More Charleston

Our next day in Charleston started at the Boone Hall plantation, where Avonlea Jane got her first look at cotton.

Our visit began with a presentation about both the past and present Gullah culture of slave descendants in the lowcountry. Then, we went to tour slave cabins on the plantation that now housed exhibits. This led to an interesting conversation with Avonlea Jane about slavery. When we were trying to explain it to her, a mother stopped us to wish us good luck with that.

Her understanding is that men went in boats to Africa and kidnapped men, women, and children. They forced them to America, where they made them do all of the hard work they didn't want to do. The men weren't nice to the slaves, and they weren't allowed to leave or, in many cases, be with their families. The people thought because the slaves looked so different, sounded so different, and lived so differently that they weren't the same type of people. Not everyone felt this way, and there was a big fight over it, so slavery wasn't allowed anymore. Now, everyone knows that it doesn't matter what you look like, sound like, or come from, we're all people.

We thought she had a pretty good understanding of it, until she explained the story to David about the "bad guys" in boats, and she thought they were the same "bad guys" Uncle Dillon said knocked down the big buildings in New York City.

A building undergoing restoration

When we were done with the plantation, we drove back to downtown Charleston, where we visited a replica of the H.L. Hunley, the first combat submarine to sink an enemy ship. Though successful in one mission, the Hunley sank three times, losing a total of twenty-one crew members. The submarine remained buried under coastal silt until 2000, and her final crew didn't receive a proper burial until 2004. We were disappointed that we couldn't see the actual exhumed Hunley, as it is only open to view on the weekends.

The rest of our day was filled with more of the fabulous Charleston architecture.

Trying to walk on his hands

Playing tag

Our last morning in Charleston was spent at the Magnolia cemetery, the resting place of 2,200 Civil War Veterans, including five generals and 14 signers of the Ordinance of Succession.

One of the most notable civilian graves was that of Rosalie Raymond White, whose cradle headstone featured a rare death mask and an epitaph from 16th-century French poet Francois de Malherbe: "Et rose, elle a vécu ce que vivent les roses: L'espace d'un matin." ("A rose, she lived as roses live: the space of a morning.")

The most moving site was definitely that of the lost Hunley crews. Visiting these plots were made more interesting, as Uncle Jeff was once in a play--Raising Blue--about the final crew of the submarine.

On our way out of town, we passed by The Hump Bar, a filming location for the television show Army Wives, which is shot in Charleston.