Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Tuesday we met up with Nancy and Lynn who have rented a condo on Seabrook Island near Charleston for a week, and together we toured Magnolia Plantation and Gardens and the Audubon Swamp Garden also at this plantation.  Since both places are dog-friendly, both Murphy and Nancy and Lynn's dog Stella were able to come along and spend the day with us walking the lovely grounds of this plantation.

Wendy, I thought of you when we drove down the plantation drive, with enormous live oaks flanking the drive, thinking that if Gunnison Hall had designed their drive with such long-lived trees, your research on the drive would have been greatly simplified.   The trees in this photo are similar to the ones lining the drive, but are located along a side drive, so the live oaks are only on one side of this drive.  You can imagine however, how lovely the main drive is, lined with these mammoth trees, their massive branches overhanging the entrance, dripping spanish moss, with ferns lining the tops of the lower branches.Since Nancy and Lynn had seen the interior of the plantation house not long ago on an earlier trip to Charleston, we skipped going in and just spent hours wandering the various gardens, something that was beautiful even though the spring blossom season is still a few weeks away; still enough camellias and daffodils as well as some early azaleas, redbud, cherry and a few other plants were displaying early blooms to give us a foretaste of what these gardens will offer in a few weeks.

Sue - I have not seen so many boxwoods used in so many ways EVER, not only at the gardens of this plantation but but throughout the city of Charleston.    A few more photos just to tempt everyone's desire to visit this area:

Yup - That's a 'gator sunning himself, nicely sharing the platform with a couple of large turtles.

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Charleston - First Days

We spent Sunday driving from the Abbeville, SC area to Charleston, SC.  It was a rainy and cool day, so although we had planned a stop at the Redcliff Plantation (http://south-carolina-plantations.com/aiken/redcliffe.html), the clay road leading to the Plantation was narrow and muddy, so we decided against risking getting the camper stuck in the muck and just pushed on.   When we reached our destination campground, James Island County Park,  the sun had come out and we were assigned a pretty site along the outside edge of the park; as we began situating the trailer, the skies opened and we had a massive downpour, which put us both back in the truck to wait it out.  This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because 20 min. later when the rain stopped, we found that 3/4 of our campsite was submerged in 2-3 inches of water - a literal lake!   We drove around the extremely soggy campground and picked out a couple of other potential sites which had remained relatively dry during the downpour, indicating higher ground, and were able to switch to a very nice site which is actually roomier and prettier than the one was that had been originally assigned to us.  This is a very nice county park with full hookups (water, electricity, sewer, wi-fi), very clean and well-maintained and relatively close to downtown Charleston.

This campground offers a shuttle service into Charleston, which we took advantage of on Monday.  We left the campground at 9am and returned about 4:15. When we first arrived at the visitor's center in Charleston, we purchased a brochure to a self-guided walking tour of the historic district and then started out.  Spent the whole day walking and enjoying the ambience of this old (by US standards) city.  Obviously, we did not see or experience the whole city, just sections of the historic district, but that was lovely!

We visited two very different mansions in the city: the Nathaniel Russell House at 51 Meeting Street (http://www.historiccharleston.org/experience/nrh/ ) and the Aiken-Rhett House at 48 Elizabeth Street (http://www.historiccharleston.org/experience/arh/ ). The Russell House has been restored to its former glory, with great pains taken to research and duplicate exactly the paint and furnishings of the house during the 1800's at the height of its glory.  The interpreters who lead small groups through the home are well versed in the history, architecture, and furnishings of the time, and provide an intriguing introduction to the home and the efforts undertaken in its restoration to date as well as plans for future restoration and the problems and challenges those plans present.   This home has a 3-story self-supporting spiral staircase, which is an incredible feat of architecture for that time; unfortunately future restoration plans include building a different staircase for tourist use to minimize wear and tear on this beautiful staircase, but we were fortunate to still be able to take that staircase, walking the same worn treads as the previous inhabitants.   No photography was allowed in the interior of either of these mansions, so the only photos I will include will be of the exteriors, but those are actually quite representative of the current state of the two homes.

Nathaniel Russell House:

We had a great late seafood lunch (oyster po-boy for John and a shrimp/crab sandwich for Liga) and then went on to explore the Aiken-Rhett House. This mansion from the same period is unusual in that subsequent owners kept intact the detached slave quarters, carriage house and stables, and the outbuildings (not true for the Nathaniel Russell House, where only the house and detached kitchen remain intact, although the gardens surrounding the house have been restored and are beautiful.  The Aiken-Rhett House offers a self-guided tour using earphones and a tape that describes the history and the current state of the house as it walks you through the estate.   This house could easily be inhabited by Miss Havisham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Havisham ), with the ruined and dusty furnishings and wallpaper peeling in long strips from the walls.  Surprisingly, the home was occupied until being turned over to the city historical society in the late 1970's, but apparently these subsequent occupants of the home  closed off an ever-increasing number of the grand old rooms and lived in just a few core rooms in the dwelling, leaving the rest to gradually age and crumble.


Aiken-Rhett House:

We ended our sunny but cool day of walking and exploring, pleasantly tired and intrigued, looking forward to experiencing more of the history of this city.

"Roughhouse" hot dogs and more....

I'll start with a few photos that should have a accompanied the previous post - the part about Helen, GA:

Here is a photo of Skylake and one of the slave cabin in Clarksville, GA, where we ate at the Attic and visited some historical buildings and the surrounding gardens.  The amazing thing to me is the inherent beauty in some of these old and supposedly "primitive" quilts, made from scraps of clothing that had reached the point where they could no longer be re-purposed for other utilitarian uses.  Today's quilters have so many tools and materials and shortcuts available to them, and yet while their quilts may be more detailed and artistic, there is a soul and voice to these old quilts that mean so much to me (obviously, this is LMG speaking, of the LMG/JCG creating this blog   : ).

The Clemson Botanical Gardens were beautiful; we only explored a small portion of them, because it is still early in the season and not much is in full bloom, but the Camillia's are nearing their peak, and that portion of the garden was glorious even now, though it will be even more beautiful in a few weeks:

There is a tiny cabin within the Gardens, that was home to the former owners; remarkably these people owned and farmed 8000 acres of the surrounding land, and to those of us used to todays' home standards - even more remarkably - they raise 12 children in this cabin:












That was all yesterday - a lovely, sunny day!

Today we drove into Abbeville, SC. The county of Abbeville is really important in so many aspects of America's early years. Both the county and its county seat, the town of Abbeville, were named for the French town of the same name.  The county was settled primarily by Scots-Irish and French Huguenot farmers in the mid-eighteenth century. Abbeville was known as a hotbed of secession, and at the end of the Civil War the last Confederate council of war was held there. Abbeville's most famous native son was John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), United States Vice President, Secretary of War and of State, and US Senator.  From Wikipedia: "Abbeville has the unique distinction of being both the birthplace and the deathbed of the Confederacy. On November 22, 1860, a meeting was held at Abbeville, at a site since dubbed "Secession Hill", to launch South Carolina's secession from the Union; one month later, the state of South Carolina became the first state to secede.It was also the birthplace of noted states rights advocate John C. Calhoun. At the end of the Civil War, with the Confederacy in shambles, Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled Richmond, Virginia and headed south, stopping for a night in Abbeville at the home of his friend Armistead Burt. It was on May 2, 1865, in the front parlor of what is now known as the Burt-Stark Mansion that Jefferson Davis officially acknowledged the dissolution of the Confederate government. "     
We tried to visit the Burt-Stark Mansion, which supposedly was open at 1:30 each day...except for when it was not, which is when we timed our arrival.  


Another key note of historical interest: we had lunch in Abbeville at Roughhouse; Roughhouse has a menu consisting of hot dogs and/or hot dogs with chili and onions and mustard (JH and MRG - think Mr. Desa with stuffed animals on the walls).   According to the owner, the business has been in town for 75 years; he has been the owner for the last 24.  Also according to the owner, Rachel Ray has designated this the home of the best hot dogs in America - check it out folks, I don't have enough internet signal to do so at this time.  Regardless of Rachel Ray, the dogs were great and the ambience was unduplicated, I guarantee it! Roughhouse included: poolroom in the back, photos of local baseball players on the wall (many named Bubba, several Bo's, and a Chigger), a shoe-shine station that appears not to have been used for awhile...and a photo of Ronald Reagan in his movie cowboy days!

 

Time flies....

Not unexpectedly, time flies when you are 1) traveling, 2) having fun, 3) have limited cell phone signal to update friends and family re: what's going on.  : )

We've spent the last two days just outside Sautee, GA, visiting Nancy and Lynn at their beautiful home.  Yesterday's weather was remarkable - low 60's and sunny.  We went for a nice walk around the lake at their development (Skylake), then into town for lunch at a really nice restaurant: converted service garage, now serving excellent meals in the middle of Georgia countryside - "The Attic".  We spoke to the owner/chef re: the remarkable salmon/fresh spinach salad, which turns out is his top seller (I can vouch for why that is!).  We then wandered into a little "welcome center" consisting of a small home, the former owner's milinary shop, and an old slave cabin, all surrounded with lovely and lovingly-constructed gardens.  We had the immense pleasure of meeting the resident gardener, who unlocked the buildings so we could see the insides (not normally open until later in the season), and with whom I had a great conversation about gardening styles and concepts.  She generously dug up and shared a plant from this garden with me that she thought would "make it" in Michigan.  What a treat, both my unexpected plant gift and the chance to visit this historical site when no other tourists were around!  This is exemplary of the lovely, serendipitous things that can happen when you can travel unfettered by firm itineraries and are open to new and unplanned side-trips.  THIS is why we love to travel!  

Tonight and for at least one more night, we are staying at a lovely state park campground in South Carolina: Calhoun Falls State Campground, situated on the banks of Lake Russell, a large fairly undeveloped reservoir (see: http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/calhounfalls/introduction.aspx for more detailed info if interested).  We appear to be one of 3-4 campers in the park tonight, and have a nice site right on the beach, but there is a large group of campers coming in for the weekend so we will have to move tomorrow....to an even prettier site further up the road - tough life! : )   The sites in this particular state campground are remarkable for how beautifully laid out they are in terms of privacy, level sites, and generous spacing between campsites, not to mention many, like ours, with beautiful views over the lake.

While we are here, we plan to visit Abbeville, SC - where the Civil War purportedly "began and ended" and Clemson University botanical gardens, which are supposed to be extraordinary, although I'm not quite sure what to expect in that regard at this particular time of year.

The drawback to this lovely state park is extremely weak cell-phone signal, so trying to post photos is proving to be impossible, even with a signal-booster antenna. Those will have to wait for a later post.  Meanwhile, know that we are having a WONDERFUL time and are looking forward to sharing more stories and photos when time and cell-signal permits.

On the road - Day 2

Weather notwithstanding, we were able to leave home on Sunday morning.  

After 4 years, we still often learn new things when taking out the camper – this trip started out with such a lesson: an airstream is REALLY impenetrable, if you are locked out OR in. When I went out Saturday to finish packing the trailer for leaving, the door lock was frozen shut.  John melted the ice with a hair dryer and all was ok…..until later, when it froze shut while he was inside the trailer, and I was in the house, oblivious to John being stuck inside the camper. : )  Hair dryer to the rescue again – this time used from the inside. 

Spent Sunday night at a KOA campground in Louisville, KY; nothing fancy, and our water was still not connected, so had to use the campground restrooms this morning, but they were clean and pleasant.   After pulling into the campground,  we celebrated the start of the trip with a spot of whiskey, then went for a nice long walk in a park next to the campground to stretch our legs and enjoy the cold but sunny day.  For dinner we had tortellini with home-made spaghetti sauce which John cooked while we were home and brought with us in the camper.  Enjoyed the meal and a lovely NZ wine that was new to us: "Zeal”. It was really very good - we'll have to look for it again.  Cleaned up dishes with water brought with us from home and heated on the stove; it will be more convenient once we have "de-winterized" the camper and have full water hook-up again, but this wasn't bad.  This morning started off toward the next stopping point, a Good Sam's campground in Lenoir City, TN, a bit north of Chattenooga, our last stop before reaching Nancy and Lynn in Helen, GA tomorrow.  

Evening: Despite all the notes-to-self about being packing, I found that I'd left behind the cord to sync my iPhone with my Macbook Air, so had to look for a Best Buy along the way to get one.   Today’s drive was a pretty one, on hilly roads.  Fortunately all the roads were dry, so pulling the trailer was no problem.  The dry winter the Midwest has experienced so far made itself felt even more when we saw more snow on the ground in Kentucky than we did in Indiana - an unusual twist.  We made a brief stop in the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, KY.  It has such lovely handmade items, ranging from wooden bowls and boxes to ceramic pieces of all kinds; knit, quilted, and woven things; and of course jams, condiments, and candies of all kinds.  This is a really pretty building made of limestone and large wooden beams, a nice place to stop and stretch our legs while enjoying the displayed work.  Got to our campground late afternoon and flushed the water lines.  Found some problems, fixed most, but not all - will work on those in the next couple of days.  For now, we're cozy in the camper, with a potential ice storm predicted for tonight.  (Remember that ice story that I started with? We're armed with quilts to stay warm and a hair dryer to bust out of here if necessary in the morning - hee hee!)   

Mother Nature Throws a Curve Ball

Given what a warm and snow-free winter we've had to date, we were hoping to just slide on out of here in the same great weather and clear roads on Sunday morning.  However, yesterday it started snowing, mixed periodically with a freezing drizzle that translates to potentially slick roads, and this morning the temperature is 4 degrees Farenheit (-15C), with a predicted high of 20F (-6C), so this won't be melting today.  Fortunately the weather prediction for tomorrow is sunny and warmer, and there really isn't MUCH snow (maybe 2"), so hopefully our travel plans can remain intact.  Here's little Silver Spirit shivering in the snow:

Almost Ready

When the camper moves from its storage location to its place in front of the garage for final packing, then we know we're really almost ready to take off.  Today is that day for this trip.  Most of the "to-do" items are checked off, and we're in pretty good shape for being gone from home for so long.  Lots of great offers of support on the home front during our absence from relatives, friends, and neighbors have made this a lot easier.  Although this trip was originally intended as an escape from the tedium of winter snow, endless gray and overcast days, and cold, we have had such an overwhelmingly sunny and snow-free winter to date that it almost feels like we're leaving in the spring, not in mid-February.

Getting Ready

Preparing for the first extended trip in our little Airstream is an adventure in itself.  The little "Silver Spirit" has to serve over the next 6 weeks as: home, office, sewing studio, rec-room, library, and more. Since we've taken so many trips in it before for shorter periods, we pretty much have the standard things down: food and kitchen necessities, hook-up equipment to provide electricity and water, securing of things in the trailer during travel so they don't roll around on the road, etc.  The challenge this time is to plan clothing, bedding, etc. for such a long time in extremely varying weather, without overpacking. The Airstream (AS) has great storage space for its size, but comparing it to all the stuff we have readily accessible in the house, it's rather limited. I'm sure that Janis faced similar planning issues in moving to Latvia for several months: how do you pack all you need in 3 suitcases?  Our "suitcase" space is more generous, but still, our tendency has always been to overpack; this time - yet again - we're trying to not do that.  I guess only time will tell how successful we are in that attempt.