RAIN!!!, Charleston Aquarium, Edmondston-Alston House-4/30/14

The day started with laundry and me blogging for yesterday, then a huge thunderstorm dropped torrential rain on us.  We had intended to go to a tea plantation, but they were not even open because most touristy stuff is outdoors.  Sooooo, using a website for rainy days in Charleston which Ashlie found, we decided to go to the Aquarium after finishing laundry.  We stopped at the #1 rated deli, East Bay, for lunch enroute to the great aquarium, as it turned out to be!

We were greeted by this column of fish as we entered the aquarium. David was fascinated by the brownish striped fish which propelled itself with its rear fins.

These chain dogfish just laid quietly on the bottom!

 This lookdown fish has always enthralled me!

 What military family wouldn't like the sergeant major fish!

 David and I had flounder for dinner tonight.  Doubt it was this variety, though.

 By the time we finished at the aquarium, which had many excellent other displays besides the fish tanks, the rain had departed and the sun was trying to peak through.  So we went to the Battery to view the lovely homes and their pastel colors for which Charleston is famous. 

 We decided to tour the Edmondson-Alston House which dates to 1825.  It was owned by Charles Edmondson who made his money as a merchant, but lost a lot of business in the Panic of 1837.  He sold the house to Charles Alston who was probably one of the wealthiest men in America prior to the Civil War.  He had numerous rice plantations which supplied the world and used the house for summer business and social commitments.   The home is filled with antiques and many different styles of architecture.  From the piazza, BG Beauregard watched the taking of Ft Sumter, referenced in yesterday's blog. 

 Our last stop of the day before dinner at Hyman's was to the pineapple fountain in Waterfront Park.  We have all been very impressed by the hospitality of Charlestonians and the pineapple is the symbol of welcome.  Unseen in this photo is the Charleston Harbor from which we could just barely see Ft Sumter. 

Ft Sumter, Churches, Ghosts-4/29/14

As you can see from the title Tuesday was a busy day, so busy I was too tired to blog last night.  For those who have asked, Kathie Saeger is my best friend from nursing school days and Ashlie is her daughter.  We Rv'd with them out west in 2010 and found we are compatible traveling companions.  We decided together to tour southern cities in 2014.

Our day started at Ft Sumter where the "War of Northern Aggression", as the Civil War is called in the South, began on April 14, 1861.  South Carolina was the first southern state to secede from the Union after Abraham Lincoln was elected President on a platform banning slavery, which most southern states needed to harvest rice and cotton.  Five other states joined South Carolina to form the Confederate States of America.  Charleston, South Carolina was a major shipping port for the whole country thus an important place to protect.  It had been federally protected by four major forts, Fort Sumter being at the mouth of the port entrance.  On that fateful day, BG Beauregard, of the Confederate forces accepted surrender of Ft Sumter from Major Robert Anderson, who had been the BG's artillery instructor at West Point.  Truly friend against friend!!  You'll have to read about the battle of Ft Sumter, which received an estimated 46,000 shells, more than 7 million pounds of metal, during the four years of the war, to learn more!

The wind was blowing with 20 mph gusts which caused the flags to stand straight out.  The Park Ranger said the flags needed to be replaced about every four months even though they take them down at night. 

 Following our visit to Ft Sumter we did a walking tour of several of the beautiful historic churches in Charleston.  The one below is not an optical illusion.  St Philip's Episcopal Church does have a leaning tower and not from the wind!

 St Michael's Episcopal Church has an extensive cemetery in which are buried several signers of the Declaration of Independence.  The pews have doors with keys and are "owned" by very long-time residents of the city. 

The Huguenot (French Protestant) Church is the last remaining Huguenot church in the nation.  This one replaced the original from 1687 in 1800. The Huguenots left France via England when the French king declared Roman Catholicism the nation's church and aggressively executed anyone not Catholic.  The church has very simple windows, no icons and just a simple cross to show its separation from Catholicism.  Note the benches have doors!

 In the French quarter is an old stone-paved street.

This lovely home had its piazza door closed, so we didn't invite ourselves in for sweet tea!

 The Old City Jail, which was opened in the late 1700s and closed in 1939 , is now used by a very unique College which teaches the arts of restoration including carpentry, plaster casting and many of the other skills needed to maintain and restore old buildings.  Our guide, Eric, for the Ghost Tour, had many interesting stories to tell of paranormal phenomenon complete with photos people had shared with him.  The back of his shirt says "If you see me running, it is not part of the tour!" 

This stairway is a graduation project of one of the female students at the College and was what we used to enter the jail's holding cell on the second floor.  It was an octagonal-shaped room meant to house 50 but never holding less than 100-150 with only buckets for toileting!  The jail site was also used for prisoners of war during the Civil War.  Since there wasn't enough room inside they were penned in by the walls outside, again with only buckets for toileting, no bedding.  Soldiers who survived said it was the worst prison of the war. 

 Eric advised us to use flash inside to try to capture orbs or the streak which sometimes follows him, but neither Ashlie nor I caught any unusual phenomena!  The last story Eric told us was about an experience he had kicking the locked door to the kitchen.  After pounding on the door, he got a resounding thud back from behind the locked door!  Several tourists were interested on his take about the Lavina and John Fisher hangings as much controversy surrounds their execution for highway robbery.  After their hanging someone else confessed to the capital crime.  Lavina was particularly hostile about her innocence and is said to haunt the building.  Eric had an experience of having to go back upstairs at the end of a tour to lock a gate.  When he got to the gate he saw a light was left on at the end of the hall.  He ran down the hall and reached around the doorway to shut off the light.  A female voice said to him twice, "It's time to leave!"  He said he was so spooked he dashed down the hall, locked the gate and dashed down the stairs ushering the tourists out the building post-haste!

Charleston-4/28/14

Today we began the "true" southern portion of our S.outh E.ast eX.cursion Trip by traveling to Charleston, SC.  When pronouncing the city's name the "r" is silent in southern speak, if you mean the one in South Carolina, not the one in West Virginia!!

We were welcomed by temps in the mid-80s and wonderful southern breezes.  Splitting the driving between us, David and I got us (Kathie and Ashlie riding along in the back seat of our truck) to Charleston by 3 PM and we were enroute to downtown Charleston by 4:15, hoping to catch the carriage ride tour from Southern Carriage Company before 5 PM.  We made it!! and had a delightful hour-long carriage ride with Benjii, our Confederately-attired driver and Amos, an eleven-year old one-ton Belgian draft horse.   Benjii said pulling the two tons of carriage and people was a very easy task for him. 
Benjii kept up a constant patter of history of Charleston, pointing out lots of churches, causing Charleston to be referred to as the City of Churches and houses dating back to the 1700s,  which cannot have their exterior changed if they are older than 75 years!!  We saw lots of side porches with doors to the porch from the steps from the street.  If the door is open, people are welcome to enter and chat, but don't peak if the door is closed because the owners may be sitting on the piazza in their bloomers cooling themselves.  Benjii said many houses don't have air conditioning, but the constant breezes are enough to keep them cool. 

Since we were the last tour of the day, Amos was glad to get back to the stable where he would have his 43 thousand calories and shower! Benjii said Amos' favorite candies were jolly ranchers!

We had dinner at A.W. Shucks Restaurant on Market Street which was spectacular! David drove us home via the "new" bridge over the Copper River (pronouced Cuppa--no "r"), called the Revenal Bridge which provided a spectacular sunset shot taken by Ashlie.

 

Biltmore Estate- 4/27/14

Today was the wonder of Biltmore, built by George Washington Vanderbilt, grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the railroad magnate, which was started in 1890 and had its grand opening on December 25, 1896.  Much construction continued on the 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces for over 10 years after.  The house was designed by Richard Morris Hunt with Richard Sharp Smith the supervising architect.  The landscape architect was Frederick Law Ohmsted.

No photography is permitted inside the "house", so I don't have any photos of our own to add.  Needless to say with the 41 separate rooms described on the audio device we each carried, it would be hard to choose what to describe.  The Biltmore has 29 feet deep footings which are 14 feet wide to support the huge home.  Vanderbilt traveled all over the world collecting art, furniture and plants.   One of the most striking art was a tapestry dating to the 1500's, the only of its kind in the world.  I asked a docent how they preserve something so priceless because it was in a huge room with open windows.  She commented that once in a while an artisan has to do a bit of repair, but that the low humidity common to this mountainous region helped to naturally preserve it.  

George Vanderbilt was unmarried when he built the Biltmore, but married a New York aristocrat named Edith Stuyvesant. Dresser  They had one daughter, Cornelia, who married a British aristocrat named John F. A. Cecil.  George Vanderbilt died in 1914 from an appendicitis attack.  (Had antibiotics been available then, he would likely have survived).  His widow was a real dynamo and finished much of the construction which George had grown tired of.  Edith Vanderbilt was very involved in the day-to-day operation of the Estate including its vast farming interests.  She started the first 4-H club in western North Carolina!

Yesterday I talked about the Gustavino arches and today we learned that the ceiling for the swimming pool at Biltmore was designed by Gustavino.  Yesterday I said he was from Italy, but he was actually a Spaniard.  The swimming pool was quite an innovation for the time.  It was filled directly from cold mountain streams and heated by steam from boilers being pumped into the pool.  It has a sloping side with ropes suspended above to permit people to wade as deeply as they wanted as being adept at swimming was not common in that time.  

The Biltmore Estate remains family-owned by the great-grandchildren of George.  It produces 250 tons of grapes per year and we can attest to the delight of the wide variety of wines produced there.  We each tasted at least six of them today!!

The gardens are also a spectacle especially with the tulips, azaleas and other Spring flowers in full bloom.  There are hundreds of orchids in the Conservatory hot houses and wonderful walking trails through the gardens.

Following the wine tasting we wandered through the farm building which displayed many of the implements used in the early 20th century.  It brought back memories of some the equipment my Dad used on our farm in Wisconsin .

We topped off the day with dinner at Cedric's  named after the St Bernard dog which was much beloved by the Vanderbilt family and is in many photos displayed throughout the estate and immortalized in a life-sized bronze statute outside the restaurant.  We learned that the four restaurants on the grounds of Biltmore Estate are totally dependent on tourist patrons as you cannot access them without an admission ticket or a $15 entrance fee after 5 PM!! The food was great, too.  

Tomorrow it's on to Charleston, South Carolina.  Good night!

 

Chimney Rock and Asheville

4/26/14
I challenged Kathie and Ashlie to be ready to leave at 8 AM today and we pulled out of the driveway at 7:59!  It was an uneventful trip to Black Mountain.  We did a quick set up at the Christmount Christian Assembly, our denomination's camp and conference center, campground.  I packed a quick picnic lunch and we hit the road to Chimney Rock, a 30-minute trip down windy NC 9, stopping along the way to the Rock to consume our picnic lunch.

Then we continued into the park and learned the elevator to the top was out of order!!!  So Ashlie, Kathie and Ann decided to walk the 468+ landings steps up and down, with many pauses along the way.  David's arthritic knees told him not to even try the climb.  The view, even for acrophobic Ann, was spectacular!!!

 

You may find it strange that some of the photos are sideways, but that describes Ann's

stomach as she continued to climb to the top.

 From Chimney Rock we drove into Asheville which was celebrating some sort of music festival, so town was very busy.  We started out at the Bascilica of St Lawrence because it has a Gustavino domed ceiling.  There were two Hispanic weddings going on which inhibited our perusal of the church, but nonetheless we got to appreciate the artistry of this Italian architect who designed unsupported domed arches.  MIT has still not created a replica of his technique.  Gustavino's family estate was here on the Christmount property which has recently been uncovered and now has markers which attract people from all over who are interested in the Bascilica.  One of his arches is also in New York's Grand Central Station.  You can Google Gustavino to learn more about him.  

After the Bascilica we toured through the streets of Asheville, stopping at Tops, the three-story shoe store famous for its huge selection, shopped in The Mast General Store because neither Kathie or Ashlie knew about it, treated Dave to ice cream from Kirwin's, and then had dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe.  It is proper in the south to have dessert before dinner!!  Then we browsed the 10 Thousand Villages store which is right next door to the restaurant.  Ashlie bought a unique chain necklace made from bullet casings from the Eritrean-Ethiopian War in workshops providing jobs to people with HIV/AIDS.

Tomorrow we will spend all day at the Biltmore Estate.

 

New Trip

We are about to embark on our first 2014 trip which we are calling our S.E.X. trip, that's short for South East eXcursion.  We will visit Asheville, NC, Charleston, SC, Savannah and Atlanta, GA, and a bit of Chattanooga, TN, if we have enough time.  Be watching for our blogs as we visit the southeastern US.