We are in our car headed to the Charleston Harbor docks for a tour of the harbor. We have the address of the docks in the GPS and allowed for extra time to park and get checked in. Well, it's just not always that easy. When we reached the dock area, we drove around a couple of times looking for a parking place. The only signs we saw said "no parking". Since there are several different harbor cruises and no signs posted, weren't sure we were at the right dock. Finally, we parked in the "no parking" lot long enough to get out and see if we were at the right place.
"No, sir. The ship you are booked on is the next dock down." I asked the man where we should park and he gave us directions. So, we got back in the car and headed to the parking area. We parked and started walking towards the dock, and still no sign was seen anywhere regarding our tour. We saw another couple that had the same lost look on their faces as we did. We finally figured our where our tour ship was and got there just in time to see it leave the dock. Dingy Darn Darn!
We had to kill 1 1/2 hours until the next boat departed. We saw a sign for a restaurant on the docks, but couldn't find it. After walking around for several minutes, we finally found it and it was closed. Some days are like this when nothing seems to go right. But, it may have been a blessing in disguise, since the weather was much better for the later tour.
So, let the Charleston Harbor tour begin!
This is our tour boat. This time it waited for us to board!
Some of the nearby docks.
Battery Park
Some of the big money homes along the harbor.
This is Castle Pinckney which was built in 1810 on the ruins of the old Fort Pinckney
One of the things that attracted us to Charleston was Fort Sumter. Our timing was perfect. It was closed while we were here due to the partial shut down of our friendly federal government, and it opened up just after we left!
So, the only way we could see the fort was from a boat. Fort Sumter is where the Civil War started. After South Carolina seceded from the Union, the Confederates demanded the Union surrender the fort. The Union refused, and on April 12, 1861 at 4:30 am, the confederates began pounding the fort with canons from Fort Johnson. Construction began on Fort Sumter in 1829, but it still wasn't finished when the war started and the ammunition in the fort did not have any fuses, so their canon balls would not explode. Thus, the Union could not mount much defensive fire, and the Confederates pounded the fort for 34 straight hours until the Union agreed to leave the fort and the bloodiest war in US history was underway.
Fort Sumter is not very large. Originally, it was a three story fort. It is estimated that the fort was hit with about 46,000 shells during the entire civil war reducing it to only one level. The Union army made several attempts to capture the fort, but they all failed. The Confederates abandoned the fort as the Union army began to march into Charleston.
It is a 5 sided structure with walls that are 5 feet thick. It is about 170 to 190 feet long. During the shutdown the government does not even fly the American flag over the fort.
This is Fort Moultrie which is also closed at this time due to the government shut down. It saw action during the Spanish American and Revolutionary Wars and was an active fort from 1776 to 1947. You can see a canon to the left of center.
This is the bridge that gives Kitty nightmares. It's a 2 1/2 mile long suspension bridge that is 200 feet above the water. She just about came out of her skin when we crossed over it a few days ago!
The USS Yorktown is on display here along with two other WWII ships at the Naval Museum.
This ends our tour of Charleston Harbor. We enjoyed the relaxing and interesting ride and we hope you did too. Tomorrow, we are going to see the site where the first settlers lived when they arrived at what was then called Charles Town.
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