Norton travels, USA and beyond: Savannah, GA to Charleston, SC

We spent the first half of the week in Savannah. Saturday we went to a flea market that was in old buildings that looked like former plantation slave quarters. Lots of junk for sale. Monday we went back to the historic area to tour the Owens-Thomas House and the Telfair Museums of Art. Then we had lunch at the Pirates House, a building from the early 1700’s that is said to be haunted. Robert Louis Stevenson referred to it in “Treasure Island” as where Captain Flint died, but the server said there are also children that haunt it at night. We finished out our time in Savannah at the Georgia Railroad Museum in the old station and train yard. It rained both days, but we didn’t let that stop us from enjoying our time in that beautiful city.

Wednesday we drove the hundred miles north to Charleston, South Carolina. We started our visit here on Thursday with a city tour. The 90 minute tours give you a good overview of the city’s history and main historic sites. Charleston is known for its many beautiful churches, which each have an old cemetery beside them. We also checked out the city market to look around the shops. Today we went to Fort Sumter, site of the first shots of the Civil War. The fort is on an island accessible only by boat. Although the Confederacy took it from the Union quickly in 1861, the Union spent almost two years unsuccessfully trying to retake it. So its original three stories were battered down to only one story. The brickwork is original, but shows lots of damage from the war years. We’ll be here till the middle of next week, then move into North Carolina, weather permitting.