No Boat Travel
On Friday, May 20th, we parted ways with Chris, Heather and Lillian in West Palm Beach and headed back to the boat to continue our voyage north. As we left our hotel and started back to the boat, we got a text message from Chris asking if we wanted to come by their hotel to say one more good-bye to Lillian. We couldn't pass up on that so we made our way there first.
We had a 5 to 6-hour drive to get back to St. Simons, so we did not stay long to say good-bye. Along the way we saw some clouds building up and eventually they caught up with us and we got hit by a deluge of water. Fortunately the storm was not long-lived.
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| Dark Clouds before the Storm driving back to the boat |
We debated and watched the weather forecast carefully and finally decided that we would return the car on Friday so that we would be free to go as early as possible for our very long trip to Savannah. Before turning in the car we made a short stop at the grocery store for some fresh vegetables and other necessities.
Day 315
NM: 77
NM to date: 4973
On Saturday May 21st we left St. Simons (Brunswick, GA) to make the 77-mile trip to Isle of Hope (Savannah), Georgia. Isle of Hope is technically in Savannah, Georgia; however, downtown Savannah is not within walking or biking distance of the Isle of Hope marina.
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| Passing Traffic as we leave St. Simons Island, Georgia |
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| Waving goodbye to the St. Simon's Lighthouse |
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| Red 2W - Savannah Inlet Marker Note the calm waters of the Atlantic (Clark nailed it again on picking a great ocean travel day!) |
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| Approaching Isle of Hope, Georgia |
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| Tree-lined streets of Isle of Hope, GA |
As we made our way back to town, we passed Wormsloe - a plantation that now only contains ruins of the original home on the property. Since we were biking very late in the day, after the 5:00 closing time, the plantation was closed for the day, Clark grabbed a couple of pictures and we carried on.
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| Roadway to Plantation Ruins |
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| Entry Gate to Wormsloe |
Since daylight was fading and we needed to find dinner, we continued on towards the boat taking an alternate path back to see more of the area. We followed one street near the marina with a number of large houses.
We had a beautiful full moon tonight. My ever-ready photographer, Clark, was on the job!
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| Reflection of the Full moon |
Day 316 - Morning
No Boat Travel
The marina gave us permission to check out at noon instead of 10:00 a.m, and so, we decided to take a bide ride back to Wormsloe before untying our lines and heading on to downtown Savannah - our next stop. When we got to Wormsloe, we found out that we could not even take pictures or bike down the entry roadway without paying the admission fee, so we went into the office to see what we would need to pay to get a quick view of the area.
Arriving at Wormsloe close to 11:00, we had a very limited time available to spend at a place that could take hours to explore. We biked down the dirt-road entryway hoping to get some view of the plantation ruins.
Unfortunately nothing of historical interest could be viewed from the trail into the plantation. We decided to take just a few minutes to lock up our bikes and take a walk down one of the trails to find the tabby ruins.
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| Wormsloe Grounds with canons, tents, and buckets |
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| Small Brass Canon in a Boat on Display |
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| The Tabby Ruins! |
Other than seeing the tabby ruins of the plantation home, i.e. bits and pieces of walls and chimneys, we could not stay long enough to see more of the area. Before leaving we did see an historic marker and architecture drawing of the plantation home and walls that gave a description of the property. Made of wood and tabby, the house stood 1 and 1/2 stories high and contained five rooms. The basic home was surrounded by 8 foot tall tabby walls that served to protect the residents from musket fire.
While walking the grounds, I learned what all that green foliage that hangs from all the Live Oak trees is Spanish Moss! I also learned that Spanish Moss is an "air" plant that survives on sun, rain, and air only. Trees like the live oak make the perfect "host" for Spanish Moss.
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| Pile of Spanish Moss on the Ground |
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| Very Picturesque Tree at Wormsloe |
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| Starting the 1.5 mile ride back to the street |
We arrived back at the marina at 11:50 and had our lines off and were on our way not 15 minutes later. Next stop - the Westin Hotel marina across the water from the heart of Savannah, Georgia. Our two sons and their wives and children will greet us when we arrive there. I am so excited to see them all together!
Hello, this is David and Sherry from Beaufort, SC. We met you two in South Haven, MI last August while we were on our friends boat at the same marina. Sherry took a picture of you two eating dinner in the cockpit of your boat that you posted on your blog on 8/18. We have been following your blog ever since.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you will be arriving in Beaufort in the next few days. Unfortunately, we are out of town on holiday and won't be able to meet up with you two but we would like to give you some local advice.
First of all, please make sure you spend enough time there to see everything there is to see. It seems that almost every month Beaufort is on another "Best of" list. The New York Times even named Beaufort as of the 52 places in the world to visit during 2016.
Coming into Beaufort on the ICW you will be passing our home. We are located between the hospital and downtown. If we were home we would wave at you.
First, we strongly advise that you stay at the downtown marina as you are literally right in the middle of downtown with easy access to many shops, restaurants and historical sites.
For dining, we recommend Blackstones for breakfast, Plums for lunch, and the Old Bull tavern or Emily's for dinner. If you're looking for ice cream, there is YoYo's at the east end of the waterfront park. Local specialties are Shrimp burgers and "Frogmore" stew, which is named after a local little town and has shrimp, potatoes, sausage and is delicious.
Take a carriage tour. The tour will take your through the Point neighborhood which is filled with many antebellum homes and they do a good job of telling much of the history of the area during the tour. You could just bike or walk through the area too but you would miss out on the info. The carriage tours start right at the downtown marina.
Also, walk east on Bay street to take in the beautiful pre-civil war homes along the street. After the last of the antebellum homes, there is a large white building that has recently become a museum that chronicles all of the history of this area. The oldest permanent settlement in the new world was on Parris Island. So there's a lot of history to cover. This museum is so new that I haven't had a chance to visit even though my office is only two blocks away.
There is also the Beaufort History Museum located at the Arsenal on Craven Street as well as the Verdier House on Bay right downtown. The exhibit at the Verdier House right now is about our local author Pat Conroy. He wrote books based in the local area such as "The Prince of Tides". Unfortunately, he passed away in January.
Also, Beaufort went through a time during the 80s and 90s when it seemed as if movies were being filmed here constantly. Conroy's stories "The Great Santini" and "Prince of Tides" were filmed here along with "The Big Chill" and much of "Forrest Gump" as well. There is actually a tour company that is based on touring all of the filming sights from the movies. If you're not into that sort of thing, you will still be able to see the Tidalholm house in the Point when you leave Beaufort heading north on the ICW, it's the big white house with the fading red roof at the very end of the point, the house was used in both the "Great Santini" and "The Big Chill" Tom Berenger fell in love with Beaufort so much while filming the "Big Chill" that he still lives in the area.
ReplyDeleteThere is a national cemetery commissioned by Abraham Lincoln during the civil war and it's very beautiful to see. As well, there is Penn Center located on St. Helena Island which was one of the first schools for freed slaves during the civil was and served as a retreat for Martin Luther King during the 60s.
Also, during the Memorial Day weekend, the Gullah Festival will be going on in the Waterfront Park. Gullah is the local freed slave culture and they even have a very distinct dialect that is very hard to understand.
Again, we're sorry we won't be there during your visit but we certainly hope that you enjoy our little town.
David & Sherry