I was sad to see our last day of vacation arrive. We had such a great time exploring the area and eating our way through so many different restaurants. We noshed tasty morsels and daydreamed about moving. I was very taken with the Southern lifestyle. I have always considered myself a Southern girl, but there is a definite difference between Texas girls and Southern debutantes! We also laughed numerous times throughout the week at all of the men in pink. I have never seen so many pink polos, pink oxford shirts with the sleeves rolled, seersucker suits, plaid shorts, or even solid color shorts with little prints. (I saw a grown man with a blue pair of shorts with little red anchors embroidered all over them. He was secure in his masculinity.)
We ate our last meal in Charleston at a place called The Glass Onion. (I got a cookbook from them as well the The Hominy Grill. I love to read cookbooks!) Once again, they had deviled eggs and pimento cheese. As it was our last meal, we felt obligated to eat both!
Shane also had the fried chicken po'boy with a side of mac and cheese. They actually ship in their po'boy bread from New Orleans. It was pretty authentic. This restaurant is a firm believer in local ingredients and support the local suppliers by buying as many of their ingredients from local farmers, fisherman, and butchers as possible. It was a fine meal.
Grilled pimento cheese with house made bread and butter pickles. There is not much in life that makes me happier than good food.
After we enjoyed our lunch, we were off to explore the other side of Charleston. (Up to this point, we had only been in the downtown area and western side.)
While we were driving around we found the plantation district as well as the original Charles Town Landing. We started to tour a plantation, but decided on the Landing instead. I'm glad that we did, it was fascinating. Charleston wasn't originally built on the harbor. When the original colonists came to the area, they actually settled across the river and the creek at this spot. They lived here in a fortified city (That term is used loosely. There were only about 250 colonists.) that was bordered by the marsh, the creek, and a fence with cannons. After 10 years of not really being able to trade, the colonists picked up the city and trekked across the river and set up a new city in the harbor. The rest is history! (hee hee)
We opted to use a self paced audio tour. I'm really glad that we did. The park was beautiful, but there was so much information that was added per the audio tour. It was very interesting. This fence below was an example of fencing from the time period.
This statue depicts the chief of the Indian tribe that met them at the river and invited them to shore. He was hoping for an ally to fight against neighboring Indian tribes.
These were stocks that were used for discipline within the town.
None of the original buildings are still standing. This was an example of a house.
We were looking classy with our headphones. :)
Four cannons pointed towards the river to provide protection from anyone approaching there.
Little huts with thatched roofs were the original dwellings.
After the town was moved, one of the families purchased all of the land and then lived on the premises for the next 200+ years. In 1970, the land was sold to the state for the tricentennial celebration and then turned into a state park the next year. The property was a plantation for years.
The park was beautiful with some of the oldest and largest trees that I have ever seen.
Seriously.
The plantation had beautiful gardens and the governor actually lived in the big house for a while.
After sweating through our tour, we climbed back into our air conditioning and drove back to Charlotte for our return trip home.
We have decided that we love the Carolinas. We met so many truly friendly people that were so proud of their state and were happy to visit and to help. We got many recommendations from others for restaurants, parks, at one point we even got a ride from someone back to our car. Southern hospitality at it's finest. I think that this was the BEST birthday gift ever and I smile every time that I think about it.
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