It’s so easy to take good cell service and fast WiFi for granted when you have a permanent “dirt” home in a city. Unfortunately those things can be hard to find in a marina, even when it’s in a large city. All the marinas say free WiFi, but they neglect to tell you it’s dialup speed. And ATT doesn’t seem to have much of a presence along the Georgia and Carolinas coast. Thus, I haven’t been able to post anything for a couple of weeks. Amazingly, we’re in a marina with no goods or services nearby, but their WiFi is fast and I have 4 bars for cell service!
We arrived in Charleston May 28 and intended to stay 3 nights, but ended up there 7 nights. Soon after we arrived there we found out that the head of the urology program when Rich was in residency had died and his funeral was going to be in Richmond VA on June 1. We were able to leave our boat at the marina for a longer time, so we rented a car and drove to Richmond on Friday, went to the funeral on Saturday, and drove back to Charleston on Sunday. 800 miles in 3 days by car vs. an average of 50 miles per day by boat- what a difference!
On our first day in Charleston we took a carriage tour of the historic part of the city. It was in the 90s already at 11:15 when our ride started, so instead of horses we had mules. Apparently they are much more tolerant of the heat. These two are named and are on their third “retirement”. Every time they take them to the farm to retire them, they turn around and try to get back into the trailer to go back to the city to work.When one of the mules or horses pees on the street, the driver drops one of these markers so the people who clean the streets all day can wash it down with a special solution so it won’t smell. The animals wear special bags to catch their solid waste. When they come back to the barn after each tour, there is someone there who removes the bag and puts on a clean one. It’s literally a shitty job.😊One of many church steeples in Charleston. It’s called the Holy City because of the large number of churches. Until last year there was a city ordinance that no building could be built in Charleston that was taller than the tallest steeple. They changed that because they were running out of room to build and wanted to be able to build up.By the white sign is a gate that was part of a Quaker cemetary in the early 1700s. The Quakers were early settlers but most left because they found the city to be too decadent.The black circles on the side of the building between the first and second floors are called earthquake bolts. After the great earthquake of 1886 buildings that were still standing had long iron rods inserted between floors to reinforce and stabilize them. The ends were covered with a variety of decorative caps/bolts.This fence was in front of a house owned by a very prominent man who had many slaves. The top of the fence had spikes, not to keep the slaves in, but to keep others out during a time of slave rebellions.This market is about four blocks long and has all kinds of local crafts and foods. What I found really amazing was that the vendors had to remove everything at the end of the day, and then return the next morning to set it all up again. We walked to the rental car company from downtown Charleston and passed many interesting places. This was a small square next to a very old fire station. This is the artesian well mentioned in the previous photo. You can still get water from it.This is Trinity United Methodist Church, founded in 1791. The architecture in this city is amazing!I love what the bottom of their sign says.Another example of very interesting architecture. What was especially amazing about this building is that the windows were the same on the sides as the windows on the front.This is for my brother who served on a submarine for many years. The next picture explains what it is.This is outside the Charleston Museum. It was powered by men cranking a long shaft connected to a propeller at the stern. I can’t imagine too many men surviving this.Circular Congregational Church, built in 1890, of bricks from the original church which was destroyed by fire in 1861. The congregation was co-founded 1680-1685 by English Congregationalists, Scots Presbyterians, and French Huguenots. Their meeting house is where this church now stands. There is a cemetary all around the church. Our guide said there are two headstones, both with no names, but with humorous epitaphs. We looked for them, but couldn’t find them. One is supposed to say “I thought it would work”and the other “I told you I was sick”.If you are able to expand the photo you will see these are for two babies who died in the early 1700s. There were a lot of headstones for babies, toddlers, and young mothers. I’m not sure why there is a skull and crossbones as well as an angel on this one.Our last night in Charleston we had dinner at Hyman’s Seafood. The building started out as a wholesale dry goods store. The history is too long to put in here but if you google hymans charleston you can read all about it – very interesting! It became a restaurant in 1987 and has had scores of famous people eat there. They have put plaques on tables so you can see who ate at your table. This was our table.This was also on our table. Rep. Clyburn is currently House Majority Whip.Our table was on the second floor overlooking the street. The building across the street looks old, but isn’t. I love the way the new buildings blend in with the old.There are two small boats that can come to your slip to pump out your holding tanks. I love their sense of humor!Boat number two
2 thoughts on “Good cell service and fast wifi”
I love Charleston and your pictures and comments are fantastic though I think I would have requested a different table from Allen Dershowitz!!!
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a choice of tables. It would have been fun to wander around and choose your table based on who had eaten at a particular table.
I love Charleston and your pictures and comments are fantastic though I think I would have requested a different table from Allen Dershowitz!!!
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a choice of tables. It would have been fun to wander around and choose your table based on who had eaten at a particular table.