Charleston, South Carolina - Day 2

Rainy weather allowed us time to give our vessel some TLC.  Worked hard all day to keep her polished and spiffy clean both inside and out in between rain bands.

We did christen our new marine Magma gas grill with it's new custom bow rail stand/support that Lamb's Yacht Center custom built for us.

Best she may ever look, as all the salt water does take a beating on all our equipment over time no matter the maintenance. This grill, along with my Masterbuilt Electric Smoker, should keep us living as normal as possible.  We do love our smoked and grilled food! Several people have already inquired about how we have these cooking options in place.  My guess is they followed their nose to our boat while salivating! 

Grilling up some German Brat's with sauerkraut along with balsamic cucumber salad.

Who knew?!

The first shots to be fired in the Civil War came from Citadel cadets stationed on Morris Island, just west of the Charleston peninsula.

A flotilla of three small ships carrying 148 English men and women sailed into a harbor on the SC coast in April 1670 and established the settlement of Charles Town, named for King Charles II.

The Carolina Golf Club was established in 1786, thus becoming the site of the first golf course in the United States.

A sea captain would spear a pineapple to his fence post to let friends know he was home safely and to please visit so he could regale his guests with tales of the high seas. The pineapple today is a symbol of hospitality.

As early as the 1700’s, Limners (Traveling Artists) flocked to Charleston. Many were portrait painters like Samuel Morse, who eventually threw in the brush and invented Morse code.

Dr. Alexander Garden, a Charleston physician first imported “Cape Jasmine” from South Africa in about 1754. The flower was renamed Gardenia after Dr. Garden.

After the Civil War, it is said that the North donated black paint to spruce things up. But black was Yankee paint so they found mixing two parts Yankee black and one part Rebel yellow produced the signature Charleston dark green.

White Point Gardens, located in the Battery of downtown Charleston, derived its name from the English as far back as the 1670s due to the whiteness of the oyster shells that could be seen as they sailed by.

Although Georgia is commonly called the Peach State, the state of South Carolina is actually the largest producer of that fruit in the South.

Charleston was the first city in America to have a theatre.  The Dock Street Theatre, built in 1736, still exists today and is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the city.

The historic district of the city has over 2,000 preserved and restored buildings.  More than 70 are from the pre-Revolutionary War era; over 130 dating from the 1700s and about 600 from the early 1800s.

Founded in 1773, The Charleston Museum is considered to be the country’s oldest municipal museum.

With construction completed in 1761, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church is credited as being the first church in the city.

Charleston boasts the first public college in the U.S.

George Gershwin composed his well-known opera Porgy and Bess while living on Folly Beach, SC. Porgy and Bess are buried in the James Island Presbyterian Church graveyard.

North America’s longest cable-stayed bridge spans the Charleston Harbor. The Arthur J. Ravenel Jr. Bridge connects historic Charleston and Mount Pleasant, SC.

The salamander was given the honor of official state amphibian.

South Carolina entered the Union on May 23, 1788, and became the eighth state.

The state dance of South Carolina is the Shag!

Before being known as the Palmetto State, South Carolina was known as, and had emblazoned on its license plates, the Iodine State.

Charleston calls itself the “Holy City” because of its many places of worship and skyline full of church steeples.

South Carolina was the first to secede from the Union and thus the federal postal system so; it had to print its own money and postage stamps.

Charleston’s first woman newspaper editor and publisher was Mrs. Elizabeth Timothy in 1739.

Charleston is the seventh largest container port in the U.S.

African slaves in the low-country created a language and culture they called Gullah. The word may have come from the Gola or Gora Tribes in Angola. The language was made official in 1939 and is creole-based with English as its main base.

The city’s first baseball team was the Sea Gulls, established in 1886, and now called the Charleston Riverdogs. Part owner and director of fun is actor Bill Murray.

The old city market was first a meat market. Buzzards “Charleston’s Eagle” once trolled the market for meat scraps and kept the place clean and were protected by law.

The Isle of Palms was originally named Hunting Island and then Long Island, it’s thought to be at least 25,000 years old, and was first inhabited by the indigenous Seewee Indians.

A few interesting boats here, pictures taken yesterday....

St. John's Fire Rescue Boat

Funky boat

Owners must be Cajun! (My Cajun family and friends will understand dat)