Charleston, Part 2

Tourism....
New bridges, old houses; slavery from the past, desegregation in the present. (Although, as an aside, the attempts to desegregate and its apparent failure in South Carolina are more evident there than in Sarasota, Florida. Isle of Palms, where my step-sister lives, is a clear example of this. This is where the affluency of caucasians thrives in big beach houses, as opposed to the struggle to survive that continues in poorer areas, where people of color reside in tiny little shacks with fruit or basket stands by the side of the highway as their only income. Churches are still either white or black. I find the entire culture very sad.)

We spent Monday morning in downtown Charleston. We began our tour on Market Street. The soboring thought I had was of my great, great grandfather more than likely coming to the very spot to purchase slaves for his plantation in Hartsville 160 years ago. This "shopping spot" has been in existance, though under very different circumstances, since the 1700's. On Monday we purchased a new bread basket, handmade from seagrass.


We went from Market St. over to the battery. Near there we toured the Calhoun Mansion. One of the owners was the grandson of Vice President Calhoun (under John Adams). His father-in-law built the home in the 1870's for his daughter, Sarah. Its current "claim-to-fame" is as the interior of the summer home in the movie "The Notebook". In fact, this movie was filmed on location in the Charleston area.



Our trip back to Florida included a stop at the Krispy Kreme store at the edge of town. This has become a sort-of tradition. There is nothing like a warm donught before driving for 8 hours! :)