Posted By: wheland
Charleston, SC & Savannah, GA - 02/15/02 06:56 AM
I just took a little trip down South Charleston & Savannah way.
The trip was to make up for lost opportunities in both cities. We had been in Charleston about a year and a half ago and only had time to drive out to Sullivan's Island adn then thru town on our way to Morris Island. I promised my wife, Esther that we would return and see the city.
We had planned on seeing Savannah about a year before and had to cut some time out of our vacation that time due to a death in the family, so i figured I'd combine the two cities. They are fairly close to each other.
We flew out of Newark on Friday 2-8 and as we wound our way south I looked out and was able to see Sandy Hook, the actual hook not the light, from the plane.
I looked out the window as we approached Charleston and was rewarded with the sight of Sullivan's Island on one side of the harbor and Morris Island on the other.
We went into town and checked out the visitor's center and got all the approriate info and brochures for our stay. I was particularrly interested in the boat out to Ft Sumter.
We got our passes for the DART for the next day. this is a downtown shuttle that runs continuously between about 15 stops around the Downtown area and some outlying hotels. It just so happened that the courtyard we were at had a stop right in front of it.
We drove over to the boat dock and took the cruise out to FT Sumter. I asked the gentleman handing out the brochure if there was any evidence left of the Lighthouse and his response was " There's no lighthouse at FT Sumter, never has been."
I did not argue with him (too much). I opened the brochure and on the first fold was a picture of the Lighthouse that was torn down in 1948.
You can see both Sullivan's Island and Morris Island Lighthouses on the way out to FT Sumter. You are much closer to Sullivans Island , though. I was able to get some nice shots with my son's Olympus C-2100.
The National Park Ranger at FT. Sumter gave a great talk about the role of FT Sumter during and shortly after the Civil War. I hightly reccomend taking this trip if you visit Charleston.
We drove over to Morris Island after getting back in from FT Sumter. I was hoping to get some nice sunset shots of the light. I did get some, and also of Sullivan's Island across the way.
We then drove downtown and roamed around a little and got dinner at a great rib place- Sticky Fingers. It's a chain, but the food is still great.
We spent the next day going out to the Magnolia Plantation which has a restored Plantation home (post Civil War, mostly) with many original time period furnishings, and a Garden that has won raves for decades.
More my wife's cup of tea than mine, but this was her day. We then went down into the City again and explored some of the old houses and buildings and roamed the streets for most of the day.
We drove over to Sullivan's Island at the end of the day to try and get some shots from a different angle. I found a small hill next to the fire Station that I walked up which gave me a view of about 2/3 of the lighthouse. We then drove thru Ft Moultrie which predates Ft Sumter.
We had dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant , Vincenzo's right across the street from Sticky Fingers. Great soup, and the entrees were delicious also.
Sunday morning we got up and drove down to Savannah. We stopped at the Visitor's Center on our way out to Cockspur and Tybee Island. We picked up our brochures to plan the day on Monday and continued on our way out to the Main Event- Tybee Island.
We picked the right day completely by accident- it was Museum Sunday. There was free admission to many of the Museums and Houses in the city. This extended out to Ft. Pulaski and Tybee Island also. We did not take full advantage of the freebies as this was my day and Lighthouse were on top of the Agenda.
We stopped at Ft Pulaski and climbed up on top of the Fort as was reccomended on the forums and did get a nice view of Cockspur.
We left there and I was going to stop at the boat launch on the way to Tybee Island, but I had someone right on my tail so I figured I'd stop on the way out.
We stopped at the North Beach Bar for a "quick" lunch. Nothing quick about it. The food was fine, but the service was very , very slow. Nice view though. It's across the parking lot from the Lighthouse.
I took a few shots of the Lighthouse, etc and then we climbed the Lighthouse. It was a nice clear day when we went into the Lighthouse, but by the time we got to the top it was raining- very hard. This made it impossible to even see Cockspur from the top, let alone photograph it.
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200284045PM0.2746328.jpg[/img]
We were driven inside by the rain and went back down to the gift shop. We lucked out as about 5 minutes later they closed the Lighthouse (but not the gift shop, of course).
We drove back into Savannah without stopping at the boat launch and found our hotel, took a swim had dinner and watched the Olympics.
We got up on Monday morning and took a overview tour of Savannah and then utilized their version of the DASH- this one is free. It runs every 20 minutes thru the Historic district of Savannah. This area is extremely beautiful. there are a series of Squares that are distributed thru the area and a large number of the homes and buildings around them and the other parts of the Historic district are restored extremely well.
Savannah is even more walker friendly than Charleston. We spent the day touring the streets and the homes and buildings ( and of course the shops). We had lunch at a Pub called the Six Pence Pub. Great soup and sandwiches.
We even got down to the River and saw the Range Light that has been reatored, along with both the depiction of the Olympic Torch (Savannah was the base for the yachting competition at the Atlanta Olympics)and the statue commemerting the "Waving Girl" who waved at all of the Ships coming and going into and out of Savannah. She was the sister of a Lightkeeper at Cockspur and was waiting for her true love to return to her from his sea voyage.
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200290136PM0.3233693.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200290127PM0.6131512.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200291119PM8.924502E-02.jpg[/img]
We had about half a day on Tuesday before our flight out so we went back into the city and toured the Owens- Thompson house that we missed the day before. We then went back out to Tybee Island, even though it was closed.
I wanted to get those shots from that boat launch, and get the pictures of the other buildings at Tybee that I missed due to the rain.
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200284028PM0.5113184.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200283645PM0.3529866.jpg[/img]
We did both and then drove around Tybee Island, took a walk on the beach and then hightailed it to the Airport and flew back north to Trenton.
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200285006PM0.1317255.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200290808PM0.7024914.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200291132PM0.3128102.jpg[/img]
Not a lot of new lighthouses on this trip, but still a great time was ahd by all (most of the time)
Dennis
[This message has been edited by JChidester (edited 02-15-2002).]
The trip was to make up for lost opportunities in both cities. We had been in Charleston about a year and a half ago and only had time to drive out to Sullivan's Island adn then thru town on our way to Morris Island. I promised my wife, Esther that we would return and see the city.
We had planned on seeing Savannah about a year before and had to cut some time out of our vacation that time due to a death in the family, so i figured I'd combine the two cities. They are fairly close to each other.
We flew out of Newark on Friday 2-8 and as we wound our way south I looked out and was able to see Sandy Hook, the actual hook not the light, from the plane.
I looked out the window as we approached Charleston and was rewarded with the sight of Sullivan's Island on one side of the harbor and Morris Island on the other.
We went into town and checked out the visitor's center and got all the approriate info and brochures for our stay. I was particularrly interested in the boat out to Ft Sumter.
We got our passes for the DART for the next day. this is a downtown shuttle that runs continuously between about 15 stops around the Downtown area and some outlying hotels. It just so happened that the courtyard we were at had a stop right in front of it.
We drove over to the boat dock and took the cruise out to FT Sumter. I asked the gentleman handing out the brochure if there was any evidence left of the Lighthouse and his response was " There's no lighthouse at FT Sumter, never has been."
I did not argue with him (too much). I opened the brochure and on the first fold was a picture of the Lighthouse that was torn down in 1948.
You can see both Sullivan's Island and Morris Island Lighthouses on the way out to FT Sumter. You are much closer to Sullivans Island , though. I was able to get some nice shots with my son's Olympus C-2100.
The National Park Ranger at FT. Sumter gave a great talk about the role of FT Sumter during and shortly after the Civil War. I hightly reccomend taking this trip if you visit Charleston.
We drove over to Morris Island after getting back in from FT Sumter. I was hoping to get some nice sunset shots of the light. I did get some, and also of Sullivan's Island across the way.
We then drove downtown and roamed around a little and got dinner at a great rib place- Sticky Fingers. It's a chain, but the food is still great.
We spent the next day going out to the Magnolia Plantation which has a restored Plantation home (post Civil War, mostly) with many original time period furnishings, and a Garden that has won raves for decades.
More my wife's cup of tea than mine, but this was her day. We then went down into the City again and explored some of the old houses and buildings and roamed the streets for most of the day.
We drove over to Sullivan's Island at the end of the day to try and get some shots from a different angle. I found a small hill next to the fire Station that I walked up which gave me a view of about 2/3 of the lighthouse. We then drove thru Ft Moultrie which predates Ft Sumter.
We had dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant , Vincenzo's right across the street from Sticky Fingers. Great soup, and the entrees were delicious also.
Sunday morning we got up and drove down to Savannah. We stopped at the Visitor's Center on our way out to Cockspur and Tybee Island. We picked up our brochures to plan the day on Monday and continued on our way out to the Main Event- Tybee Island.
We picked the right day completely by accident- it was Museum Sunday. There was free admission to many of the Museums and Houses in the city. This extended out to Ft. Pulaski and Tybee Island also. We did not take full advantage of the freebies as this was my day and Lighthouse were on top of the Agenda.
We stopped at Ft Pulaski and climbed up on top of the Fort as was reccomended on the forums and did get a nice view of Cockspur.
We left there and I was going to stop at the boat launch on the way to Tybee Island, but I had someone right on my tail so I figured I'd stop on the way out.
We stopped at the North Beach Bar for a "quick" lunch. Nothing quick about it. The food was fine, but the service was very , very slow. Nice view though. It's across the parking lot from the Lighthouse.
I took a few shots of the Lighthouse, etc and then we climbed the Lighthouse. It was a nice clear day when we went into the Lighthouse, but by the time we got to the top it was raining- very hard. This made it impossible to even see Cockspur from the top, let alone photograph it.
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200284045PM0.2746328.jpg[/img]
We were driven inside by the rain and went back down to the gift shop. We lucked out as about 5 minutes later they closed the Lighthouse (but not the gift shop, of course).
We drove back into Savannah without stopping at the boat launch and found our hotel, took a swim had dinner and watched the Olympics.
We got up on Monday morning and took a overview tour of Savannah and then utilized their version of the DASH- this one is free. It runs every 20 minutes thru the Historic district of Savannah. This area is extremely beautiful. there are a series of Squares that are distributed thru the area and a large number of the homes and buildings around them and the other parts of the Historic district are restored extremely well.
Savannah is even more walker friendly than Charleston. We spent the day touring the streets and the homes and buildings ( and of course the shops). We had lunch at a Pub called the Six Pence Pub. Great soup and sandwiches.
We even got down to the River and saw the Range Light that has been reatored, along with both the depiction of the Olympic Torch (Savannah was the base for the yachting competition at the Atlanta Olympics)and the statue commemerting the "Waving Girl" who waved at all of the Ships coming and going into and out of Savannah. She was the sister of a Lightkeeper at Cockspur and was waiting for her true love to return to her from his sea voyage.
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200290136PM0.3233693.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200290127PM0.6131512.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200291119PM8.924502E-02.jpg[/img]
We had about half a day on Tuesday before our flight out so we went back into the city and toured the Owens- Thompson house that we missed the day before. We then went back out to Tybee Island, even though it was closed.
I wanted to get those shots from that boat launch, and get the pictures of the other buildings at Tybee that I missed due to the rain.
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200284028PM0.5113184.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200283645PM0.3529866.jpg[/img]
We did both and then drove around Tybee Island, took a walk on the beach and then hightailed it to the Airport and flew back north to Trenton.
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200285006PM0.1317255.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200290808PM0.7024914.jpg[/img]
[img]http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000031214/1000031214_215200291132PM0.3128102.jpg[/img]
Not a lot of new lighthouses on this trip, but still a great time was ahd by all (most of the time)
Dennis
[This message has been edited by JChidester (edited 02-15-2002).]
Thanks for sharing your trip. Makes me want to pack my bags right now.