Charleston, SC & Fort Somter

Mike and I took my parents for a ride through Charleston, South Carolina during their stop home for a quick visit to Buffalo for my Uncle’s memorial.  Our first stops were King Street and Meeting Street to admire the steeples of the various churches, now I understand why it is called the “Holy City.”  Plus there are plenty of shops and restaurants to choose from.  We then drove to “The Battery” and Rainbow Row to see the beautiful historic homes and architecture.  We tried to see the famous pineapple fountain at the Waterfront Park but parking was impossible, so we decided to do at our next visit.

A few days later, Mike and I went on a boat ride to visit Fort Sumter.  We parked our car at the Patriot Point parking lot for five dollars.  The Spiritline ferry cost us $24 each.  The boat ride takes about 30 minutes to get to the fort; we then had about an hour to tour the island fort, with a 30 minute boat ride back.  We decided not to tour the USS Yorktown Aircraft Carrier and USS Laffey Destroyer at Patriot Point, as we didn’t have time and it was an additional $24 each, another stop to add to our next visit.

The first shot of the Civil War was at Fort Sumter.  Fort Sumter is a man-made island (made by slaves) to help protect the harbor of Charleston after the War of 1812.  The fort sustained substantial damage to the buildings during the Civil War.  By the Spanish American war the fort was modified with a new battery, black building in the center of the fort, armed with two disappearing cannons. These are very large cannons that are raised up to fire, but the recoil causes them to fall back and below a wall so the enemy can’t see them as they approach. Very scary for the enemy as they don’t know they are there until it’s too late.

What did you do and like while visiting Charleston?  To help us plan our next visit.