Charleston

May 15, 2008 · Filed under Elly

Hey ya’ll,

Charleston has been quite the experience. We stayed at a hostel here (put up our tent in the back parking lot) so we had the opportunity to meet a lot of international travelers, people riding the graeyhound from place to place in hopes of catching some American culture. It has been great talking to other young people who are also trying to figure this whole “life” thing out. 

We ventured over to our first plantation, but it cost too much money ($32 to see a ol’ bigot’s house) so we went to the son’s smaller house next door. Even though the civil war was less than 150 years ago, the remnants of slavery are eerie and abound. To get a better idea of how slavery put Charleston on the map we went to the Ellis Island of where enslaved peoples were brought to this country, Sullivans Island, and sure enough the only thing that marked this historic spot was a small plaque and a cemetery. The rest of Sullivans Island was devoted to revolutionary and civil war cannons and forts. We were less than impressed.

Feeling quite gloomy we decided to take a ghost tour, which was by far the best tour we have been on. We got pretty darn scared and learned a lot about Charleston, for example did you know that Blackbeard and the Gentleman’s Pirate held 9 boats in Charleston’s bay hostage for 4 days. Ya, they would only release the hostages if Charleston sent them a boat full of medicine. They wanted this medicine because all of the pirates on their ship had scurvy and back then they didn’t know that a little citrus would heal those nasty soars. Well they got their medicine but the city of Charleston didn’t want to be taken as a fool so they sent their own pirate detectives out and captured the Gentleman’s Pirate. Hanging him and his crew in the middle of the town square as a warning to all those who intended on messing with this port city. You better believe their ghosts (along with many others) still roam these streets.

Charleston has been a blast (literally with all the wars and fires here) but its time for us to move on to Savannah. A place Elly has been raring to see after reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Apparently you can still talk to Chablis (the drag queen in the book) after her shows, hopefully we can get an interview. 

Thanks to all those who have commented, we sure miss you all. Keep in touch and give us a call (ok that wasn’t suppose to rhyme).