On Friday, Brandi had a research paper that she needed to complete, and Bill and I offered to proofread it for her. Her topic was about the S.C. court cases that were relevant and had impact on the infamous Brown vs. Board of Education case: the issue was “separate but equal” educational opportunities for all students. (By the way, she did an amazing job and there was very little that she needed to fix!) Memorable quote from Bridget: “Of all the topics you could choose to write about and you chose THAT??? Desegregation?!?” Brandi simply replied that since they were going to be studying S.C. next year in the eighth grade, she wanted to get a head start. I think that earned her an eye-roll from her sister!
Since we were at the beginning of a 3-day weekend with no firm plans in mind, I jumped right on Brandi’s idea and ran with it. Saturday morning we went to the Old Santee Canal Park http://www.oldsanteecanalpark.org/ and Berkeley County Museum. They remembered going as youngsters on school field trips (“it was so boring”) but I think they had a really good time. I wanted them to learn about the canal and why it was created -- as a water link between the Santee and Cooper Rivers to get upstate products and crops to the markets in Charleston. Imagine the challenge of digging a canal in those swamps and through dense forests, not to forget all of the bricked locks that had to be created for the barges! This was two hundred years ago, too. Without GPS and computers. Or phones or cars!!
I put 5+ miles on my fitbit Saturday, so we did some walking! The boardwalks themselves are a work of art. Bill was thrilled with the joining of the wood and mentioned how difficult it would be to create the multiple angles in the planks as the boardwalk twisted and turned and went up and down hills. Oh and sinking all of the thousands of 6x6 posts every few feet? NO thank you! Bill had the view of the day – a little 2 foot long alligator right beside the boardwalk!
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| What a cute lil gator! |
We also visited the Berkeley County museum, located at the park. It’s small but very well put together and quite informative. We enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch with lots of ice cold watermelon.
After lunch, we walked down to view the Tail Race Canal and we were able to witness part of a wedding celebration. As we walked the trail past the Stony Landing plantation house, caterers were setting up dozens of tables with china and crystal. The cooks were making BBQ and we saw several 10 lb bags of Jim Dandy grits waiting to be cooked – we girls all said, “Shrimp and Grits!!” On our way back from the river, the bridal party were having portraits made. There must have been 15-20 young ladies all in salmon colored dresses and the bride looked like she came from a magazine page. As we stood in the tree line watching for a minute or two, wiping the sweat from our faces, feeling sweat trickle down our backs, chugging water, we all agreed that indoor weddings and receptions are the way to go!
On Sunday we visited the Indian Mound in Summerton. http://www.sciway.net/sc-photos/clarendon-county/santee-indian-mound.html . I thought it was an important visual for the girls to see the mound and to learn of its significance to the Native Americans … the mound was later used as a British fort in the Revolutionary War and it was the first to fall to American forces.
After that short stop, we went back across Lake Marion and visited Santee state park. We drove around, and around, and around some more. The campground was very full, and the boat ramp was packed with empty trailers. We also visited the museum (I mean interpretive center). The girls and Bill were astonished at the photos of the numerous plantations that were razed and flooded in the 1930s-40s to create Lakes Marion and Moultrie. Santee-Cooper had to relocate 93 graveyards with 6000 (known) graves. Amazing and very sad. They couldn’t believe the eminent domain rule that is, “what the state wants, the state gets.” We looked for a good spot for our picnic lunch but honestly, we couldn’t find one. We realized that Santee state park is mainly for boaters and fishermen – maybe campers, too, but it wasn’t a good fit, for us, at least. I said, “Let’s go somewhere else!” Everyone agreed, so we got back on the road.
We stayed on Hwy 6, went through Eutawville, then Holly Hill, then Hwy 15 towards St George. We briefly stopped at the Indian Field Campground http://www.sciway.net/sc-photos/dorchester-county/indian-field-campground.html which is quite beautiful. I told the girls we’ll take them to Cypress Campground as well as the other 2 near St. George (just to see them). From there, we stayed on Hwy 15 and stopped at Colleton State Park. It’s small, but very clean, well maintained, paved roads, decent restrooms, and there is a lovely picnic area! We considered swimming after lunch but we walked down to the bank of the Edisto River and I saw that the current was very strong, with eddies swirling this way and that -- I said we’d better not. Better safe than sorry. On the way home we made a short side trip to the very old, majestic Koger-Murray-Carroll house (1786). It is within sight of I-95 – we’ve passed it many times but never knew it was there.
I asked the girls if they had a good time and they said they did. I think that traveling the state and letting them see historic sites and landmarks will help them in their S.C. history class next year. Brandi will be attending classes with the Duke T.I.P. program for a good part of the summer, but Bridget asked if we can still visit more state parks when she visits us (YES!!!). She chose Aiken State Park, so when she is with us next time, we’ll take a drive up there. I’ll look for some other interesting things to see and do along the way and while in the vicinity of Aiken. I picked up an Ultimate Outsider state park book that has pages that can be stamped at each park – we’re going to try to get as many stamps as we can!
Oh yeah, and Monday -- we stayed home!
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