Like I was saying........
Wednesday, June 7, We were awakened by loud thunder, after several hours the storm subsided, we were able to disconnect utilities, hook up the car and hot the road. We left about 10:00, after a stop to get diesel before getting on I-95 for our 110 mile drive to Ft. Stewart near Savannah, arriving about 11:30. The rain held off until we were all connected and settled in. Gary drove into Savannah to have his new Nikon camera checked out, he thought the pictures seemed a bit blurry. I, in the meantime settled in with a good book. My sister Judy called, she is leaving Friday for Oahu with her husband, two sons and daughter in law to celebrate her 80th birthday on Saturday. They will be taking a Sunset catamaran cruise with our brother Punch who lives in Honolulu. After dinner we walked around the pond before the rain started again. We are "roughing" it, no satellite, sewer and spotty wi-fi.
Thursday, June 8, This is our second trip to Savannah, we hurriedly came through here 2 years ago racing down to Tampa so I could catch my flight to Oregon for my class reunion, we'll be here 6 nights this time. Our first stop of the day was the Wormslow State Historic Site. Noble Jones arrived in Georgia with English General James Oglethorpe, the first settlers in Georgia in 1736. He started his plantation on the Isle of Hope on a bluff overlooking a salt marsh. The masonry arch leads you to the 1 1/2 mile roadway collonade that is lined on both sides with more than 400 live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. The remains of the tabby house, which took 6 years to construct, was surrounded by 8 foot high walls to protect the family from Spanish attack. You can still see the well, cellar, crumbling walls and chimney. A short walk from the home is an iron fence marking the original family burial site. Further on is the observation deck over the salt marsh and Jones narrows. They have an area showing you the colonists life with a small wattle and daub home, black smith and outbuildings. We grabbed a quick bite at Firehouse Subs before our visit to Bonaventure Cemetery, a former plantation, it has been a cemetery since the mid 1800's with 101 acres overlooking the Wilmington River, It is fulled with beautiful live oak trees, some over 250 years old and of course Spanish moss hanging everywhere. Many graves have beautiful statues and ornate carvings, sadly the cemetery hasn't been kept up, it could be a real showplace. Gary wanted to see Ft. Pulaski, the last time we were here we passed by it on our way to Tybee Island but ran short of time. It's a bit of a drive out to the island, at the fee station the ranger told us it was closed. Remember our first week at St. Mary's we had a tornado warning but the tornado headed up toward Savannah. Well it took the roof off the visitor center at the Fort. Guess we'll have to come back someday. So we called it a day and went home to Luci. We took a walk around the pond, this time stopping to see a small swamp on the other side, there are a couple of 2-3 foot alligators, one swam close to shore where we were standing and either "hissed" at us or sneezed, I don't know enough about alligators to know if they hiss or sneeze. We thought it was time to move on. Later our neighbors, George and Sherry, full timers from Alaska. We picked their brain, most likely we are going to go to Alaska next spring before heading to Oregon.
Friday, June 9, We took Luci to Doggie Day Care in Richmond Hill, the closest town to Ft. Stewart. We were off to Rose Hill Mansion in Bluffton SC, just a few miles over the Georgia/NC border. Silly us, we thought we could just drive up and tour it. It's in a gated community and you have to have reservations. Nuts! We took a chance and called to see if we could get in to the only tour of the day at 2:00, wahoo we could. So we had time to kill, decided to take a drive out to Hilton Head Island to check it out, bad idea, we were stuck on the bridge in a slow moving parking lot. Luckily there was a break in the bridges and we managed a u turn, I think we would still be there. We drove into historic Bluffton, found a cute place for lunch, Fat Patty's, Gary's dream came true - 30 beers on tap. We took a quick look around the little town established in the 1800's before going back to Rose Hill. Construction on Rose Hill started before the Civil War, never completely finished then was almost destroyed by fire, in 1996 the White Family bought the shell of a house and beautifully brought it back to life. Our docent was quite knowledgeable about the architecture and antiques in the house. The most impressive , a 5 foot Ming Dynasty Vase sits in one of the parlors, visitors can stand right next to it. Arghh, can you imagine bumping into it accidentally? The White's live in the home and run an antique (must be very successful) business from the second floor of the home. that is why there is only one tour a day. Mrs. White collects artifacts from the property that she displays in shadow boxes. An amazing home, it once stood on 2,000 acres with rice and sea cotton their major crops. The surrounding acres have been turned into a high end housing development plus an equestrian center, leaving 12 1/2 acres. After the tour, beverages and snacks (that they sell in the gift shop) are served.You then are free to wonder around the home for a closer look. The owners quite often are around to answer questions after the tour but not on the day we were there.
Saturday, June 10 Happy 80th birthday Sis, hope you're having a great time in Hawaii. We stumbled upon the Henry Ford Winter Home Museum in Richmond Hill, we walked into the little museum building expecting to go from there to his home. The home does not offer tours but we sure learned a lot about Henry Ford and his wife Clara. Our stop at Richmond Hill Museum turned into a 2 hour visit, Hub showed us a video, stopping to add additional narrative then took us through the museum explaining the exhibits. Richmond Hill at the time was called Ways Station and was one of the poorest towns in the entire state. He bought 85,000 acres of land, drained swamps to grow rice, built schools for both white and black, hospitals, a saw mill, trade school and put people back to work. He took over an old plantation and built Clara's dream home from the bricks. We had no idea he was such a philanthropist.
Sunday, June 11, Gary went to Ft. McCallister on the bank of the Ogeechee River, a Confederate earthwork fortification that withstood bombardment from the Union Navy in 1863, the shells are still in the dirt, but finally did fall when Sherman made his march to the sea. Fort Jackson was constructed on the Savannah River in 1808, soldiers guarded Savannah in the War of 1812 and Civil War. The last American soldiers to be stationed at Fort Jackson were members of the 55 Massachusetts, an African-American unit of the Federal Army. The war department abandoned the fort in 1905 and the state of Georgia reopened it in 1965 as a maritime Museum which closed in 1975, now it's a Heritage Museum.
Tuesday, June 13, We left Holbrook Farm about 11 for the 150 mile drive to Short Stay Lake Moultrie about 40 miles outside of Charleston. Lake Moultrie is a Navy Recreation area on a reservoir. We arrived about 2, no sewer or satellite reception again. It's a really nice campground with a beach, marina, boat rentals, also cabins and condos. Not as buggy as Holbrook farm thank goodness.
Wednesday, June 14 Poor Luci had to stay home while we toured Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, built in 1755, the house originally served as a guest wing , then became the Middleton family residence when the main portion of the house burned during the Civil War. It contains the family furnishings. The gardens were so-so, they need a little love. It's amazing to see a home built in 1755 still standing.
Friday, June 16, Happy birthday Stacy, I can't believe you're 50 already! Enjoy your day. Gary went to Patriots Point Naval & Maritime museum across Charleston Harbor from downtown. The USS Yorktown, the sister ship to the Lexington (Corpus Christi) was nicknamed the Fighting Lady. Commissioned in 1943 she played a significant role in the defeat of Japan. She also served in the Vietnam war and in 1968 recovered the Apollo 8 astronauts, the first men to orbit the moon. was decommissioned in 1970 and towed to Charleston in1972. Also located on Patriot Point the destroyer USS Laffey, commissioned in 1944 was hit by 22 Japanese Kamikazi's and 3 bombs struck her and still remained afloat. Decommissioned in 1975, arrived in 1981, also in 1981 the submarine USS Clagagore, commissioned just weeks before the end of WWII. Luci and I spent a laid back day. We had diner at Moncks Corner on the canal, you can arrive by car or boat. Delish!
We visited with a local couple, they suggested we drive out to Mepkin Abbey.
Saturday, June 17, It was a fairly short drive out to what was originally Mepkin Plantation now Mepkin Abbey, previously owned by Henry and Clare Booth Luce. We took a guided tour of the grounds and Abbey, which included the 12 o'clock prayers with the monks in the Chapel. The grounds are beautifully kept up, beautiful old live oaks 200 plus years old dripping with Spanish Moss.
That's it for now, I'll catch up soon. Enjoy the pics.
TTFN
Gary and Pam
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