Charleston
The temperature continued to drop overnight and it was a cold 31 degrees this morning. Barry had a list of calls to make so I took the opportunity to stretch and then go to the pilothouse and read. There was some traffic on the river which always drew away my attention. The derelict boat in the anchorage with the shredded head sail was not moving but was nonetheless captivating. Just before 1:00 we departed Crossroads for an afternoon in the historic district. As we walked along the dock to the parking lot, the Historic Rice Mill cast a beautiful refection in the tidal waters. The building (c. 1861) was originally home to the West Point Rice Mill (the largest of three such mills in town) and is now a premiere event hall. Our plans were significantly lower budget. The marina's shuttle van took us across the peninsula to to Griffon, a locals spot with good food at reasonable prices. The English Pub notably has every inch of the walls (and most of the ceiling) covered in $1 bills. Not often do we get such a background.
After lunch we went over to Old South Carriage Company for our traditional carriage ride. While we waited for our time slot we had the privilege of meeting Arthur, the Belgian draft horse who would be giving us a lift today. We all enjoyed the sunshine and a little conversation before loading into the carriage with 13 other folks. Wendy, our tour guide, shared Arthur's story while we waited to receive our assigned route. Arthur is 13 years old and came from an Amish farm in his namesake Arthur, Illinois (the oldest Amish settlement in Illinois). He's a newcomer to the tours and has only been in service for four months. He weighs 2,100 pounds and consumes 40,000 calories and 35 gallons of water a day. Arthur works for four hours a day, three days a week, and spends his nights and the rest of his off hours on the 65-acre Sugah-Cain farm on John's Island with 44 other company horses. We were provided with blankets to help keep us warm during our hour trek through the city. I kept my hands under the blanket for most of the trip which means photos are scarce. Many homes and businesses had covered their plants with tarps to keep them from freezing over the next few days.
I pulled out my phone occasionally to catch some interesting sights while stopped. Boykin Spaniels Charlie and his buddy Rainey (not pictured) welcome guests at The Mills House hotel. Spanish moss is neither Spanish nor a moss, but is iconically associated with the Low Country. Wendy was fabulous and shared so many bits of information that we had never heard before. The house poorly pictured below has a front facade of cypress that is carved to look like stone, which was scarce at the time of construction. We passed (without photos) the George W. Williams House on Meeting Street that is the largest single-family residence in Charleston at 24,000 square feet. On the other end of the spectrum, we also passed an original Sears catalog home. Toward the end of the tour we learned of the "Four Corners of Law" at the intersection of Meeting and Broad Streets. Institutions representing federal (US Post Office and Federal Courthouse), state (Charles County Courthouse), local (Charleston City Hall, pictured), and ecclesiastical law (St. Michael's Episcopal Church, pictured) are on each corner of the intersection. We returned to the stable and then walked back to the marina via the same road I took yesterday, arriving as the sun was sinking below the trees.
With our carriage ride checked off our To Do list, we are ready to depart Charleston. Tomorrow we will head to Beaufort. No, not that "BO-fert" (NC), but "BEW-fert (SC).
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