Charleston with Lydia

A big thanks to Lydia for coming to visit us for a few weeks in July. Despite flight delays and jet lag she was in great spirits from the moment we saw her. We decided to take a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, staying a couple of nights in a hotel right in the heart of the historic downtown.

In the past we have tended to skip over Charleston in favor of Savannah, GA, but this trip reminded us of the dynamic beauty and charm of this city. Charleston embraces its rich history and does not hide the fact that its much of its wealth originated from enslaving Africans on rice plantations.

Today street after street showcases gorgeous flowers and palm trees, cobble streets and wide sidewalks, homes with sweeping verandahs and immaculately painted railings.

After a long day of exploring the city without a stroller for Harrison (quite an oversight), we hired two bike taxis to take us to the "Battery", where fabulous homes look out over the water. We all decided that this was an excellent way to tour the city!



We chose to visit Magnolia Plantation for a significant part of one day. Situated on the Ashley River, it is one of several rice plantations in the area. Spanish Moss drapes from the trees (apparently it is not from Spain and does not belong to the moss family). As we entered the plantation we spied horses and peacocks sharing a large field. One peacock became quite interested in Emma's lunch and Harrison learnt a new word!

The petting zoo was one of the reasons we chose this plantation - lots of goats, geese, ducks, a baby alligator (not to be petted!), a pot-bellied pig or two and some rabbits. Much older children were amazed that Emma managed to catch a rabbit, and I know she felt good about handing it over to a boy twice her age.
The peacock feather display was not for our benefit, but to impress the ladies.
Later we took a "train" ride around the plantation - not really a train, and the heat became seriosuly oppressive. No-one had to imagine too hard to realize what slaves endured.

Although I was disappointed with the knowledge level of the chap who gave a "slave talk", there is a conscientious effort to restore these slave cabins using original materials where possible and to construct repairs using 19th century technology. They have already constructed a barge in this manner that would have been used to float rice and cotton on the Ashley River tide. Usually the tide would have been sufficient to carry the barge to the port of Charleston with little effort other than keeping it in the mainstream - some jobs were clearly better than others!

Whenever Harrison sees pictures of Lydia, he gets excited and announces her name - usually it sounds like "Lidja" which is very sweet. Lydia bonded so well with Meg this visit that she tends to email her more than me!