Carolina-Georgia Coast (part four)

08Oct08

Veterans Cemetery, Beaufort, SC

We ended Tuesday in Point South, SC, at the Kampground of America (KOA). We stayed in a cabin for a couple of nights and enjoyed that also. It is certainly a different experience than a nice hotel, but we are flexible and, when we going for a week, we have to conserve money to be able to stay a whole week!

Wednesday we drove to Beaufort, SC, and our first stop was the veterans’ cemetery. It was a beautiful place with Spanish moss hanging from the old Live Oak trees and the rows of white tombstones and markers. Over 14,000 soldiers and their wives buried there. And there was a great number that they simply did not know who they were. Small square markers indicated all of these graves. While we were there, they were getting ready for a funeral. The soldiers arrived and got ready while they waited on the family to arrive. I do not know the age of the person being buried, or what war he served in, but you can’t help but have respect for what they have given to allow us the freedoms we have. It is very sobering to visit a military cemetery. We also visited one on Savannah that was used by the Union troops after Sherman took Savannah, as a place to camp and to keep their horses. They cleared the cemetery and many of the headstones were knocked over and/or broken, and then piled up in a corner. After the war, the locals picked these stones up and placed what they could along a wall because they did not know where they were originally. It was sad to see.

When we left the cemetery, we went to the historic part of town on the waterfront… Do you see a pattern here? We visit these port cities, try to imagine some of the history, and enjoy the beauty along the coast. They actually are similar… the boardwalks, shops, tour boats along the water and the beautiful old southern mansions. But I do I enjoy visiting each of them. It is difficult, however, trying to remember which city was which when I look back at the photos. This is one reason I am doing the blogs – to organize my thoughts and some of the photos of my trip. (I have around a thousand of them! Photos. Not thoughts.) The other reason is to share as much of the trip as possible with Olivia and Gail and Beverly and whoever else is reading.

By the way, Beaufort is the second oldest city in South Carolina, Charleston being the oldest, and on the island of Port Royal. Now this is the area of Hilton Head and Parris Island (neither of which we toured.) After looking around Beaufort, we went island hopping. Below Port Royal are two smaller islands (Lady’s Island and Hunting Island) and Parris Island (the military base.) We drove across bridges to all three, but stopped and stayed awhile on Hunting Island… Can you guess why? See below:

Hunting Island, SC

This is where I can actually go into the lighthouse and climb the spiral staircase to the top – well, to the deck, as the very top is the light itself! I am so excited! I can actually be inside this beautiful piece of history. I am a little worried though – I am so much heavier than I used to be and so out of shape. I am wondering how hard it will be! I am determined. I don’t even let on to Larry that I have any worries! After a certain number of steps, there is a landing with a plaque describing or explaining something about the lighthouse. So at each landing I pause and read and look down and up and out the windows, and catch my breath!! It is not so bad. I mean, the climb is hard, but I am so happy to be here that I don’t mind.

At the top!

The view is awesome! I don’t want to go down any time soon. We take several photos, and more folks come up, so we go down.

We go to Barbara Jean’s on Lady’s Island for supper. I do not know anything about Barbara Jean’s but it is recommended in the brochure. It is supposed to be famous for it’s Crab Cakes. As we are walking through the parking lot, I ask a couple “do you live here?” and they say yes, and I ask “is this a good place to eat?” and they laugh and say yes, they come 3-4 times a week. They say everything is good, but they are known for the crab cakes. So we go on in and sit. It looks like a family style restaurant, comfy, and plenty of people are eating so we think it is probably pretty good. I am impressed right off when they bring us 3 breads. 3 breads, Olivia. And all are excellent. There is sweet jalapeno corn bread, a wheat roll, and pumpkin bread! Yes, it is so good that we ask for more and we keep the pumpkin bread for dessert! I order the Crab Cakes and he gets something else and we share as always. It is very good food and we are happy we came. ( you can look it up on the internet – apparently Barbara Jean’s is pretty famous and she has two cookbooks and you can even order Crab Cakes, She-Crab Soup, and other foods overnighted to you!)

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Tags: vacation, Carolina Coast, Barbara Jean's, Hunting Island