Good Evening from Charleston! As usual today has been a very busy day. Lots of sightseeing and more walking. We have loved every part of this trip and are so excited to be heading home tomorrow. Adam is ready to be back on the farm and I am ready to see Roscoe. Either way we are heading out tomorrow, but for right now I will bring you some more knowledge about Charleston.
This is a very typical house in Charleston built in the 1800's. Several things to note about houses down here. Do you know the difference between a "porch" and a "Piazza"? I did not either, the answer is: where it is located on a house. A piazza is located on the side of a home in Charleston to catch the south wind and in the summer time the families would sleep outside to keep cool, of course these was in the older times before air conditioning. The reason they were on the side of houses instead of in the front of the house is when Charleston was owned by England the owners of the house were taxed by how much sq footage you had on in the front of your house. So if you had your porch on the front then you got taxed for all that room. Where as if you had it on the side then you could call it a piazza and then you don't get taxed on it. Many of the ceilings of these piazza's are colored baby blue to ward off birds, wasps, and such. The baby blue is different from the sky blue so the wasps and other critters will not build their nests there. Another fun fact is there is always a door leading to your piazza from the street and in earlier times it was so that woman would have a little privacy while sleeping on their piazza's. It also served as a hospitality much like the pineapple does. In the South there are universal signs of hospitality. One is the pineapple. If the pineapple is on the mantle then the hostess is welcoming friends into her house. If the pineapple is not on the mantle or is taken down after once being on the mantle then the hostess is not wanting guests or is wanting her guests to leave. The second is the door. If door on the piazza is shut then the hostess does not want guests. If the door is open then knock and come on in.
These blocks behind this car on the sidewalk are in front of houses all over in Charleston. There were to help woman down from carriages.
This house astonished me. It was owned by a dentist who painted it pink to represent healthy gums and the white trim represent white teeth. That is not what astonished me, what blew me away was that these homes were built facing the Ashley River and they housed one family and were only lived in six months out of the year. The reason they were only lived in six months were because down here they are S.O.B's and before I offend anyone, that saying came from Charleston and stands for "South of Broad" which is where the rich folks lived. So many of these people had house south of Broad St.and had houses either out in the country or of course north of Broad St. and when the mosquitoes got so bad they would pack up and live in these houses along the river until the first freeze when the mosquitoes died and they would move back to their original homes.
This was a beautiful S.O.B (I love that I can say that now as much as I want) house. Rich folks that lived in the city that had slaves treated their slaves much differently than the plantation owners that owned slaves. City folks often had their slaves dressed a little nicer and had them a little more educated and often ate the same food as the master did. . The reason being is when you lived in the city your slaves often lived right behind your house so you kept a closer eye on them and expected more out of them. While on the plantation slaves often lived closer to the fields than by the house so the slaves were more free (funny to say that and slave in the same sentence) to do as they please and come and go as they pleased.
Another neat fact is that often porches on older homes had a right and left staircase leading up to the porch. That was to allow males and females a different way up. See in the olden times a male was not allowed to see the ankle of a female unless he is wanting to marry that girl. My how times have changed.
This a close up of the fence in front of the house. Do you notice the barbed type iron on top of the fence? They were afraid the slaves were going to revolt and would climb over and get in the house and possibly burn it or take it over. In the South iron is a sign of money. The more iron you had the better off you was.
This is the smallest house in historic Charleston. It is 12 feet 6 inches wide and is not built square it bows around to fit on the lot.
This is the only insured statue in the United States. It is a statue dedicated to the confederate soldiers that defended Charleston during the battle at Fort Sumter.
Here is something else that is cool. Do you see the green circles above the door and then above the windows. Let me try to get this straight. These are like giant screws that go through the whole house Since Charleston sits on an earthquake fault line these houses had these built in so that if the house experiences a earthquake and gets lopsided then you can turn these knobs and straighten your house.
Let's turn to churches of Charleston.This was the first Baptist Church in Charleston. All Lutheran Churches in Charleston have Red doors. Lutherans view this as the blood of Christ. The St. Matthew's Lutheran Church has the tallest steeple not only in Charleston but in all of South Carolina at 255 feet. It was founded in 1840. Now no building is allowed to be built taller than that steeple in Charleston, so there will be no skyscrapers.
Another fun fact: Do you know the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery? I did not know either. A graveyard is on the same grounds as a church. A cemetery is located away from the church. In Charleston, if you were born in Charleston then you go buried in a graveyard, if you were born somewhere else and then moved to Charleston then you were buried in a cemetery. Charleston is known for all the churches that are located here cause of the religious freedom that the early settlers had.
The last cool thing I want to share about Charleston, along with the beautiful houses Charleston has beautiful landscaping. There are so many flowers blooming right now you would think it was late Spring instead of early Fall. These are Palmetto Palm Trees and they are everywhere in Charleston. Notice how the tree to the left has spike looking bark sticking out beneath the green palms and the tree on the right does not. You can pull those spikes off if you would rather have the smooth looking bark instead. It does not hurt the tree either way. Just depends on your preference.
After we got down with our city tour we traveled by boat to Fort Sumter. This Fort had the first known shot of the Civil War. Originally this fort was built three stories high, not during the first battle but during a two week fight later on in the Civil War it was attacked hard and bucked down. It also had the first fatality of the Civil War, while a solider was loading the cannon it somehow back fired and shot his arm off and he then died shortly after.
This is a shot from the top looking down. All around the Fort there was dolphins swimming around. I was more interested in them than the Fort, so I don't have as much information to give to you on it. I am truly sorry. I have a feeling though that a lot of you would be just like me.
After the Fort we went onto this massive ship it is the USS Franklin. It was a major battle ship during WWII and that is all I have to say about that.
We are leaving tomorrow to head home, please pray for a safe trip and stay tuned tomorrow night for the highs and lows of this trip along with many valuable lessons learned. Should be a hoot.
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