South Carolina

South Carolina is a fascinating state. The history there is so incredibly complex, and the more we read and learnt the more we realised we could never truly understand it all. Charleston, once the 4th largest city in the States that was then pretty much decimated by the end of the Civil War, has rebuilt itself and really is a lovely city now. It is without a doubt a very Southern city in a very Southern state, and is proud of it, but it also recognises its history and the role it has played in the last 160 years of American history. The first shot of the Civil War was fired onto Union troops at Fort Sumter in the Charleston Harbour, and the Fort remained a key Confederate stronghold until February 1865, just before the war ended. Fort Sumter was a really interesting place to visit. The other place we went to that is one of those unforgettable places was the Old Slave Mart, a building that stands on the actual spot where hundreds of thousands of slaves were bought, sold and traded over many years in the lead up to the Civil War. It was awful to read and learn about what had transpired, and it still is so hard to comprehend just how the slave trade happened for as long as it did. Once again, I could write for hours on all of this, but can safely say that we will never forget what we saw and what we have learnt. And even with this sad history, South Carolina is one of our favourite states so far.


Practising being a Southern Belle :-)

Fort Sumter, Charleston harbour. Where it all began back in 1861.......

From Fort Sumter back to Charleston, with the ruins of the Officer's quarters in the foreground. The damage took place in the early stages of the Civil War.

The six flags that have been raised over Fort Sumter during its existence. Clockwise from the top is the 1st US flag (with 33 stars) that flew from Dec 1860 to April 14, 1861, then the 1st Confederate flag, the South Carolina State Flag, the 2nd Confederate flag, and the 2nd US Flag (with 35 stars). The current US flag is the 6th flag.

Charleston - this house is over 200 years old, still lived in and still beautiful.

Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens, just out of Charleston. There are 88 oaks that are over 250 years old that line the driveway up to Boone Hall. This driveway was made famous with the television series of North and South starring Patrick Swayze. The oaks really were awesome.

Slave Street, Boone Hall, near Charleston. These slave cabins are originals, and date back to before the Civil War. The one on the right of the shot was lived in until 1936 by a former slave who stayed on at the home as a cook until she died in her late 80s. There were 29 cabins at one stage (the home shifted hands many times and the nubmer of slaves varied with the ownership - at most, there were 300 slaves at one time), only 9 remain standing now. There could be up to 16 people living in each cabin - 2 families of 8. I have no idea how they did it.

Old Slave Mart Museum, Charleston. Up until 1860, this was the busiest and most 'popular' slave mart in Charleston, and possibly the South. Prior to 1808 the slaves who were 'bought' here were from Africa: after that (the international slave trade was technically illegalised at the start of 1808): after that, the mart was for African Americans who were already in the US. Like the Civil War Institute in Birmingham, this was an incredibly moving place where were learnt a lot about a very sad part of history.