The Day of Churches

Charleston, SC – Day 3

We started out to tour the Historic Charleston City Market but found that over ¾ of it was closed and is being completely gutted and renovated. From the smells, it seems that they are mostly unearthing old cesspools! So, after dragging Monte through what is left of The Market, he was really thrilled when I informed him that it was now the “Church Tour Day”.

Circular Congregational Church. 

 Charles Towne's (original name of Charleston) original settlers founded this protestant, or dissenting, church about 1681. The graveyard is the city's oldest burial grounds with monuments dating from 1695. The first meeting house on this site gave Meeting Street its name.

St. Michaels Episcopal Church – the oldest surviving religious structure in Charleston.

 Begun in 1752. Exposed to the fire of British Artillery on James Island in 1780. Struck 4 times by Federal artillery 1863-65. Injured by hurricane August 1885. Almost destroyed by earthquake August 1886. Reopened June 1887.  Minor changes since that date.

French Huguenot Church.

Established approx. 1681 by Huguenot refugees from the Protestant persecutions in France.   1796 destroyed by fire. Damaged by canon fire during the Civil War.  1886 – almost demolished by earthquake. The only remaining independent Huguenot Church in America.

St. Phillips Episcopal Church

Established 1681. Oldest religious congregation in South Carolina. Damaged by hurricane 1710. 1713 – another hurricane. 1728-40 Fires, hurricane, smallpox, yellow fever, Indian attacks, slave uprisings. Burned to the ground 1835. The Church that was rebuilt and opened in 1838 is the one that still stands today. 1861 – Church bells – 11 of them – contibuted to the Confederate military to be melted down and re-cast as weaponry and ammunition. 1927 and 1939 tornado damage. 1989 – Hurricane Hugo caused extensive damage.

All of these churches survived many hardships and are still going strong today.  I think that says something wonderful about the United States of America.

And thus ended our tour of Charleston churches. There were many more but I think we hit the highlights.

A Day on the Cooper River

Charleston, SC – Day 2

One of the reasons we wanted to make a stop in Charleston was to see our good friends John and Jean Mills who we had not seen in 4 years. Monte and John were stationed together on the submarine USS Jallao (I won't tell you how long ago but many of our readers were not born yet during this time frame). 

John and Jean live just north of Charleston in Moncks Corner and their home is about a block from the Cooper River. The Cooper River flows south to Charleston where it joins with the Ashley River to form Charleston Harbor and then, as the locals say, the Atlantic Ocean.

John invited us to take the most wonderful boat ride on the river. We spent the afternoon cruising north toward Lake Moultrie passing the remains of old rice plantations, a huge old monastery (Mepkin Abbey, home to Trappist Monks, which is on our list to go to on our next visit), many stately old homes and miles of pristine wilderness.

To reach Lake Moultrie from the Cooper River one must transit through the Pinoplis Lock. When this lock was built in 1940 it was the highest single lift lock in the world. Today, it is the still the highest in North America – and that is as far as my research went... Anyway, the lock lifts/lowers boats 75 feet, uses 6 million gallons of water and is very impressive.

 

After cruising Lake Moultrie we went back through the lock – the 75' trip down is much quicker than the 75' trip up – and back down the river. 

 

When we got back to the Mills' home, Jean, who had been dog sitting Chief and Casey, had a wonderful dinner prepared for us.

What a great day. And we can attest to Jean being a very good cook since we went back the next evening for dinner again! Thanks John and Jean for the hospitality!

Confederate Submarine Hunley

Charleston, SC - Day 1

The CSS Hunley is located at the old Naval Station in Charleston where it is undergoing restoration and is available for viewing by the general public. To me it is amazing that something made of iron and submerged in salt water for 150 years can be so totally intact. This was something that we just had to see.

The CSS Hunley was not the first submarine, she was however the first sub to successfully attack and sink an enemy ship. The Hunley was manned by 7 enlisted members who provided the hand-cranked propulsion for the boat and one officer who skippered the boat. 

From the beginning the Hunley seemed to be ill-fated. She was launched in July 1863. The first sinking of the Hunley was on August 29, 1863 when the skipper of the boat accidentally stepped on the lever that controlled the diving planes – and since the hatches were open – she flooded and sank with the loss of 5 of 8 crewmen. Her second sinking October 15, 1863, occurred for unknown reasons and all 8 crewmen, including the man behind the machine, H.L. Hunley, who had been at the helm, were killed. The third, and last, sinking was February 17, 1864. On this date the Hunley attacked and sank the USS Housatonic and shortly thereafter the Hunley sank killing all 8 of the crewmen.

In the years following the Civil War, explorers and treasure hunters tried in vain to locate the Hunley. It was not until 1995, when author Clive Cussler led an expedition to find the sub that she was located. She was in Charleston Harbor, 100 yards away from the Housatonic in 27 feet of water and buried under several feet of silt. She was raised, completely intact, on August 8, 2000 and is still today undergoing restoration. The remains of the crewmen indicated that the men died at their stations and were not trying to escape from the sinking sub. The remains of all 21 crewmen who died during the 3 sinkings of the boat are interred at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, SC.

We were not allowed to take pictures of the Hunley so – if you are interested in learning more and seeing pictures check this web site: Confederate Sub Hunley

The Royal Gorge, Canon City, Colorado

A few years ago Shelley's brother Tom treated Monte and Shelley to a train ride that follows the Arkansas River through the bottom of the Royal Gorge. This year Shelley and Monte were visiting some of Shelley's family in Canon City and we decided to do the attractions above the Royal Gorge. We were joined by Shelley's cousins Cheryl, Deanna, Michaela, and Katie.

The first thing we did was to ride the Incline Railway to the bottom of the gorge (and back up). The railway is 1,550' long and is at a 45 degree angle. The important point here is that it has 19 manually operated stopping devices and an automatic governor that will stop the cars in an emergency.

Next we walked across the gorge via The Royal Gorge Bridge which is the world's highest suspension bridge. Bridge construction was started in June 1929 and completed in October of that year. It is 1,053' above the Arkansas River, 18' wide, the towers are 150' high and will support in excess of 2 million pounds. Original cost to build the bridge was $350,000. Today's cost would be over $15 million. Although we walked across, driving across is allowed.

Since we walked across one way we rode back across the chasm on the Aerial Tram. It is the World's longest single-span aerial tram. It is 2,200' long and 1,178' above the river and was built in 1968. It was pretty windy but once in the car we did not notice the wind swaying the car as we thought we would.

 Now, I think I promised pole dancing in this blog so here it is.   Shelley pole dancing on the Antique Replica Carousel (shouldn't that be Replica Antique?).

Last was the Silver Rock Railroad. Quite the scenic railway.

A good time was had by all.  And another to do is scratched off of our bucket list.

A Visit in Salida or "I Must Have Bats In My Belfry"

We stopped for a few days in Salida, Colorado to visit Shelley's cousin Omar and his wife Anne. Omar and Anne have recently moved into a house that is located at a campground that Omar owns. So, it was extremely convenient as they reserved us the camping site closest to their home.

On our second day there they announced that they thought it would be nice if we all went to the Orient Land Trust (OLT) that evening to see a huge colony of Mexican Free Tailed Bats leave their roost and head out on their nightly hunt. We thought it sounded like a pretty cool thing to do and said sure we would go. Omar then explained that after we arrived at the land trust, the trip would entail a short hike to see the bats. “No problem” thought I. They also vaguely alluded to the fact that the OLT was the home of clothing optional hot springs. So – I'm thinking – “I'm going to see bats not naked people at a hot springs – and Anne and Omar are not clothing optional type people so - it'll be okay.”

Now for some background. First of all,Omar and Anne live at 8,000 feet above sea level. Our house in Florida is 38 feet above sea level. So already they are way way ahead of us as they are used to oxygen deprivation. Second, Omar is Mr. Mountain Man. He has climbed each of Colorado's 54 mountains that are over 14,000 feet and many of them multiple times. Anne is no slouch either and has climbed her share of mountains also.

We get to the OLT and find out that this little hike is 1.8 miles and we are currently at 8,600' and will climb 800' in elevation to 9,400' (9,425 to be exact). OMG, I'm old, over-weight, out of shape, can't breath as it is, and here we go. And I'm thinking “I must be batty to be doing this”

We head off to meet our tour guide, Roger. I'm sorry that I failed to take a picture of Roger so you will just have to use your imagination. Roger is probably 50 years old and looks to be in quite good shape. We can tell this by the clothes or lack there of that he is wearing. Roger has on Army issue boots and white socks, a green Army t-shirt that the tail of just barely manages to cover his butt and a 45 pound pack on his back (I know it was 45 lbs because he told us repeatedly that it was 45 lbs) and that is ALL. Roger is standing there tugging on the tail of his t-shirt trying to cover – well, those parts that should be covered.  As we head out on our little walk, we see other folks that are staying at OLT (it is a resort) and thankfully they all have the decency to be adequately dressed. (I know, I'm such a prude).

The hike took 1.5 hours, we did have many rest stops, not enough but many and although I brought up the rear the entire time and bitched and moaned and thought that my lungs would burst or if not them my heart – but I made it. On the way up we learned special tidbits of information from Roger. Such as – did you know that rodents are not mammals? Or did you know that a jackass is the result of the mating of a donkey and a mule? You get the picture – Roger is one of these people that thinks he knows everything but in reality knows absolutely nothing.

About 10 minutes after we got to the Glory Hole where the bats were to come out of – out they came. In waves, all 200,000 or 250,000 of them. This is kind of a strange bunch because it is 100% bachelors. All the girls and kids are at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Or so Roger said. After about 20 minutes of bat watching it was the hike back down which only took 50 minutes.

We had fun and it was interesting and I'm glad we went. However, Omar and Anne, next time you plan an excursion I'm going to Google it first and see what the real scoop is so that I know whether or not I need to pack an oxygen bottle.

One last note – on the way back the path had been very dark and Monte and Omar were wearing headlamp type flashlights to light our way. When we got back to the bottom we all needed to use the restroom. Turned out that they are all unisex but at least the stalls had doors which was more than we could say for the urinals. As Monte was waiting outside the bathroom his headlamp was still on and he heard footsteps and turned around and there, like a deer in the headlights, was some woman in all her glory, carrying just her towel to the shower. Monte said it was not a pretty sight and he really wanted to offer her his jacket as she could really use a coverup – but she was completely oblivious to his discomfort and her own case of the sags and bags and just strolled right on by him.