CHARLESTON to GEORGETOWN / Tuesday, March 28 to Thursday, March 30 (Days 66-68)

Admiral's Log:     7:35am, Thrs 3/28/16 
                          Temp:   64
                          Winds:   7 mpg
                          Speed:   8.6

Another long day, but not much to see between these two cities. Did see a lot of the old rice fields. Also can see why they call them the "golden fields", they did have a golden tint. We went past a cool floating swing bridge.

Propellers to turn the bridge.

We arrived at Harbor Walk Marina at 2:30. We walked down the River Walk to Buzz Rooster's for a drink, just to scope things out. They had real good fried crab balls. We got some fresh shrimp right off the boat and fried for dinner. Yummy!

Now that's fresh shrimp!

Wednesday, we took a two hour boat tour of the rice plantations. We did not get in to see any, but our tour guide gave us quite a bit of interesting information. This area of South Carolina raised and sold nearly 2/3 rd's of the world's rice in the mid 1800's. (More on that when we visit the Rice Museum). There are six rivers that converge in this area, making it so conducive to rice production. SC was the second richest state in the union to Massachusetts.

Blue Haven, Zephyr and Sweet T

Thursday, I took a lovely walk through an old neighborhood near the waterfront. Most of the houses had a placard on their front porch of the year the house was built. Some were as early as mid 1800's. Gorgeous with so much character, but ug the upkeep. Even saw a 500+ year old oak tree. 

Mike and I walked through the main town, bought a cute ceramic flower vase to make the boat more homey. Then to the Rice Museum. Some of the things we learned: It took 15 years just to clear the trees and brush and create the fields before the first seed was planted. The rice slaves brought this rice knowledge with them from Western Africa. These slaves were called "task" slaves. Unlike cotton slaves, they were respected for their knowledge and were allowed to make money on the side by growing and selling their own fruits and vegetables or work another job, once they completed their rice duties. 

Trunk Gate

One of the more interesting and important jobs on the rice plantation, was that of the "trunk gate" slave. He was the tender, mender and taster. He had to taste the water daily to be sure it was fresh and not salty so he would know when to flood the fields. 

Filmed in the movie the Patriot with Mel Gibson

Leftovers for dinner and plotted our next move.