DAY 7: Tuesday 15 May 2012 - Charleston to Beaufort, South Carolina to Savannah, Georgia
Another late start with bags at 8am, departure at 9am this morning. This trip is soooo easy. We were headed first for Beaufort (pronounced boo-ford – there’s a town with the same name in North Carolina, but that’s pronounced Bow-fort – dunno why, both towns were named after the Duke of Beaufort!) where we’d get an included carriage ride around the town as well as time for a lunch stop. Brenda had had maps printed – unfortunately, we got the legend but no map! Oh well, we’d find everything okay, she said. We’ll see! At least the sun was shining, so hopefully we were set for another good weather day.
The drive was disturbed a little when Brenda insisted on putting on the movie Forest Gump with Tom Hanks. I hate it, but it seems some of it was shot in Beaufort, so we had to watch it. Well, no, we didn't - I decided to type up my notes while trying to tune it out.
The sky had turned grey by the time we arrived at Beaufort at about 10.30am. We’d have four hours here? What!? Four!!? Let’s hope there’s lots to do here then. Our carriage ride would be at 12.30pm - the bus was split into two teams and Dave’s side of the bus were on the 11.45am tour. Our side was on the later tour . So, two hours to kill – we headed into town – we figured it was snack time! My favourite time of day.
We went to the Southern Sweets Ice Cream Parlor. It's a cute little diner, with quite a few ice cream flavours and hot dog options to choose from. Eventually, we all decided. As you’ll see from the photo, I had a hotdog and two ice creams! Well, okay I had to give them back after the photo shoot, but Di and I shared a lemon custard ice cream which was very nice. Dropped a Ted cos the lady serving was a teensy bit intimidating expecting us to know what we wanted to order, despite never having been there before or seeing a menu!
We then headed down the street. We’d seen reference to a museum on Bay Street (the town’s main street) so went to take a look. We arrived at the fairly unassuming John Mark Verdier House Museum. We were too cheap to pay for the $10 house tour (it didn't look that exciting), but they had a free Civil War exhibition, showing how Beaufort looked back then. It wasn’t hugely exciting, but it killed a few minutes. In hindsight, we probably should have done the tour - we just didn't realise it was this or nothing!
The map also referred to an Arsenal so we decided to head there next. When we arrived we found out it was just the home of the Visitor’s Center and that the Arsenal itself was not actually open to the public. There is a little information about it though - it was originally erected in 1798 and rebuilt in 1852 and was home to the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery. Oh well, they gave us a better map at the Visitor’s Center, which proved to us that there was very little to see in Beaufort. Good job we only had another hour or so until our carriage ride. Sheesh.
As we walked up the street, in the direction of the carriage ride stop, we saw a carriage come past. Then we saw the Tabernacle Baptist Church, which was formed by black members of the Beaufort Baptist Church. In 1867, the black congregation bought the land from the Baptist Church, dedicating the church in 1894.
Alongside the church is a statue of Robert Smalls, who was born a slave in Beaufort in 1839. During the Civil War in 1862, Smalls commandeered the Confederate gunboat "Planter" - on which he was a crewman - and delivered it to Union Forces. As a freedman, he served the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate as well as nine years in the National Congress for South Carolina.
We wandered the streets for a while, looking at the old houses, and watching the odd carriage ride group (not ours) pass us by. We headed down to the river-front. They have installed a walkway along which are a number of swings. So we sat on one of those, for a while. We could hear one squeaking – guess who was sitting on it? Yep, our Brenda. Wish I’d got my WD-40 with me. At least the sun had come out – which was a shame, as we’d brought the jackets out with us! Flippin’ weather!
We took a wander around the Robert C Chambers Waterfront Park – this didn’t take long either!
We took a look at the boats in the marina - nice Police boat! At just after 12 noon we headed in the direction of the vague meeting point for the carriage ride. Only 25 minutes to go! At least we could have a nice stand-about in the car park. It was hot now, too!
Eventually it was time for our ride with Southurn Rose Buggy Tours – I dropped one Ted cos it was Beaufort and it was dull!. Our horse was Cisco Kid who stood at 19.2 hands (or about 6.5 TourGuideTeds high). He’s a Belgian Draft horse, working 2-3 days per week, 3-5 hours per day, which isn’t bad. After a working life on the Amish farms, where they don’t use tractors, this must seem like retirement! Our guide told us he was also a cancer survivor – having had an eye removed two years before. He’s been clear since.
We set off for a 55 minute tour around the streets of Beaufort, passing houses from the 1700s in the historic part of the town, which are now protected, but it wasn’t always the case. We passed the Rhett House Inn - not named for Rhett Butler of Gone With The Wind, rather Margaret Mitchell named her character after the famous Rhetts of Beaufort and Charleston and the Butlers of Atlanta. Thomas Rhett, who built the house, was actually Thomas Smith, taking his uncle's name in return for a bequest of his uncle's fortune. The building was used as a Civil War hospital by the Union Army but it is now a Bed and Breakfast.
We passed the Parish Church of St Helena, which was established in 1712. The church has been extended, demolished, reconstructed, the interior was stripped during it's use as a Hospital during the Civil War leaving only a marble font, re-roofed, partly destroyed by a hurricane in 1896 and the steeple reinstated in 1941 at the same height as the original (the only remaining specification) after it was removed as unsafe in the 1860s. Another hurricane stripped off the roof in 1959 and a hailstorm broke 150 window panes in 1970. Despite all that, the church was badly in need of a $2.6 million restoration in 1998, which was completed in 2000. Further work was carried out ready for the tricentennial in 2012.
We rode by the First Presbyterian Church, which was founded in 1912, after attempts to establish the church in the 1740s and 1880s failed. The Colonial Revival Church, below left, was built between 1928 and 1929.
We passed old and young houses, but since the area became protected, the new houses, or restorations must be sympathetically done - it seems to be working, I couldn't tell the difference! They make a lot of movies around here too and they pointed out who stayed here or there, but obviously I didn't remember so you'll have to take the trip yourself!
Look carefully at the photo below left - there's a staircase going nowhere! Apparently the house was destroyed several years ago, but the staircase was left as a kind of memorial to the old house. Spooky!
Once we were done with the carriage ride we still had another hour to kill. Oh dear. We took another walk down Bay Street, but on the other side - at least the sun was out this time. We ducked into a gift shop or two, but I must be getting miserable in my old age – or maybe Paul is rubbing off on me – but I didn’t buy anything. I thought $20 was too much for a t-shirt so I didn’t bother.
We walked back along the waterfront, checking out the bridge before returning to the car park and sitting on one of the benches for a while with a can of Coke and a packet of crisps (it’s a big snack day when you have four hours to kill in a dull town – sorry Beaufort).
Eventually, it was time to get back on the bus and drive the last 42 miles to Savannah - we were expecting a trolley tour when we arrived. Brenda put Forest Gump back on - yawn - at least it kept some folks entertained (I assume).
We passed a sign for Hilton Head Island with 250 restaurants and great shopping. Shame we weren’t stopping, it’s very nice there, but they probably don’t let the likes of us in! Bus travellers I mean, I’m sure they’re not bear-ist.
We arrived at the Savannah Visitor’s Center for a quick stop to pick up a bus parking permit, then they took us to our hotel – the Inn at Ellis Square. We had about 15 minutes to go up to our room – we were only on the second floor – so we walked up and dropped off our stuff. The sky was looking a little grey by now.
We had an included Archers private trolley tour arranged for us, provided by Old Town Trolley Tours (my fave trolley tour company) so we all headed out of the hotel and onto our trolley. I grabbed a window seat cos I know you guys like photos.
The driver/guide took us around the most historic houses in the town, and the churches (they have a lot!) He gave us a bit of the history too, but I won’t bore you. Yes, okay, I don’t remember. The building below centre I do remember - that was Henry Ford's car showroom for his horseless carriages! The building below right - the Green-Meldrim Mansion - was Sherman's Headquarters in Savannah during the Civil War (December 1864 to February 1865).
About half way around, it started to rain…and thunder and lightning, and despite our group coping admirably in the torrential rain at Brookgreen Gardens, this time they weren’t so happy and I had to drop the plastic blind – which led to the end of all the photos. Oh well, I’ll do you some more tomorrow. That said, by the time we completed the tour, the sun was back out again!
We went back to our room to see if our bags had arrived yet - success! A quick wash and brush up and we were off out again!
Dave had decided he wanted to see that night’s show at the Savannah Theatre (rather than the Archers optional the next night), as the content was more to his liking. They have several shows, I think two at at time, and each has different content. We walked over there with him to get a ticket and figured we might as well get dinner over that way, then we’d head back and leave Dave at the theatre.
According to our Trolley Tour map, The Six Pence Pub was nearby on Bull Street. It is (supposedly) a British-themed pub. Unfortunately, they don’t have a fryer, so no chips (fries)! Di had to have a veggie burger and crisps (chips to them), but it really isn’t the same. Paul had Shepherd’s (Cottage) Pie [technically, I don't believe those should be the same thing - one should be beef while the other should be lamb, but hey, I'm being picky] and…salad! Weird. Not that British, but the service was friendly. They only serve wine by the glass, not the bottle, but there was $1 off in happy hour so we managed to order five glasses of house red for $21 – not bad! Dropped Teds owing to no fryer and no bottles of wine!
Back at the hotel the room was okay – two beds, four million pillows and cushions and a view of the pool – handy if there’s a fire, we can swing out of the window and into the pool. Maybe. They didn’t have a fridge or a microwave and the aircon unit was very loud. They did offer a free breakfast though!
