Charleston,South Carolina

Well, Emily Grace may well have tried to make us linger in Charleston as she proceeded to let the overboard macerator pump fail on the passage from Georgia.  Since this little pump allows us to discharge waste when 3 miles offshore, it is mighty important and she may have succeeded. The captain, however, thwarted any such mutinous plan by having 2 spare pump impellers aboard.  Although that fixed the problem, the captain was also ready with another complete replacement pump!

 

In any event, we entered the Ashley River and found the private mooring ball that we had found and reserved using Active Captain on our Coastal Explorer navigation software.  Unfortunately the owner had left a decrepit dingy tied to it using copious amounts of rope.  Despite valiant efforts by Captain and crew, we couldn’t get the tangled line free with our boat hook and ended up with the dingy painter wrapped around the underwater stabilizer fin.  A local boater came over and with his help and the swift 2 knot current, we managed to break free unharmed and get temporarily re-attached to the mooring/dingy mess.  The owner of the mooring was then called and he borrowed my knife to cut off the tangled mess he had left us and we were then properly attached to the mooring ball.  It all worked out well, since we paid him $15 per night for a $20 per night mooring.  He got a $45 windfall for our 3-night stay and we got a good deal.

After foiling the mutiny and surviving the attack mooring ball, the crew deservedly went ashore to explore Charleston.  We found the gracious waterfront mansions and well-made but overpriced sweetgrass baskets were still as we left them back in our 2008 visit.  We revisited the oldest museum in America, the old slave market and the historic Nathaniel Russell house.

America's oldest museum happens to be The Charleston Museum right here in South Carolina. It opened in 1773, and from the beginning, displayed geological specimens from its surrounding areas.  Outside there is a replica of the American Civil War H. L. Hunley submarine of the Confederate States of America. Drawing from my vast experience working at the Groton submarine factory (Ha Ha), I explained to Emily that the Hunley demonstrated the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship, although Hunley was not completely submerged and, following her successful attack, was lost along with her crew before she could return to her base.  Apparently, the bowsprit containing the explosive charge was not quite long enough!

 

The exhibits inside run the gamut from textile and clothing to silver to lowcountry life, rise of the South, Revolutionary War, Civil War, natural history, and the most impressive arsenal of weaponry I've ever seen. If we only had one of these multibarrel rifles aboard, maybe we could have gone through the Somalia pirate waters!

 

The slave markets only redeeming quality is the ability to see the nicely made sweetgrass baskets.  Since we found and bought these same baskets in Dominica for less than 1/10th of the selling price here, we simply looked and complemented the ladies on their work.  Among the cheap trinkets being hawked here, Emily found some cool resin hair thingy’s she hopes will be OK with the school girls in Ludlow, Mass.

 

Located in Downtown Charleston near High Battery, the Nathaniel Russell House Museum at 51 Meeting Street, is widely recognized as one of America’s most important neoclassical dwellings and was worth the stop. The Historic Charleston Foundation purchased the National Historic Landmark in 1955, and the house served as the Foundation’s headquarters for 37 years. Today, the interiors are restored to their original 1808 grandeur and surrounded by formal gardens.

Nathaniel Russell was born in Bristol, Rhode Island. He settled in Charleston at the age of 27 in 1765, when Charleston was a bustling seaport. By 1774, Charleston boasted a per capita of wealth nearly four times that of all the American colonies. Russell’s career as a merchant involved the shipment of cargoes to and from New England, the West Indies, South America, Virginia, Great Britain, continental Europe, West Africa and Asia.

While most of his profits came from the exportation of staples, such as Carolina Gold rice, indigo, tobacco and cotton, Russell handled a broad range of imported goods. He also participated in the African slave trade both before and after the American Revolution.

The Nathaniel Russell House is an excellent example of the Adam style of architecture. Russell’s house was built when local carpenters had a decade of experience with the light and airy manner made popular by Robert Adam. His house has been called an exercise in ellipses, for from its free-flying stair to the wrought iron balconies, to the principal windows and doors, we found it to be extraordinary. It was the last great house of the city’s post-revolutionary period. Built in 1809, the house was listed in the National Register in 1971 and Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973.

We also stepped into the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. The Cathedral seats 720 people and is noted for its Franz Mayer & Co. stained glass, hand painted Stations of the Cross, and neo-gothic architecture. The cornerstone was laid in 1890, and the church opened in 1907.

The sides of the Sanctuary are adorned with windows depicting the 4 Gospel writers with their winged creatures. Above the High Altar is the Chancel window. The top section is a rose window depicting St. John the Baptist baptizing Jesus with the Holy Spirit above. It is surrounded by 8 adoring angels playing instruments. Above the Rose window is a Sacred Heart. To the left of the Rose window is a pelican feeding her three newborn pelicans, and to the right is the Lamb of God. Below all of this is a 5-light replica of Da Vinci's Last Supper.

In general, Charleston was a nice stop.  They need some free dingy docks and the shuttle busses (although free) were really overcrowded; but those are minor complaints.  After 2 tiring days of sightseeing, Tom started to plot the trip up the ditch towards North Carolina.  When we compared 3 long days of hand steering and bridge openings, we again decided to head for the ocean since we could do the same trip easily overnight.  Come along as our next stop will be in Carolina Beach, North Carolina.

Tom