Having the entire place to ourselves made it feel otherworldly.
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The required selfie.
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❤️
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Since we still had a little daylight when we got back from Charleston, we decided to go back to the Botany Bay Preserve and check out the beach we didn’t have time to explore on our first trip there.
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It’s a half mile walk from the parking lot…
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Through marsh land with some pretty funky driftwood.
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The required selfie.
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Turn to your right and the sun was setting.
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Turn to your left there was still blue sky.
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Right.
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Left.
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Right.
Okay, you get my point.
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It was a lovely stroll.
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And the driftwood made for some nice shots.
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Just as the sun was going down….
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We found the beach.
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A very special beach as it turns out.
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We’d found Boneyard Beach…
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To be continued…
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River's world..... 