"Holy City"

We got an early start this morning and arrived in Charleston, at the Oak Plantation Campground, just about noon. After we unhitched and had lunch we journeyed into Charleston, about nine miles from the campground. First stop was the Visitor's Center where we picked up information on bike paths, the Ashley River Scenic Drive, Fort Sumpter tour and caught the 3:30 pm Grey Line Historic City Tour.

Charleston was founded in 1690 by 8 Lords who helped Charles II gain the throne in England.  As a reward, the King granted these eight land that included all of current North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Upper Florida, Georgia and all the land extending westward to California.  The layout of the City was planned in London on the "grand model", with all the streets running parallel, north and south, east and west. There was a section of the early city (62 acres) that was walled for protection, but the walls were taken down but 1730 and the City sprawled across the entire peninsula of Oyster Point.

These historic tours, similar to the ones we took in Key West, St. Augustine and Savannah, are great for learning about the history of the location and interesting facts.  For instance, there are over 108 churches in Charleston and it is sometimes called the "Holy City." There was an earthquake in 1886, about 7.3 on the modern Richter scale, in which hundreds of people died.  Many of the older buildings have tie rods through them with decorative "medallions" on the outside to help prevent damage in the event of another earthquake.  The current Mayor was first elected in 1975 when he was 37 years old and is still in office. The oldest Municipal College in America is the College of Charleston which began operation in the late 1700s. There are now about 12,000 students in this liberal arts college that is a major land holder in downtown Charleston.  Graduation every year is on the second Sunday in May, Mother's Day, and the graduate women wear white dresses and carry 6 red roses and the men wear dark slacks, white dinner jackets and a red boutonnière.

Tomorrow we are planning on the boat tour out to Fort Sumpter ( yeah! another fort!!), possibly followed by bike riding back to some of the places we saw today.  This will also give me an opportunity to take some pictures.

The pictures I have today are just a sign we found interesting and a building on the campground.

A sign we saw yesterday so we stopped by the get a picture of it on our way out of Florence. This is a state that takes littering seriously.

 My shadow taking a picture of the sign.  I wanted to get some of the litter that was strewn around this warning of prison time.

Lovely Rest Stop on I-95.

 A private home just inside the entrance to the Oak Plantation Campground.