After a lovely 4 weeks at home
We flew back to Charleston last Sunday. By Monday afternoon, we’d reunited with The Beast, picked up Lizzy, and were camped in Mount Pleasant (north of Charleston) for 4 nights. Mark spent some time testing various aspects of our refrigerator, and determined that it had TOTALLY FAILED!!! Freezer now being used as a literal Ice Box. Replacement ordered, and scheduled for install in Florida, December 27. Hope it shows up in time! We made it to a new National Park, toured the USS Yorktown & USS Laffey, and had dinner with Steve & Jane, old friends of Mark’s who live in Charleston.
Friday we continued south to Yemasee, SC for 3 nights. Yesterday we made it to another new National Park and had a late lunch with Rich & Virginia. They live in Hilton Head, and met us halfway. OH! We drove by Parris Island, where Gail’s Dad was stationed February 1952-1954. Today we hung out in the rain.
Visits to 2 new National Park Sites:
- Charles Pinckney National Historic Site (#225), at Snee Farm, one of Charles Pinckney’s plantation properties. We learned about Charles Pinckney, a principal author and signer of the United States Constitution, a bit about how the enslaved people lived on his property, and how rice & indigo was grown.
- Reconstruction Era National Historical Park (#226), a relatively new park, tells the stories of the people, places, and events in Beaufort County, South Carolina, where Reconstruction began in 1861. The Reconstruction Era,1861-1900 is the historic period in which the United States grappled with the question of how to integrate millions of newly freed African Americans into social, political, economic, and labor systems.
Rice Trunk on the grounds of Snee Farm 
Darrah Hall, the oldest building on the campus of the Penn Center, one of the first southern schools for formerly enslaved people. It is on St. Helena Island 
Ranger Tour in downtown Beauford. Beaufort was a command center for Union operations on the southeast coast. Many of the historic homes were purchased at tax auctions by formerly enslaved people, most notably Robert Smalls 
Pinkney Chapel at Camp Saxton, home to the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, made up of formerly enslaved African Americans from the coastal islands of South Carolina
Ships and friends
Off for Georgia tomorrow!
For more pictures, eventually, see (in-work) Adventure Album: Head South for Winter
5 Comments
Gretta · December 18, 2023 at 12:50 pm
glad you are back but you certainly must be getting bad weather, we are for sure and heard SC is a mess on the coast. Enjoy your Winter, love seeing and hearing about your adventures.
Merry Christmas, Happy 2024
Gail · December 18, 2023 at 1:11 pm
We heard that, too, but other than a lot of rain yesterday, us been cool, but pretty nice!
Gail · December 18, 2023 at 4:44 pm
OH! And you noticed the Parris Island sign, eh? I was born while Dad was there!
Ginny · December 18, 2023 at 2:38 pm
Glad to see you back to adventuring! Sorry about the refrigerator, that’s a bummer!! Part of home ownership I guess, even when your home is on wheels!
Gail · December 18, 2023 at 4:45 pm
ABSOLUTELY! And…if it was going to fail, “on the road”, it could have been MUCH WORSE timing!
Looks like YOU’RE having a FANTASTIC Trip!