A sunny day
and its off to the beach, Folly Beach Island to be exact; with some short side trips
as surprises for Mona along the way.
The first
surprise was a stop on John’s Island at Angel Oak Park. Said to be the largest live oak tree east of
the Mississippi this one may well be 300-400 years old. If only she could talk.
Called Angel
by some because her gently drooping branches have been said to resemble angel’s
wings, she is actually named for the family who owned this land on John’s
Island in the 1700’s and part of the 1800’s.
The signs
set up all around her, and even in the parking lot before we arrive, all say ‘do
not climb; do not hang from; do not…’ anything but look at the tree. Sadly the
tree also has to be surrounded by tall chain link fence topped with barbed
wire. Vandalism is not only a big city
sport.
Next we
drove a couple of miles north to James Island for my Civil War fix. Long before the Civil War, however, James
Island was approached by the British seeking to take Charleston from the
south. The American’s built Fort (or
Battery) Johnson to deter that invasion.
In 1862 the Confederates built this battery at the village of Secessionville,
SC, to keep out an American invader.
Secessionville
was named well before the Civil War, some say because some of the local
residents of Johnsonville wanted to secede from that town and create their own.
The battle
of Secessionville took place on June 16, 1862, before the fort was fully
constructed. Union General Benham, believing he could easily erase the threat
of this battery of large guns from the island before it was completed, attacked
in the early dawn with two columns of 6,000 Federal soldiers total. They were
met by several thousand Rebels and some hastily ordered up reinforcements
during the day.
After that
day of very hard fighting, including attacks by the union troops that took
portions of the sand and wood parapets for short periods several times, Benham
had to retreat and the fort was never attacked again. In fact, this day’s fight was the single
largest land battle on South Carolina soil throughout the war. Almost 1,000
from both sides were killed, wounded, or missing by day’s end.
Here we
found a 21st century monument which honored units of both armies who
served and lost men here. I have not
seen such a ‘unified’ monument before.
Next stop,
Folly Beach Island. We took our packed
lunch and beach buggy onto the sand at a walk on access near the County Fishing
Pier Park.
Seagulls,
pelicans, pigeons and black birds joined the off season beachgoers today.
Pigeons? Yes, we are not far from
Charleston City on this beach.
After a couple
of relaxing, even napping, hours on the beach we picked up and reloaded TOAD,
cleaned up at the nice bathrooms on the pier, and walked the shopping street of
Folly Beach Town looking for Mona’s favorite southern dish: She Crab Soup. Made
delectably of crab roe, heavy cream, butter, and probably more butter. Oh dear,
this is dangerous!
We found it
at Rita’s, right across from the pier.
And Mona said it was an 8 out of 10 for freshness and flavor. We shared a bowl as a jazz musician soothed our savage souls, if any soothing was
still required after a day such as we had had.
Then we paid our bill to a most pleasant server and walked back to the
car, parked at no cost right on the street.
Nope, that would NEVER happen in a Jersey Shore Town! No beach tags, either. Access is totally free.
All day, in
a parking lot across from TOAD’s space, we had seen a 35 foot Phaeton class A
coach parked and battened down. But
something about it told us it was probably inhabited, not just parked. And sure enough, as we arrived at TOAD we saw
the slides out and heard the generator going.
We went over
to see what deal had been struck to let a class A owner live right on the beach
on Folly Beach and were greeted by two friendly brothers, Anthony, on the left,
and Ron.
Ron lost his
wife several years ago, downsized, bought this coach and lives on the road,
seeing the country as a retired Viet Nam Vet, promoting veteran projects. In fact, that was the deal that got him this
parking space for a week. The owner of
the lot is one of his vet buddies from the 70’s. Brotherhood bands are thicker than the
non-military can know.
Anthony lives
in Santee, SC, west of Charleston. They
were out fishing today and just enjoying each other’s company till the call of
the road reaches Ron’s ears again.
We are
attempting to stay at a UMC church near Bluffton, SC before and after we stay
at our timeshare in Hilton Head beginning Oct 19. So far, no response. But we’ll keep checking. The ease of finding church lodging elsewhere across
the country is being met by what we knew we would find on the coast: tourist
area rules, laws, and crowding; even in the off season.
But God has
provided and we have never had to take turns driving around some block all
night yet so the other of us could get some shut-eye. J
-Ken
Question: What is going to happen when the snow & Ice come to visit you were ever you are??? I take it right now you have had mostly good weather except for rain & wind storms. However the winter is coming. Have you inquired from the locals how bad weather can get were you are??? What are your plans for bad weather??? Just wondering. I guess you will take the winter as it presents itself. Prayers for both of YOU.
ReplyDeleteWinter for us should stay warm, or at least mild. Temps here are already averaging 10 to 15 degrees and armer than Douglassville. We may go farther south later than we thought though. Mona has family in North Carolina. We did experience a very light frost on the car roof one morning two weeks ago, in the SC western hills.
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