South Carolina

This past week Shannon and I traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, and to Myrtle Beach SC for a family reunion centered around a remembrance of Shannon's late sister Beth.

Before the rest of the gang arrived we explored the city of Charleston for a couple blustery cold days.  Founded in 1670 Charleston's early history is notable for the predominant slave trade.  At the south end of the peninsula there are many very old mansions crowded onto the narrow streets.

Seems like a fire hazard, so crowded together

And there were many fires that wiped out entire neighborhoods.  Nowadays there is a modern Fire Department, even though one station does have a quaint antique look:

Of course the Civil War began in Charleston harbor with the first shots fired at tiny Ft Sumter in 1861.  We visited the island.

The Stars and Stripes still flies there proudly today.

Inside the ruins.  The fort was taken by Confederate forces in three days, then later more or less destroyed as Union forces took it back, what was left of it.

Big guns

 And smaller guns.  A ten inch mortar, about the size in the front below, fired that first shot at Ft Sumter.


As to the American Civil War, on or around Thanksgiving Day, 1862, when Harriet Beecher Stowe was introduced to President Abraham Lincoln, he allegedly greeted her with these words, 'So you're the little woman who wrote the book [Uncle Tom's Cabin] that made this great war!'

So in the same vein, this above might be called the little cannon that started that great big war.
--------------------------

As more family arrived we relocated from Charleston up to Myrtle Beach SC.

Brookgreen Gardens is an interesting spot near Myrtle Beach.  Here we are with Shannon's older sister Michelle and son Gus, admiring the huge liveoak trees hung with Spanish Moss (an epiphyte plant that is neither Spanish nor moss).

Brookgreen Gardens is mostly a sculpture garden -- many, many sculptures of mythological figures, literary characters, and various constructions.

Don Quixote

Many depictions of the goddess Diana

Myrtle Beach also has a seaside boardwalk.

Shannon and Gus

On Sunday, 18th of November, the group of almost 40 of us gathered to celebrate Beth's life.  She will be missed.