Photo by The Joneses The houses in Charleston on beautiful. The architecture is simply something to behold. Walking through this historic city it's easy to envision the "Old South." SLIDE SHOW: A look at the Lowcountry — — — View Larger Map
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Charleston is a very old and historic town and was one of the centers of the Old South. During the Civil War the Harbor was of great importance to the South. If you read the book “Gone with the Wind” (and who hasn’t read it!?) you’ll remember that is was Charleston where Rhett Butler, as blockade runner, brought the goods from the North.

Saturday we (Ray, Clara, Ralph and I) drove to Beaufort, also part of the Lowcountry, just south of Charleston. Beaufort is a typical small Southern town with many old houses.

From there we drove to Hunting Island on the Atlantic. It was a beautiful drive across many bridges over the inlets and little islands. The whole area here is full of small waterways, rivers, and inlets. Hunting Island is a popular South Carolina State Park with a great beach. Dogs on this beach are allowed as long as they are on a leash. So we walked along the beach with Gretchen and Cody their little Yorkie.

Gretchen made a few attempts to go into the water, but it was to cold for her.

On Monday we went to downtown Charleston and walked through the older sections that has many beautiful homes. In my imagination I could see how in the time of the Old South the ladies dressed in fancy gowns went for walks or sat on the porches drining tea and fanning themselves.

There are a lot of historic houses in this old part of Charleston. Tonight we are taking a carriage ride through the area and will find out more about the houses.

The tree most prevalent to this area is the Live Oak, so called because the leaves stay green all year long. It is a very interesting tree with the branches grow in all different directions. We also walked along the battery to the Charleston Harbor. From there we could see Fort Sumter, where the first shot of the Civil War was fired.

Yesterday we drove to Patriots Point crossing the Cooper River to Mt. Pleasant. Patriots Point is a Naval and Maritime Museum and offers tours of several Navy ships: The Yorktown, a U. .aircraft carrier; The Clamagore, a submarine; The Laffey, a destroyer; and the Ingham, a Coast Guard Cutter. We toured the Yorktown and the Clamagore.

The Yorktown is huge — and I mean huge. We walked through the living and working quarters of the enlisted men, the captain and flag officer’s quarters, the engine room, the flight deck and bridge, and visited the Medal of Honor exhibit. I lost count of how many narrow and steep staircases we had to climb up and down. I surely would not have a weight problem if I was stationed on that ship.

The Yorktown was commissioned in 1943, had a crew of about 3,500 men and served in World War II and Viet Nam. She was decommissioned in 1970 and brought from New Jersey to Charleston in 1975. She was featured in a documentary film “The Fighting Lady” and in the film “Tora! Tora! Tora!"

In l968 she recovered the Apollo 8 astronauts, the first men to reach the vicinity of the moon — if I remember right John Glenn was among that crew. It was a very interesting tour.

The Clamagore is the last diesel-powered submarine and was commissioned at New London, Conn. in June 1945. She was decommissioned in 1975 in Philadelphia and towed to Charleston in 1981. She had a crew of 80 men and was armed with 10 torpedo tubes.

It was hard for me to believe that 80 men could live in these small quarters. Three of us felt cramped while we were ‘climbing’ through the doors and cabins. It must take a very special person to be able to live in such small quarters and under the water as well. The tour was also very interesting.

These two tours took longer than we anticipated so we did not get a chance to see the other ships.