DAY 5: Sunday 13 May 2012 - Myrtle Beach to Georgetown to Charleston, South Carolina
We’re off to Brookgreen Gardens today. Unfortunately, we woke up to grey skies, which by the time we got on the bus had become pouring rain. Typical – this was an outside day today! Did they not get my memo? We’re going on a walking tour, followed by a boat trip – I don’t think we’re going to see much wildlife in this weather – gators like sunshine (as do I).
The Gardens were established in 1931 as a non-profit outdoor museum with majestic oaks and world-renowned sculpture. We were subject to our usual time-constraints, but we'd be spending a few hours here, with a guided tour of the sculpture gardens before the boat trip. As we entered, we passed Pledge of Allegiance where some scouts are running the flag up the pole, then I spotted a chap reading the paper, Len Ganeway - representing a farmer reading the local paper. Check out the impromptu rain gear! It was supposed to be a sunny trip so my dopey assistants hadn't packed my raincoat. I had to improvise - thanks Richard Branson!
We entered the Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington Sculpture Garden, led by a very informative guide. The statues are made of a variety of media and the subject range was wide. They can all be found within some beautifully maintained formal gardens. This pond was the home of Diana of the Chase (and that's not Cannock). Even in the rain, there were some cool reflections in the pond.
We next headed through Live Oak Allée and these are live oak trees planted in the 18th Century, marking the land approach to the Brookgreen Plantation owner's house. Spanish moss hangs from the branches - this is the stuff Henry Ford used to stuff the Model T's seats, before they knew about the red bugs (or chiggers) that live in it. The car industry's first ever recall! The greener leaves are resurrection fern, which lives on the tree until there's rainfall, when it turns green (which is why it's green today!)
We entered the Palmetto Garden which uses Sabal Palmettos, which are South Carolina's state tree.
We passed another statue of Diana before heading into The Fountain of the Muses Garden. Each of the four muses carries a symbol of fine art.
As well as the sculptures there are all kinds of trees, flowers and birds. This tree on the left is a magnolia, with it's flower below centre. Can't remember what the tree on the right is, but it's still impressive!
This huge statue (below left) is Pegasus. It is Brookgreen's largest statue and took nine years from inception to completion. We saw some more flowers (and frogs!) in the garden. It was cool to see a pineapple growing out of the ground - I usually only see these in supermarkets (or tins). The Peace Fountain is impressive, representing birds in flight, you can really see the life and movement in it.
The building to the left is the Old Kitchen - this is now a restaurant at the Gardens, serving soup and sandwiches. Then we continued on to the end of the guided tour, passing Forest Idyl and ending with Riders of the Dawn.
I say ending, but we weren't through with the sculptures, as we then passed through a collection of smaller examples. We started with my favourite birds Penguins, then I think Di was trying to be funny, as this one is called Wild Boars. I related better to Brown Bears for some reason, then we reached The End of the Trail, which is a sculpture I recognise (see, I'm not a peasant! Much.)
Once the tour was completed, we were taken to the Pavilion Restaurant for the obligatory lunch stop (as people riding buses have to eat every couple of hours without fail!) We didn’t want lunch so had an hour to kill – oh yeah, and it was still raining. We went into one of two newly opened Western Art exhibitions. I recognised a Remington sculpture in there. There was also a picture of Spider Rock at Canyon de Chelly and I’ve been there! (The write-up is on my list.)
We decided to take a walk through the gift shop, but that didn’t take long – they had quite a bit of stuff, but nothing that really appealed. I’m probably not arty enough to appreciate it! They had a nice otter t-shirt, but at $21 I was too mean to buy one as a gift and it wasn’t Ted-size.
We went back to check out the second Western Art exhibition and got chatting to a lady in there (she might even be reading this, as she took one of my cards! Please let me know if you do!)
Eventually, it was time to meet for the trolley to the boat. We arrived early but by now it was raining much more heavily - it was tipping it down when we got to the path to the boat dock, but we had another fifteen minutes to wait so some of us ducked (like that? "duck"-ed?) into their Low Country exhibit and took a look at that. It was only a single room exhibit – a little history of the Brookgreen plantation and some rice plantation artefacts, but at least it was dry. Then it was time to head for the boat dock (we couldn’t put it off any longer) – good job I had my Virgin bag raincoat!
It was a little crowded down at the dock, but we all squished in while our guide explained how the water was allowed to enter the rice fields, and how it was manipulated to drain the fields as required during the growing season. We would see some of these wooden mechanisms out in the fields while on the tour.
In the 1860s Brookgreen was a rice plantation, using mostly slave labour. The first colonial settlers arrived with Caribbean slaves and it took them ten years to clear the trees from the land, remove the timber, level the land, dig the trenches and build the dykes which would enable the rice to be grown. Fortunately, the slaves were genetically resistant to malaria as most of this work was done in muddy water. I can’t imagine they were as resistant to gators and snakes however so combined with the hot and humid climate I'm going to say I'm not volunteering for be a slave for a day. Thanks for the offer though - one of my assistants will be volunteering on my behalf.
He also explained there were no sides to the boat and that the seats would be wet. They were! I just tucked my feet up into my bag and I was fine, but I can't say the same for the rest of the group! We were all very British about it, well, except those of us that weren't exactly British, but we got on with it. What else could we do? (Apparently, no, we couldn't just stay in the restaurant!)
The boat trip would last 45 minutes on the Brookgreen Canal and Creek, looking for wildlife, rice plantation and slavery history. We did spot a gator on our way out, but I was too slow to get a photograph. I did get a picture of a heron (they're easier to see) and the box is a bird box (I think), and the panel below is to stop something getting into the nest, but if you actually know what it houses and who it prevents, please let me know. I was too busy staying dry and I can't remember. Sheesh. Like you care anyway!
The photo below left is the Brookgreen gardens labyrinth, a medieval-style maze of shell and natural grass. So no, it's not supposed to have big hedges, it's just a ground-level maze. You probably have to be there to be more impressed.
Our guide was very knowledgeable but I think he was a little hampered by the poor weather as he couldn’t tell us as much about the surrounding wildlife as we saw very little of it! We did see the gator again on our return and this time I did get a photograph. Then, we were back at the dock. A quick shot of Diving Eagle and it was back to the trolley for a lift back to the bus. You guessed it - still raining, although not as much as when we got onto the boat.
We were headed to Charleston and Brenda had issued some maps while we were at the gardens. She also put on a DVD about Charleston but it was a bit boring so I feel asleep. Sorry, can’t tell you about it!
On our way, we drove through the little town of Georgetown which has a population of about ten thousand – the weather was still poor so my photos aren’t too good. It is a colonial port town that continues as a port today, having set up as their own port when they were fed up of paying Charleston taxes for their imports and exports. The yellow building is the 1760 courthouse.
We arrived at the Charleston Visitor’s Center about 3.45pm so we had about 45 minutes there to collect brochures, leaflets and maps. This was lucky as we hadn’t figured out what we were going to do with our free time in Charleston. Dave was going to Fort Sumter but I’d been twice, I’d also done several walking tours and seen all the big ticket tours. We would have liked to go back to the Hunley (the Civil War submarine that is being restored) but it was only open Saturday/Sunday (today was Sunday) with the last tour at 4.40pm, which meant we would have had to go immediately and miss the Archers-included tour. We couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to get there in time (it’s about a twenty minute drive out of town) so we stuck with the freebie tour.
At 4.30pm, we all got back on the bus for our included tour of the city, with a local tour guide. We’d previously done the Eastern side of the peninsula so this started out well as we drove over to the west side (it’s only a few blocks wide).
The whole area south of Broadway is now a preservation area so there are a lot of traditional houses. Many are end-on to the street, being narrow on the street door side and long into the lot. On the south facing (usually long) side is an open porch on each storey. On the ground floor, there is often what looks like a front door entry onto this, which, when you look down the side is to an open porch – this gave them security but air during the hot summer months before air conditioning.
On the way from the Visitor's Center we passed by Marion Square (which is opposite our hotel), then we drove by Charleston College. They use the original buildings for graduation, which had happened the day before we arrived. Good. All those pesky students would be gone! The College is also responsible for a number of new buildings in town including some new medical facilities.
We drove down to the Battery and had the chance to get off the bus and take a walk along the harbour wall. There are some nice houses down there – about $2 million if you’re interested, although some can cost over $6 million (too ostentatious for me…not!) Apparently, many bankers are using their nice little $30 million bonuses to buy investment properties – they don’t even stay in them (not for long, anyway).
Below left is the Confederate Defenders of Charleston monument, which was dedicated, in White Point Gardens at the Battery, in 1932. Across the harbour, our guide pointed out several islands including where the movie Glory was set. The middle photo below is of Fort Sumter, where the Civil War started on 12 April 1861. The Moultrie Marker (right) is a monument to Charleston's native son, William Moultrie. He was a big player in the American Revolutionary War and became Governor of South Carolina in the 1780s.
As we headed back to the bus, we crossed through the gardens and passed a little house with a slate roof. According to our guide, it was cheaper to replace the existing Welsh slate by reimporting it from Wales than buy slate locally from Virginia. Weird.
It seems the house with the pillars has not been done up and the woman living there has owned it for years, living in two rooms. She could make a fortune but has chosen not to sell. Good for her! Bet her rellies are grateful!
Battery Park is relatively new land, reclaimed from behind the new harbour wall. There’s a bandstand – there’s often a wedding being photographed down here and this visit didn’t disappoint. There are a few cannon and cannonballs scattered around. They tell me this one dates back to the Civil War. I'm sure they wouldn't make it up!
We drove back along the harbour wall, past the posh bank-owned (not foreclosed, but owned by bankers) homes, the market and the fire department – an old building which is still being used. They have to buy special fire engines that fit under the archways! Might put that on tomorrow's to do list.
We arrived at the Francis Marion Hotel. It had nice beds! Comfy, but very high! It is an old historic hotel and we were on the 11th floor – great view. We could even see Fort Sumter in the harbour.
Next we had the dinner decision to make. We considered the hotel’s Swamp Fox Restaurant, but, a couple of years ago, when we’d last been in Charleston, we’d had dinner at a little Italian place Pano e Vino. We remembered it was north up King Street, near the Francis Marion and then look the second left into Warren Street. A few yards down the road and there it was! What a memory. It had the same Christmas lights outside and an Italian flag.
It was very busy – of course, it was Mother’s Day in the US – but they did offer to seat us at the bar. They had some room in their uncovered courtyard, where we’d eaten last visit, but the sky was a bit grey and they didn’t want us to have to eat in the rain. We’re pretty flexible so we sat at the bar and took a look at the menu.
We ordered some bruschetta to share, then veggie spaghetti for Di, and fettucine pappardelle with chicken for Paul and me. Wine was $33/liter carafe, so not too bad, but not great. Dave had spaghetti carbonara. We finished with tiramisu – just the one between us though. The food was good and it’s a nice little place (would’ve been better at a table, so I dropped them the one Ted, for that and the wine price). Overall, the bill came to $90 but we did manage three courses!
