If it’s Thursday, we must have moved on yesterday to another city - this time it’s Charleston, SC. From Savannah, GA to Charleston, SC - two old southern cities - both with lots of history.
Today we visited Fort Sumter in the morning and walked through town in the afternoon. One place we went into was the Powder Magazine, one of South Carolina’s oldest attractions and considered the first of many restoration projects that Charleston has undertaken to recover its history. Both Gary and I are amazed that so many people at the turn of the century, both in Savannah, GA and here in Charleston, saw the need to preserve their cities and the history that they represented. Others wanted to tear down, to replace and that urge is still prevalent today. But others thought that the past should be preserved so that the future might see it and learn about their ancestors. We are so grateful that we can stroll the cobblestone streets, under the ancient oaks and alongside the homes.
The Powder Magazine was a cute little museum. Lots of information but they also made it interesting for all. They had this original pillory which Gary thought I should try out.
Hey, Gary, bring back the key!!!
Did you know there were female pirates? They talked about the danger of piracy on shipping coming into Charleston and then mentioned 2 of the female pirates.
They had some old period muskets for anyone to handle. They had some costumes for kids to try on. They even had a game in which you could try to adjust the height of a cannon to fire on a ship as it approached the harbor. They are trying to capture every generation in their displays and I think they did a good job. They had some of the original wall covered in plastic to show what the building looked like before they put on some stucco over it to preserve it.
And, by the way, we also strolled through Dueler’s Alley, formally named Philadelphia Alley. Narrow, tree-lined, dark even on a sunny day and quiet, a perfect place to hold a duel and many were held here. Gotta uphold one’s honor, you know - even to the death. One story that I read was about a young man in Boston studying medicine who fell in love with a young woman who returned his feelings. However, another also loved her and began to libel our young hero, spreading rumors about his morality and stories about his birth, hoping to gain the young woman’s favor. Our young hero, who did not yet think himself financially able to marry, moved to Charleston to begin practice and establish himself.
When he arrived, he was accosted by a gang of toughs but was saved and befriended by a Mr. Isaac. They became fast friends traveled in different circles. He was the doctor to many in the wealthy class and hobnobbed with them. Mr Isaac became jealous and began to spread rumors about our young hero, just as before. Finally, our hero, his honor questioned, challenged Isaac to a duel in Dueller’s Alley. They met, chose their weapons, paced off the correct number of steps, turned and fired. Our hero fired up into the air. Isaac fired straight and true and the budding doctor died. Such is the type of story in Dueller’s Alley.
By the way, if you stroll through the alley, you must go all the way to the end, turn and retrace your steps back to where you started. If not, you will be haunted by the ghosts of those who died within its confines.
We also toured the Slave Mart while we were in the historic part or town. It was a ‘retail shop’ trading in slaves. The slave trade was a viable business model in the southern states but, of course, many of the slave ships were owned by Northerners. However, in 1808, the US banned participation in the international slave trade so, from then on, it was all ‘domestic’ slave trade, trading in slaves already in the US. Then in 1856, Charleston enacted a ban on public slave auctions so Charleston Sheriff Thomas Ryan and council member opened a private slave auction in some buildings he owned. Auctions were held here until 1863 and in 1865 the Union army occupied the city and closed the mart. But for 7 years slaves were bought and sold like cattle.
Today the old mart is a museum detailing the aspects and the horrors of the slave trade on the first floor and how the slaves dealt with their slavery, their accomplishments and their triumphs over slavery on the second floor. There were a few artifacts in the museum but most of the museum was a series of drawings and readings about the slave trade. We could not take pictures. We had read elsewhere that 20,000,000 slaves were taken from Africa to the American but that only 4-5% landed in what we call the US. Where did the others to? Most went to Brazil, many went to Haiti and the Dominican Republic and many to Barbados to work on the sugar plantations.
Charleston has so much history and so many thing to see - this is not the prettiest and certainly not any fun but it is not only a part of the city’s history but also a part of the history of the US that affects us still today.
It’s late, we are hungry and want to get back to our RV but first we have to get to our car in the parking ramp. Well, there’s a train on the tracks between us and at least 125 others and the ramp where all of our cars are. The train is rolling forward then backward and then forward again trying to get the right cars loaded in the right order. Finally, it heads on down the track and we all rush for our cars. As we were heading down the ramp, we noticed that the line was going really fast - how could the line go so fast if everyone had to pay? The answer: no one had to pay. The ramp was letting us out of jail free because of the train. WOW. What a great way to end the day. Instead of forking over $16 for out 8 hours in the ramp, we only had to thank the guy collecting the tickets. And, boy, did we thank him.
