Monday messing around, and Tuesday afternoon walk at Magnolia Plantation Charleston.

We spent Monday morning on the boat, and didn't leave until just after two, when our friends  let us know they were available to get together.
At the birthday party on Saturday, we had arranged to spend time together on Monday afternoon.
Waz and I wanted to go down to Patriot's Point to take a look at the USS Yorktown, the Aircraft Carrier that is much celebrated, and is now a museum. One problem, it was going to be $20 each to get onboard.
We arrive just after 2pm, at the Point, and of course took a few photos before entering the Gift Store, which was COOL! Aircon!! yaya!

We decided not to go onboard, but did take the time to read some of the many books on the Yorktown, among others, and look at all the merchandise...ack! A lot of crappy tourist stuff.

We pretty much saw all we wanted to see by looking at the books in the shop. Decided it wasn't worth the $40 to see it all in person. Other priorities!


We arrived at our friends around 4pm, caught up with each of our lives and enjoyed a short chat before taking off again for Sullivan's Island where we were to visit the Beach House owned by one of the Sisters. It is an elegantly understated home on the Atlantic, with a view of the ICW also.

The original part of the home, straight ahead dates back to the late 1800's. The stairs and the long porch leading to the house straight ahead is also original The new part is over the garage. Our friend (husband) did the renovation which took about 18 months. Lots of reclaimed timber inside, which looks fabulous.

Little details like this one near the entry:)

The front porch facing the Atlantic Ocean...The swing bed, which would fit a couple, was made by a brother-in-law...as were the Gourdes on the pole in the yard.

One challenge with these properties, is that there are no privacy fences, and the home with the pool is a rental (short term, around $7,000 per week) home and the renters can be noisy!

 Great details...that is the living room leading outdoors through these gorgeous French Doors.

Warren and friend on the front Lanai

...and downstairs is a whole other cool world. The wind off the ocean goes straight through this area, which is fantastic. In the heat of the summer it is well used. A fabulous family home...which is for sale, by the way...contact me if you want details! It has been beautifully renovated at great expense. All details have been taken care of.

Another swing bed.

 A beautiful, understated kitchen...high original ceilings.

Morning room just to the side of the kitchen, with eat-in Island.

Dining room ceiling got new timber, but the rest of the house is reclaimed. The dog is reclaimed too:)

I love the painting over the fireplace...of the marshes. The colors are stunning and it is really well executed. They tell me he is a well known local artist. The owner of the property is also an artist, and some of her work was in evidence too.

 This used to be the screened Porch, but they enclosed it and it is now the Entry Hall.

The view towards the ICW, from one of the lovely upstairs bedrooms.

Yep, that's me in the mirror...:(

Simple and simply lovely, to us.

 

We only had a half hour to explore this lovely home before going off to a restaurant down the road that our friend had rebuilt. It too was lovely...and the food was something else. Very original and a bit confusing initially, but tasted fantastic. The décor was original, and the kitchen was to die for~!!:)

Waz and I ate a half pound of steamed jumbo shrimp ($15) together and then a real Italian style pizza called Old Danger, which had a raw egg plopped in the middle of it which you then smear all over the pizza. I haven't done that since living in Venice, Italy, in 1981:) Fantastic! I even ate all the crust, which must be a first for me. It is the part I usually leave, and Waz tries to steal off my plate:)

 

The teenaged children joined us for dinner, then went their own ways. We adults stayed and chatted and had dessert...Crème Brulee..which I hate to say was not made with egg custard! Otherwise good.

 

Not happy to just go home, we all went to another restaurant and ordered an excellent tall Latte (Waz and I did) and the others ordered Chocolate Matinis. Waz ordered a tall Ice-cream Sundae, and our friend ordered the Panna cotta. We had taken our book of our former cruising grounds  in New Zealand, the Hauraki Gulf, and we all sat and discussed the photos and NZ in general. We were the last people to leave the restaurant and stood around outside keeping the neighbors awake...it was only 10.30pm! seriously!

We really did have to go home, after that. It was not a good night though...hot and humid, and hard to sleep.

 

Tuesday:

We didn't sleep well in the heat, so it was a relief to get up.

We spent the morning on the boat, finishing some business and cooking. Yes, in the heat! what was I thinking?? Remember the fish pie?? Well, I had to make that, knowing it would feed us for a couple of meals:)  I also made a dessert...another cheesecake...only this time I didn't bake it!

We had talked about doing a couple of things, while we have the car, but they all cost a lot...so, our friends had suggested, last night, that we might like to visit the Magnolia Plantation. A lot of the Plantations don't really exist any more, other than their homesteads. Most of the thousands of acres of land were sold off around the time of the depression, or Stock Market crash. Also when the slaves were emancipated, there was little labor in some areas, so the families sold off the properties to the Freemen, to share crop and farm as newly freed men and women.

 We set out first for West Marine. We needed to buy a dedicated AIS antenna. We have been working from a standard VHF antenna before this, and it suddenly doesn't work right. We have been trying to solve this problem all week, and now we have the solution. It wasn't as tricky as we thought.

So, we made our purchase at West Marine, and fortunately there was a Chinese Buffet house in the same shopping center. It was almost 1.30pm, and we were hungry now. This turned out to be the BEST buffet we have ever experienced. Such a huge choice and all really fresh and nice:) We lucked out!!! $7.45 each! Not bad for all you can eat.  We don't over eat at these places, but it is better in so many ways, because we get to choose what we want to eat. Fast food doesn't give you that choice, and usually costs more...even Subway!

Now we were on the road to visit the Magnolia Plantation Gardens. We had ascertained that it would cost us $15 each to get into just the gardens...more $$ if  we wanted to visit the home, take a tour of the swamp, gardens, or the boat ride. Sheesh!...and it is a National Historic Places Trust place, so of course the Parks Services was running the show.

We parked under the trees, as it was REALLY hot and humid. I now know why I don't take my big camera with me very often. It is SO heavy, and HOT to carry around. It does take nice photos tho!

We spent a good two hours walking the gorgeous gardens. The Azeleas were past their best...very few blooms at all, and no camellias, but that didn't matter. We were just happy to experience the  trees, the swamp and most of all the lovely bridges. Yes, we did see an alligator!. and others remarked that one lunged at their dog...on leash, of course. It was a shame that dogs were allowed there at all, as it disturbed so many of the birds. We saw our first Yellow Crested Night Heron, for a long time...since Florida, in fact.

Did you know that Spanish Moss, most commonly known as Air Plant, is in fact a member of the Bromeliad Family?? just as Pineapple is! It covers EVERYTHING here. It is an epiphyte, of course and lives off the moisture in the air.

This pretty little building was at the beginning of our walk, through Magnolia Plantation. It was a bright, hot and humid day, as I have said before. We literally dripped our way around the gardens, and felt so exhausted at the end of two hours, we fled to the safety of the air conditioned car and our store of cold water in the cooler. The one bottle of water that was previously frozen, in order to keep the others cool, was no longer...just a thin slither of ice remained!

The Plantation home isn't as spectacular as some, but the most amazing part of it was the HUGE veranda. The home itself has replaced two other homes on the site, due to fire and civil war.

What a gorgeous verdant view!:) from the home...at ground level, too!

 The little box hedge garden out front of the homestead.

As I said.. the veranda is amazing. It needs to be, otherwise the heat would be unbearable inside the house.

The back of the homestead had a totally different view, of course, but no less beautiful. It looked out towards the river.

 

How pretty is this? down the side of the house.

 The lawn at the back of the house, down to the river

Look how LUSH everything is. I guess this is why I am so drawn to this area...it is GREENNNNN:)

It was lovely to see people our on the lawn Plein Air painting. Had I an easel with me, I might have done the same.

 

The river walk took us a small way long the river to where the River Tours start.

Sorry, I omitted to take a photo of side #1! It seems that the Spanish, French and British fought their way up and down this coastline. Gaining some, losing others. We cannot begin to think what the conditions were like in these parts, back then, but you can pretty much guarantee is was a Jungle!

Foxgloves were everywhere...:) Don't they have such lovely spotted centers?

 

 

Walking away from the river, back towards the house, but it was one of so many paths to walk...

I'm a total sucker for a Gazebo...not that I think they are much use...well, they are in this climate where shade is everything.

 

 

The lovely Swamp Cypress trees ring the lake

..and IN the lake..or swamp..

 

This is how you know it is a Cypress !

The same Gazebo from across the lake/swamp

 

This lake/swamp obviously had clean water coming into it, but....

..this one didn't! Stunning in it's own way though.

 

 

 

 

Yes, it is the same bridge..just close-up:)

The Bamboo Grove

This bridge has a tree slap bang in the middle of it...just beyond the Bamboo Grove.

and yet another wee bridge:)

This one wasn't open to walk onto the tiny island it led to...but then the ground looked a little soggy!

 

And, of course the flower for which the Plantation is named...Magnolia (Grandiflora)

It is just as beautiful 'past it's best', in my opinion.

One final look at the lovely bridges...

...and thank you to the fine folks who keep this property in the wonderful state it is. I know we pay for this, but it is always good to know folks are dedicated to the cause too.