We didn't get to do our carriage ride; that has been raised to the top of the list for when we get to Savannah, but we did get to do an historical walking tour, tour the Aquarium, tour the Yorktown CV10, and Laffey DD724, see the Market St market, and had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner.
Charleston is a very historic city that takes itself rather seriously. Per the City Market website, "In 1788, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney ceded the land to the City of Charleston for the express use as a public market, and he stipulated that the land must remain in use as a market for perpetuity." Originally this was a meat, fish and vegetable market, and the merchants would throw spoiled bits of flesh and plant onto the street to dispose of them. This ready supply of food was greatly appreciated by the local buzzard population, which thrived. Charlestonians at first tried to get rid of the birds, but once they realized how much they needed the clean up crew, they relented. The birds were renamed Charleston Eagles because surely buzzards was too coarse a term. The statues that commemorate these avians definitely look like eagles.
The historic district of Charleston is bounded on either side by the Ashley and the Cooper rivers. I have heard that Charlestonians all know that the Ashley and Cooper Rivers meet at Charleston to form the Atlantic Ocean. Yep, inflated sense of importance.
We really enjoyed our walking tour; we would do it again, plus many of the other walking tours available. Two things we saw: Round Church, a nondenominational church on Meeting St. It is the umpteenth church built on this site. The first was built round because folk lore says that the devil hides in corners, no corners, the devil can't trap you. The original church was open to all. If you had seven like-minded people, you could book the church for your religious service or meeting. Jews were allowed, but not Roman Catholics who were not popular in King Charles' England.
The church has a grave yard. There is no source for stone in and around Charleston. Head stones were originally wood. They would be replaced, maybe many years later with stone. The info on the stone might not be totally accurate, but it was the best that the later family could remember.
Round Church grave yard. Round Church to the right.
We also walked around some of the old neighborhoods of Charleston. Beautiful stuff.
French quarter, obviously.
Live oaks in Washington Square. Immense trees over 100 years old.
For me, the best tour we took was that of the USS Laffey DD724. When I was in the Navy, I served on board two ships, both of them Sumner class destroyers, The USS Zellars DD777 for about ten months, and the Laffey for a two week training cruise. The ships were identical. Only one Sumner class DD still exists, Laffey. Visiting her was like taking a walk back into time.
You can see that there are two gun mounts (turrets) on the bow. Behind and above them is the bridge. Behind and above the bridge is a little gray box with a funny looking radar antenna. That is the gunfire control director; that was my battle station.
Four men manned the director, my station was in the center behind the milky (should be clear) optics. Scuttlebutt was that we had a 30 second life expectancy in combat, either the opposing ship's fire control men would die, or we would. Fortunately I never had the opportunity to test that assumption.
Better view of the Mk 25 tracking fire control radar.
Captain's seat on the bridge. NO ONE would EVER sit there except the Captain. Felt rather comfy.
Today we rode 68 miles from Charleston to Yemassee, SC, but I am too tired to talk about it right now. Tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment