Jeckyll Island day 2

We spent the morning today back at Jeckyll Island on the North side this time.

The beach on the North end is strewn with large trees that washed up during storms. It makes for a interesting walk along the sand.










Shrimp trawlers were working just off the shore. This is Forrest Gump country for those who have seen the movie. We saw the bench Forrest sat on and told his life story to passersby in Savannah and now the Shrimp trawlers here.

The Marsh stretches for miles out here. Lots of wildlife ( I even saw a wild hog). It's just a quiet and pretty place.

Off to Orlando tomorrow morning.

The Barrier Islands

Did you know that there is no mainland beach facing the Atlantic in Georgia? Nope..... there isn't.
The entire coast is Barrier Islands with the intracoastal waterway between them and the mainland.
The last two days have been spent visiting Jeckyll Island (yesterday) and St. Simon Island (today). These are laid back places with lots of Southern charm and 25mph speed limits.

Jeckyl Island has long been the playground of the rich and famous. At the turn of the century the island was purchased by wealthy individuals ( most notably Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan) for the sum of $125,000. They built a clubhouse and called themselves the Jeckyll Island club. The clubhouse shown here has since been converted to a hotel that anyone can stay at if that anyone has enough money.
Jeckyll Island is now a state park and is a super place to relax.
We had lunch of a pound of fresh "peel and eat" shrimp caught locally and a pitcher of beer. What a way to go!

Today was St. Simon Island day and we started with the lighthouse at the South end of the island. Once again, we climbed the stairs for a really great view of the island. The light is still functional being used for navigation from the ocean to the river.

After a light lunch we headed to the North end to visit Ft. Frederica. The town of Frederica and the fort were built by Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia colony. It stood from 1732 to about 1772 when the troops left and the town dried up. Without the troops there was no way of sustaining the town.





This is typical of the trees down here. The moss grows on all of them but really loves live oak trees. The moss is not a parasite but gets it's food from the air. It's a great relationship and a pretty one as well. One more day here and it's off to Orlando for a week. More from there.

A deep south RV park

We left Savannah this morning headed for Brunswick Ga. But, before we did I took this photo of the trailer at the RV park. All parks should look like this. Lots of trees and note the moss dripping off the limbs all around the trailer.

 

 

 

More from Brunswick later.

Savannah and Tybee Island

We've spent the last two days touring Savannah (yesterday) and Tybee Island (today). This is beautiful deep South country. Savannah is a city as you would think of a Southern city. The charm just drips from all corners.

Savannah is situated along the Savannah River which runs about 12 miles to the Atlantic. The city has a river front area which runs about a mile along the river and has many restaurants and  shops. The river isn't wide at this point but it is deep.







The river is deep enough that ocean going ships come up to the port of Savannah. It's fun to just sit and watch them go by the river front. They're so close that it seems you can touch them. 3 to 5 per day go one way or the other.







We spent most of the day touring the Historic District. This is typical of the houses in the district. We love the moss growing everywhere.

There are 22 squares like this one in the Historic District. Each is about a block square with something of historical interest in the middle. Statues to important Savannah figures and in some cases national interest. The traffic pattern goes around them quite nicely.

Today we drove out to Tybee Island about 12 miles East of Savannah. Here we found a historic fort and the Tybee lighthouse. We've see lots of lighthouses but this is one of the best. The lighthouse is 154 feet tall and it's 174 steps to the top. We know because we climbed to the top.

This is the view from the top. We're looking North and you can see the mouth of the Savannah River straight ahead. We spent the rest of the day visiting the museum at the fort and then drove to South Tybee Island where they were filming Sponge Bob Square Pants. Of note is that the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" directed by Clint Eastwood was filmed in Savannah....... we'll rent it when we get home.
Tomorrow it's off to Brunswick for three days before heading to Florida.
More from there.

A day in Charleston

We spent the day in Charleston yesterday and had a great time. The day started with a van tour of the city which gave us a overview of the place in about two hours. Then we caught the ferry ( the govt went back to work so the tour was  operating again) and visited Fort Sumter.

 We boarded this nice little boat for a 40 minute ride to the island which is home to Fort Sumter. It was a pleasant afternoon for a boat ride in Charleston harbor.








Fort Sumter sits on a man made island at the mouth of the harbor and between two other forts on land. The three forts were built in the mid 1700's to protect the town from the British. It was occupied by Union troops from then until 1861 when it became famous as the site of the first battle of the Civil War. Forgive me if the dates are a little off...... I'm getting old!




Before the battle the Fort was three stories high. After the battle it was still that high. The confederates won that battle and the Union soldiers retreated. But, it was the two years of bombardment by the Union forces that destroyed the two top stories. It seems that the Union really wanted the fort back. Another interesting fact is that this is the site of first sinking of a ship by a submarine. The USS Hunley rammed a  ship about 4oo meters off the island and unfortunately went to the bottom with it' prey.


Back  on shore, we caught sight of this bridge. I don't remember it's name but it is surely unique as far as bridges go.
Off to Savannah tomorrow morning. More from there.

The tea plantation

We spent the morning visiting the United State's only tea plantation and since Sharleen is a avid tea drinker we learned a lot. This plantation makes American classic tea and that is the only American grown tea in the US. Bigelow tea has purchased American tea so they will have a wider distribution.

Here we see the tea "hedges". Did you know that the tea plant is related to the Camellia  plant. Yup, it's a close relative. The plants, once planted need never to be replanted. It takes about 6  years from starting a plant to tea production but from then on for hundreds of years there is no replanting.

This is a tea harvesting machine that the call the Green Giant. They adapted parts from the cotton picker and other implements to make the harvester; It cuts the three inch new growth which is what the tea leaves come from. They said that this machine does the work of 500 men.

From the plantation it was off to visit the Angel Oak tree. It's the largest live Oak in the world and it's immense. Look at the people standing underneath to get a indication of size. Enough touring for today.

Charleston, SC

We arrived in Charleston  on Saturday after a short two hour drive from Myrtle Beach. Since then we have been doing some errands and just laying low for a bit. But yesterday we did some touring again. It was a visit to Middleton Place. This is a plantation owned by the Middleton Family which had a long connection to Carolina and national politics. Henry was a president of the first Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His son, Aurthur, was the president of the second Continental Congress and continued in a prominent place in state and national politics.



Henry started on the gardens shortly after  his marriage to Mary Williams in 1741. The gardens have been maintained from that time and are just lovely. Sharleen was saying that the spring would be great to visit here.










Every pond has it's Alligator down here. I'll bet we saw at least  six of them walking the grounds.

As you can see, they don't lack for water here. It's called the Carolina low country for a good reason. The Plantations here grew rice which needs the water.

This is the original guest house and the only part of the housing complex to survive the Civil War. In 1865 a company of union soldiers from New York burned most of the housing here. Henry the second rebuilt the house and used it as his residence for some years.  There's history everywhere you look here.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

We've been here for three days but it's been pretty much rest and beach time. Except for today,
This morning we drove to Brookgreen Garden just a few miles from here. It's a national historic monument which was started by the Huntington's to display her sculptures. They combined 3 plantations for a total of 9000 acres and then built gardens for outdoor display of the sculptures.

Sculptures like these were everywhere we looked. We walked about 4 miles on the grounds and there was always something new around the next turn.









The trees in the garden were just beautiful. The moss dripped off them as you can see and it made us feel like we were really in the South.








This is the South Carolina Low Country and it has lots of water. The plantations here grew rice and not tobacco like Virginia. We took a pontoon boat ride on the canals and saw lots of water and vegetation. Also, we saw some Alligators. Interesting to see them in the wild and natural habitat.


This is the Myrtle Beach boardwalk area. The area also known as the Grand Strand is wonderful and it's easy to see why this area is the east coast vacation destination.
Off to Charleston tomorrow morning. Just a two hour trip and we'll be there a week. More from there.

Virginia Beach

We've been here for two days and it's great. The weather is perfect and the water is calm and warm by our standards.

We had the good fortune to connect with family that I have been communicating with for several years. From left to right Emma, Kim, Ashley, and Scott. Kim is a Millering and it's fun looking at how we are related. We're missing a key that puts if all together but I trust that will come. Great to meet them and visit for a while. Thanks gang!




Yesterday morning we drove down to Sandbridge Beach and just did some beach walking. On our walk Friday (no pictures) we saw Dolphins feeding by circling their prey and using their tails to slap the water. They were just about 30 yards from shore. We also saw a submarine leaving the port at Norfolk. This is a great and fun place and we'll hate to leave tomorrow but it's down the road again toward Myrtle Beach SC. More from there.

Virginia Beach day one half

We drove all of 80 miles this morning to Virginia Beach just East of Norfolk.  We set up shop and then headed for the beach just two miles away. There we found these amazing sand sculptures from a recent competition.

The sand sculptures were just incredible. These are three examples of what we saw.











This one took the blue ribbon for best solo..... single artist..... sculpture.








Abraham Lincoln is shown here with the mermaid. The sculptures were tall... some at about eight feet and incredibly detailed.
We're now home with our feet up deciding what we'll do for the next three days at the beach.

Jamestown

Today was a wrap up day here in the Colonial Triangle. Since the Government isn't working Yorktown was closed so we headed back to Williamsburg this morning to see a museum we didn't get to on Monday then off to Jamestown for the afternoon.

The Jamestown settlement village consists of a Indian village, Fort James and a museum. We spent the afternoon walking the grounds and visiting the museum which included a  25 minute historical film. These are recreations of the Indian houses that would have been here in 1600.

Jamestown is the oldest settlement dating back to when three ships arrived here on April 14, 1607. There were 104 colonists that came ashore on that day and formed the Jamestown colony. These are replicas of the three ships that arrived that day.

I'm including this so you all will know that we are alive and well.

Below decks the area is small with no comforts of home. The Voyage lasted 144 days and had to be most unpleasant.









The Fort was a reconstruction of buildings that were there in 1607. The history here as with all of the East coast is just wonderful. We learned a lot today about this area, it's role in settling this country and it's role in the revolutionary war.
Tomorrow it's off to Virginia Beach. More from there.

Berkley Hundred Plantation

We drove to the Berkley Hundred Plantation this morning and toured the house and grounds. Berkley is located on the banks of the James River west of Williamsburg and is the site of a settlement which dates to December of 1619 when the ship Margret landed here with 38 Colonists from England.





The house was built starting in 1726 and was home to Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and who was a contemporary of  Thomas Jefferson and a friend of George Washington.







The 2000 acre plantation was owned by Harrison and supported  130 slaves and other workers. Tobacco was the main crop although a small farm was used to raise food for the workers.







William Henry Harrison, the grandson of Benjamin was born in the house here and was President for a month in 1841. He died of Pneumonia a month after taking office. His grandson, Benjamin Harrison VII was our 29 President. Lincoln reviewed the union troops camped here during the civil war. Lots of history in one place.