Charleston Day 2

Charleston Day 2 involved taking a water taxi from the north side of the harbor to the city.  Charleston was the largest port city of the Confederacy next to New Orleans but was much better situated to supply the army on the eastern front.  It was also a major port for the export of cotton.  Settlement began in the 17th century but the current old town today has the look of about 1740.  Remember Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind - he was a blockade runner smuggling trade goods and weapons into . . . probably Charleston and taking cotton out for sale in the Bahamas.  Charleston was the last Confedrate city to to be blockaded.

Charleston has many secret gardens behind the brick walls.

One of the coastal battery mortars aimed at Ft. Sumter.  The cannon balls beside Jeremy are probably 48 pounders.

Coastal South Carolina has a long tradition of basketmaking.  The styles and techniques came with the slaves and are now practised by their descendents called Gullah.  The baskets at this market in Charleston were selling for several hundred dollars each.

Ah!  At the end of a hot day, nothing like a wade through a fountain.