We left Beaufort early in the morning and traveled to Charleston. The sea gulls loved us. We must have been churning up something behind us that they liked because they followed us most of the day.
We arrived at the Charleston Maritime Center for the night. Great location but very exposed to wakes and waves. We rolled next to the dock all night.
We walked into through the historic district marveling at the beauty of the city. Our destination was a place called Poogan’s Porch for dinner.
Our walk took us past beautiful historic homes with such charm and personality I couldn’t stop taking pictures. You can see on this house there are black metal circles on the outside of the walls. Theses are earthquake bolts. They pass through the masonry walls of buildings and can be tightened to pull the walls together for stability as needed. Back in 1886 there was a massive earthquake here. It is thought to have ranged between 6.6 and 7.3 on the Richter scale. The damage and deaths was high.
Charleston is known as The Holy City because of all the churches here. It was one of the few cities in the 13 original colonies that provided religious tolerance. As we walked along towards Poogen’s Porch we came upon three gorgeous churches.
This one is St. Michael’s Episcopal and is the oldest church in Charleston and still active. It has survived numerous hurricanes, the earthquake and the Civil War. Despite the fighting, this church escaped unharmed!
The French Huguenots were protestants who faced massive persecution in France because of their non-catholic beliefs. A group of them came to Charleston and built a church. Unfortunately their church has been damaged many times by hurricanes, the earthquake and the Civil War, but they have rebuilt it.
St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church also has been damaged and repaired many times. Back in the late 1800’s a beacon was placed in it’s steeple to guide ships in the harbor.
We arrived at Poogan’s Porch for a wonderful meal. It was a pleasant evening so the windows were all open. This place is named after a dog named Poogan who wandered around the neighborhood begging and snoozing on folks’ porches. When this house was purchased and renovated, Poogan appointed himself guardian. He stayed on through the renovation and to greet guests as they came here. Poogan is buried just off of the porch.
The meal was fabulous. They brought us hot, tender, melt in your mouth biscuits fresh from the oven. Made me kinda wish the south had won the war if we could get biscuits like this back north.
Walking back down the dock to the Oddysea we came across a Looper named “Tug”. He is doing the Loop in this 14 foot sailboat that he built himself!!!! Very nice, friendly guy. A history professor who had taken some time off to live one of his dreams. Here he is cooking his dinner over an alcohol stove. Someone had given him a couple of potatoes and 2 eggs. We brought him down some cheese to add to it and some strawberries and chocolates for dessert. He stopped at the boat after he had eaten for a visit and it was amazing to hear of his travels.
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