24.08.2012 – 24.08.2012  27 °C

Early start this morning with us driving down from Augusta to Charleston Sth Carolina. I took us on a route that meant we drove down to Charleston via some of the Sth Carolinian plantations. We took the route that follows the Ashley River so it was a very pretty drive. This road must be one of the oldest roads here in Sth Carolina because parts of it were oak tree lined, with the oak trees sporting copious amounts of Spanish Moss. For me, the one thing I’m always going to remember about the South is the moss. Every time I see it I just want to get out my camera and start snapping shots.. The moss just makes everything look OLD. When I get home I’m gonna get myself some of this moss and have it draped over some sort of tree… Guess I might need to find an oldish house in Brissie so that I can put the moss on at least a large tree!! 🙂

There are three plantations that are open to the public that were all along our route. The first one was closed but we did stop in for the second one, Magnolia. The actual plantation house is no longer in existence (it burnt down in a fire) but the grounds are renowned. It is interesting but before we had even gotten into the parking lot we all guessed that the plantation house must have been destroyed.. We guessed correctly, because the drive way is an impressive avenue of oak trees that sadly end at a vacant lot of land! We’re getting good if we can recognise that the home is no longer in existence!!! We actually gave the gardens a miss.. I’m sure they are beautiful but at 25 dollars entry price each we decided we could forgo the beauty and head into Charleston to find some gorgeous old houses.

Charleston is a port city, it was back when it was first built 1670 and still is today. We are staying in the historic district of Charleston so we should be able to get a good look at the gorgeous old houses that make this town the Southern Belle. The city made its cash (and probably still does) by being one of the key export/ import centres for the south; exporting all of the agricultural products (surprise, surprise, COTTON) and importing luxury items from Europe.

After we had checked into our hotel we headed straight out to catch the shuttle for downtown to see sites and more importantly to stop and grab some lunch. Hmm…. 40 mins later the ‘free’ shuttle turned up and carried us down to the main part of town.. An hour and a half after we walked out of the entry way of the hotel and we were all starving (it is well past 3pm) so instead of our original plan of hopping on the downtown shuttle and just going for a drive we hopped off half way round the loop and went hunting lunch.

When in Charleston you have to have lunch at the marketplace and ideally the food will be seafood. We ticked both boxes today for lunch, although the seafood didn’t knock my socks off… Good but not good enough! We spent the remainder of the afternoon just wandering around the marketplace before the heat really told us it was time to head back to base for an early night.. Again an hour later and we were back!

After such a late and large lunch we actually forgoed dinner but instead had an early night in.. Day 1 in Charleston, so far no extravagant southern houses… gonna have to do a proper tour of the town tomorrow as they must be here somewhere…

Song of the Day– James Taylor, Carolina in my mind (I think this song is technically about Nth Carolina but really… Nth Sth does it really matter???)