Southeast 3

Joey, South Carolina and Georgia

After the ferry from Ocracoke to Cedar Island we head to Havelock to meet with our oldest son Joey who is stationed at the Cherry Point Marine Corps base. Havelock is the little town closest to this Marine base, a hodgepodge of depressing motels and strip malls. But that's where we decide to  spend the night nevertheless to be close to Joey. As expected, the motel we book is nasty. Oh well, it's only for a short night!

We meet with Joey at a restaurant for Muriel's proper birthday dinner. This time Jeremy is collaborating with picture taking, not a small feat with a teen!

We continue our progression down to Charleston South Carolina with a short break in Wilmington to stroll the historic streets and boardwalk there.

The drive through flat land of pine tree forests is monotonous. But we start seeing the picturesque live oaks with hanging moss in places.

Bad luck! Charleston is crowded for a special event and all the decent lodgings are sold out. We thought we had a good deal with the Charleston Grand Hotel but find out it has actually long outlived its Grand hours! We usually consult the internet customer feedback before deciding to make a reservation anywhere but this time we just rushed to not miss the one remaining room which was not at $1000 the night!  

We pay another price though as the hotel is cheesy and borderline unhealthy. When we consult the feedback (afterwards) we want to run away: there's records of bedbugs and leaks and other nasty issues, the hotel has the lowest rating possible! We do have a leak in our room but at least we don't have bedbugs!

We make it for the 2 nights hoping we've now seen all the possibly crappy motels for the whole of our road trip. We LOVE camping!

The next day is dedicated to visiting beautiful Charleston. First with a guided tour on a van all around town plus the inside of a historic house. Then some of the same by foot, which makes Jeremy protest: “why do we have to repeat, you've seen it already?”. “Well because Mom wants to enjoy it different ways dear!” is the non-negotiable response.

Charleston is truly gorgeous. A collection of real colonial homes nested among sumptuous centenary live oaks with their beautiful spanish moss draperies. By the way, the famous hanging moss is not a moss, it is actually related to pineapple! And it has nothing to do with Spain either!

The next day we go visit the Boone plantation. It was made famous by various movies and its spectacular grand entrance alley of more than eighty  300-year-old live oaks complete with their hanging moss. The sun is shining and the weather is warm. Goodbye cold, we're in the South!

There were many choices for plantation visits and we've made the best one.

Last year in Virginia we visited a plantation and we were troubled by the fact that slavery was barely mentioned, almost hidden: the main attraction was the owner's mansion and his family history but slavery was barely explained or put forward! It felt a bit like we were visiting a concentration camp but being shown the architectural qualities of the buildings!!

Well, this time we made a bit more research on the different plantations that can be visited and chose wisely the Boone Hall plantation. Here slavery is shown up and front. At the visitor center they expressly tell you the best show is at the Gullah Theater, where a wonderful black lady sings and tells her story with great power. Each slave cabin has a very informative and entertaining display. There's also a guide just for the slave cabins area. There's a mansion to visit also of course, and a butterfly garden, a coach ride around the property, etc. but at least the main subject of the plantation is well covered!

One of the things we learned from this visit by the way: Wall Street started with cotton trading!

These were the barracks of the “privileged slaves” that had a specific trade (carpenter, cook, blacksmith, etc); they had brick walls, windows, tile roof, plank floor. The vast majority of the slaves were living in shacks further away from here, closer to their work in the fields.

We leave Boone plantation heading down to Savannah in Georgia. After 3 nights in crappy motels we finally land in a nice AirBnB house for 3 nights. It is a good base for our wanderings around the area over the next days.

First, we spend a good deal of time in the Wormsloe State Park which boasts another grand entrance of several hundred live oak trees and an ancient stone gate. One of the first settlement in Georgia, it has a remarkable history, blend of Utopia and harsh realities. We particularly enjoy the hike of the 3-mile loop in the pleasant forest along marshes featuring various exhibits. e

We'll give only a quick driving tour of Savannah itself today because Muriel and Jeremy decide to go watch Black Panther.

Travels also need compromise between what each person likes and wants. Jeremy got his turn! But Muriel also came back raving about how great this movie was!

We end up staying an extra day in Savannah mostly to prepare our next hike, in Cumberland Island close to Florida. The access is restricted with ferry crossing and only primitive camping, so our overnight requires some planning.

We finish the day with a nice stroll in the quaint streets of Savannah. We actually like this “Southern Belle” better than Charleston. The historic district is very pleasant with recurring little green squares and quiet tree-lined streets of charming unpretentious colonial houses and brick walkways; it is more laid-back and “real”.

Our random wanderings take us inside the College of Arts and Design for an entertaining and unexpected little visit.