Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Day 8, Mon. Jan. 18, Fort Sumter Tour



The decision was made to not drive for another, so I chose to tour Fort Sumter where the hotel’s shuttle would drop me off at the museum where I’d pick up the boat. I was a little leery about going out on the water with the morning being overcast and windy. I couldn’t find my gloves and I searched the truck when I went out after my coat. The morning was cool and overcast and I figured the boat ride through the harbor to the island would be cold.
Josh, from the front desk, was the shuttle driver for the morning run. He dropped some people off at MUSC which I found out does not stand for music, but Medical University of South Carolina. I was the last drop off at the Fort Sumter Museum. He told me to be out there for pick up at 1:30 or the next wouldn’t be until 3:30 p.m.
There was a steep, tall set of stairs to climb and I’d forgotten to take any pain reliever before I left. Good thing I brought my walking stick. I bought my ticket, $18, and had about a 45 minute wait. I wandered through the museum reading about the events leading up to the Civil War, South Carolina history, slave trade, and about Fort Sumter and the surrounding forts. There’s something about reading bits about slavery that gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Just the thought that people were sold and treated like animals or worse is so wrong.
I eventually meandered outside and took photos of that bridge that held my fascination and tried to get pictures of the porpoise and pelicans. To get onto the boat, was a two flight stairway down. I am very slow on stairs, but I made it. Most people went below deck, but I opted to be among the few to stay topside. It was about half an hour out to the island. Yes, it was cold, but not horribly so. Many people had scarves, hats, gloves, and had hoods pulled up and tied tight.
Fort Sumter has an amazing history… all of Charleston has an amazing history. It’s not that other places don’t, but this city is a major port on the east coast and in the early days, a lot happened here. The fort is on an island in the middle of Charleston Harbor making it a strategic location for the defense of the city. At one time there many forts on the other islands. The area is actually a bunch of islands and peninsulas. Most are now accessed by roads; (yeah, all those bridges that intrigue me.)
One of the neighboring islands, Sullivan, was where most all the slaves first came when brought to America. Everyone coming into Charleston who couldn’t prove to be free of disease was quarantined on there for a couple weeks. Thousands upon thousands of slaves were brought here before being sold.
Visitors had the opportunity to follow one of the park rangers and listen to stories, but I opted to wander around on my own. This fort has seen years of battles from the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, and WWII. I tried to get interesting photographs, watched porpoises, and climbed many, many flights of stairs. Even if I’d wanted to take the elevator, it was out of order. The sun had come out a bit and additions to the fort during WWII were painted black making that part look like some war ship. And yes, Fort Sumter was a strategic look out for u-boats during that war.
I was hot and had forgotten that even under cloudy skies, one could get sunburn. I could feel it in my face. I slowly made my way back down those stairs, one painful step at a time. I didn’t bother to look in the museum or gift shop because I didn’t want to carry anything on the boat. I figured I’d get something back at the other museum. I was one of the first back on the boat. I forgot that the smell of diesel makes me nauseous. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy the ride back as much as the ride out. However, I did get some more photos of that bridge and the USS Yorktown.
The USS Yorktown was an aircraft carrier now a museum. This was built similar to the USS Yorktown that was sunk at Pearl Harbor and given the same name. That previous one was a CV5, if I remember correctly, and this one a CV7.  The last duty this ship had was to retrieve Apollo 7 after its splash down from the journey into space. The ship is now docked at Patriots Point with other sites to visit and I plan on doing that when I come back through Charleston after going to Florida.
We docked a little after 1 p.m. I wanted to get postcards, but my legs just would not take any more stairs and this elevator was out of order, too. I waddled out front to wait for the shuttle. Oh, I ached. A couple guys from Ohio started up a conversation. Well, one guy talked while the other studied a map. They were on their way over to Patriot Park. It was nice to have a relaxing conversation. Most of the people I’ve talked to on this trip have been working, so it’s hard to really get into anything.
They left and I sat on the bench to wait… and wait. Was I in the right place? I got out the little map which showed the stops. This looked right. I figured I’d wait until 2 p.m. then try to find a taxi. Josh finally rounded the bend, all apologetic. He’d been held up by a train. Unfortunately, by the time I got back to the hotel, I’d missed lunch. Drat! That meant I had to wait until 5 p.m.
That was okay. It gave me time to import all the photos from the past two days, edit some of them, and post those onto Facebook.

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