Today, Mary and I were back on the road in the Charleston area.

Our first stop was at historic Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island. This fort was in use from 1775 until 1947, making it one of the U.S. Army's longest serving installations. The fort is famous for being the site of the American patriots' first victory against the British in the American Revolution and is also the place where Seminole chief Osceola was imprisoned, died, and buried.

After Fort Moultrie, we traveled up US 17 to Boone Hall Plantation, which was first established over 320 years ago and is still a working plantation. We got a tour of the plantation house and then took a tram tour of the entire 700+ acres of farms and forests.

Once we left Boone Hall, we headed further north on US 17 to "clinch" Georgetown County. On the way back, I shot some video for a future "ROADGEEK-CAM!!!".

Here are a couple of photos that I had taken today...



The above I-526 "neutered" assurance marker is a fairly rare sight along South Carolina's Interstates. Except inside big green signs, SCDOT usually erects such markers with the state name above the Interstate number. There are 2 such "neutered" markers on the eastbound side of I-526 between North Charleston and its eastern end at US 17 near Mount Pleasant. IIRC, the only other "neutered" Interstate markers in South Carolina are found in the Greenville area for I-185 and I-385.


US 17 from Venning Road to Sewee Road in Charleston County was designated the "Sweetgrass Basket Makers Highway" by the South Carolina Legislature on May 10, 2006 (Source: SC Senate Resolution 197).

Sweetgrass basket making is an artform Africans brought with them as they were involuntarily relocated to South Carolina for slavery purposes. This artform has been passed down among South Carolina lowcountry African-American (gullah) families for nearly 400 years and, along US 17, there are several sweetgrass basket vendors selling their homemade baskets to tourists. My wife bought a couple such baskets years ago and they are truly a sight to behold.

That's it for now. We've got one more day in Charleston and then, it's back to GRG HQ. Thanks for reading and please visit often.

        

 

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