Charleston

Day 9

Yesterday’s fresh peaches appeared on our hotel breakfast waffles this morning, and we used the energy to explore a Jack Nicklaus golf course called the Golden Bear. It was closed for renovations and will reopen in September for year round golfing!

Gary navigated our Journey from Hilton Head Island to Charleston, which took about 2 hours. I dozed on and off, noticing long-needled pine trees, trees with long vines growing all over them making them appear like cartoon characters, and churches on almost every corner (mostly Baptist).

We checked into the Governor’s House Inn a few hours early, but our housekeeper led us up the stairs of the 257 year old house up to our Magnolia room on the third floor where the slaves or servants would have slept in times gone by. We decided to venture out in to the highly humid environment and explore the city on foot. We ventured up Kings street and looked through the various shops in the Antique district and the Fashion district. The Unitarian graveyard was a welcome diversion with its ancients tombstones and wildly growing vegetation.

We found a Magnolia in bloom.

As we continued on to the harbour, we kept our eyes on the skies and managed to pop into an Irish pub just before the skies let loose warning us of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Franklin. We had wondered where everyone was as the streets were fairly empty, but we found them in the pub where the air conditioning was set to meat freezer!

After a lovely lunch, we made our way back to the Inn which was the home of Edward Rutledge, former Governor of South Carolina and the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence. We were met by Jody, our evening hostess. She gave us a tour of the home and described the afternoon hors-d’oeuvres that she had created along with various wines offered between 4:30 and 5:30. I must mention that she had just made fresh brownies which I just happened to have left room for. 🙂