We had visited Charleston during our Big Trip in 2005. These are some of our musings on the impressions we had 20 years later.
If you recall your high school history, Charleston is known as the place where the Civil War ignited. More specifically in the harbor entrance at Fort Sumter in April 1861. Once South Carolina had declared they were leaving the Union, the local Union troops relocated to the small island in the harbor with a fort that was still under construction and so had the initial possession of the fort. It was of strategic importance because the range of the cannon could control traffic in and out of Charleston’s harbor. Blockade running to get supplies into the city was a big business. Perhaps you recall that Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind was a blockade runner.
This strategic importance became obvious during our (slow) 30 minute ferry for a fort tour. Right off the bat, we were surprised to find that there wasn’t much of the original 4 storey fort left. It was first bombarded by the Confederates that they took possession. Then it was extensively pounded by the Union army to regain possession. The Union army had 4 different sites around Fort Sumter that they utilized to try to regain control of the fort. It took years to do so, not until February 1865. The years of bombardment, millions of pounds of munitions left only the ground level of the fort standing.
Our visit lasted one hour and began with an engaging ranger talk for the first ten minutes. It provided great context but we got a lot of detail from the informative placards around the site. It was amazing to see embedded cannon balls in the remaining brick walls.
The ranger showed us hand prints in the bricks from the slave brick makers and you couldn’t help but think about the reality of life for the local people living in this area during this momentous period. Three floors of the fort were decimated, including the cannons on each level. The remaining ground floor still had holes in it and some of the cannons. There was care taken to preserve these details for posterity. A subtle reminder of the size of the original fort is that mark made on the flag post that indicates the original full height of the fort.
We loved the historical lessons and, of course, the excuse to be on the water to take the ferry out to Fort Sumter. This was absolutely worth doing and we would recommend it.
Otherwise, we had to admit that Charleston did not have as interesting or fun vibe as Savannah. We did a tour around the city and our guide was a walking encyclopedia with a hundred facts and stories. We love being immersed in history and the picturesque colonial buildings and good food were wonderful. We feel complete with our visit to Charleston. On the other hand, we could see ourselves taking a long weekend to visit Savannah again.
