Fort Sumter

Day 14

Our last full day in Charleston, so we got up, showered, and left for Charleston, 45 miles to the north.  

Our first stop in Charleston was Café Framboise, which, as the name suggests, features French pastries. It’s run by a woman from Paris who lived in the 15^tharrondisement, (Montparnasse) so I practiced my French, un peu.  For breakfast, Joni had French toast, made on brioche bread.   It was delicious; very light and strong egg flavor.  I had two croissants, one plain and one almond. Delicious!

After breakfast we drove north to the visitors center, picking up a detailed street map of Charleston so that we could sequence our sight seeing with minimal driving.  Accordingly we headed north in Charleston, to the campus of the Citadel.  One of Joni’s favorite authors is Pat Conroy whose many novels, especially The Great Santini, are located on that campus.  We were expecting the university to look like UVa in Charlottesville, but it was just the opposite.  All of the buildings have a fortress/castle-like appearance and are covered in white cement.  Glad I didn’t apply?

As we headed north toward The Citadel’s campus the architecture stayed the same, but the state of repair deteriorated quickly.  One of my favorite TV shows, This Old House, is currently featuring the renovation of a typical “single house” that is so prevalent in this city. There are plenty that need serious renovation, but after some quick iPhone research, we discovered that the neighborhood where the program’s example is being restored is in one of the much nicer neighborhoods.  Figures!

Leaving The Citadel’s campus we drove back to the southern end of the city, parked the car and took our own walking tour of “Rainbow Row” and a waterfront park that  features a huge pineapple fountain.

Along the way we succumbed to a barker in front of the oldest liquor store in the US.  We were just in time for a tasting of four different spirits including legal moonshine, whisky, & cider.  By the time the fourth drink came around I couldn’t remember what we were drinking!  It was a lot of fun…we highly recommend.

We continued our walk around Charleston until 1:30 PM and then headed to the Fort Sumter Visitors Center where we boarded a ferry to take us out to the fort.  We sat on the top deck of the ferry and were very glad to have brought our down jackets which were well needed for the 30 minute trip. 

All the way out we were treated to a historical narration over the PA about the fort which was built in 1807 under President James Monroe’s in order to protect many of the harbors along the east coast.  As the civil War approached, the Union Navy was blocking the Charleston harbor and preventing many of the South’s key exports from being shipped out.  Fort Sumter is situated right in the middle of the harbor entrance and as the desire to secede grew and grew, the Confederacy decided they needed to take over the fort.  After many hours of bombardment from the Confederate’s shore cannons, the Union abandoned the fort, and it remained in the South’s control until the end of the war.  

The Fort remained active through WWI and WWII and was finally decommissioned in 1947 when it was turned over the National Park Service.

Once our ferry landed we were treated to an informative 20 minute overview of the Fort by a park ranger, and then we were allowed to visit the museum and the grounds for the next hour before returning to the city.  Another must see in Charleston, especially in you enjoy Civil War history.

Leaving the visitors’ center we drove back downtown for an early dinner at Eli’s Tables.  This was our first big splurge for dinner and it was worth every penny.  Once we were seated, and had received water and menus our serenity was interrupted  by our the two gentlemen at our neighboring table.  The two started arguing very loudly.  Apparently one was the mentor/guardian/lover of the other who was mad that his partner wouldn’t cover his rehab costs for his schizophrenia.  I’m not making this up.  Their conversation kept getting louder and louder so we asked to move to another table and the hostess accommodated us very graciously.

For the rest of the dinner, our evening was wonderful.  Joni had “day scallops” and I had a crab cake on a bed with asparagus risotto, topped with a ½ a lobster tail.  We shared bread pudding for dessert.  

We returned to our campsite just as it was getting dark after 1 ½ wonderful days in Charleston.