Charming Charleston

Callie is  a 7 month old puppy of fellow cruisers on PDQ Golden.

 I walked around Charleston delighting in the beautiful architecture of so many antebellum homes. My ankle is still swollen, but it doesn't hurt to walk!!! Then I took a carriage ride and learned some interesting history. Charleston was thriving because of rice and indigo in the 1700's and cotton in the 1800's. During the Civil War it was devastated by fire and constant artillery bombardment. Gen. Sherman called it a hell-hole, and by-passed it on his march to burn the capital city of Columbia. Charleston's economy was totally devastated after the Civil War and didn't recover until the end of WWII. There was a terrible earthquake twenty years after the Civil War that added to the rubble. There wasn't enough money to tear down and build new....so old structures were put back together. Hence, the large Historical District with original homes. Now tourism, and not cotton, is King!

I took this picture of a home's side gardens through the iron fence around this large property.

St. Stephen's Episc. Church...quite simple compared to the other Episcopal Churches with huge steeples.

The Circular Church....built in that shape because the devil supposedly lives in corners. Some think that was the idea behind the Oval Office...but we could prove that theory wrong, couldn't we???

Charleston has the "75 year rule". You cannot change the colour or structure of buildings or fences if they existed a certain way for 75 years. Many of the churches do not have bells because they were melted down for cannon balls during the Civil War. New bells cannot be added if they weren't added during the first 75 years!

We bought freshly caught shrimp at the wonderful Farmers' Market.  They still had the heads on, and we were surprised at how long the antennae were!!! It was Biology-major  Don's job to take the heads off!

Lacey's back end has been VERY weak. Don has carried her off and on the boat lately. We are wondering if she had sprained something on the high steps at the transom. Yesterday she couldn't walk for a while, and a man selling tickets on the dock volunteered to carry her back to the boat....but then she got her strength back and could walk. Today she was better...maybe it's like my sprained ankle....every day I have been better and no longer walk with a limp.  We're just Gimpy 1 and Gimpy 2! We are hoping that she recovers and makes it back home!