Our RV Adventures

As our visit to Savannah winds down, we all headed about noon back down toward Tybee Island to visit Fort Pulaski.

Fort Pulaski, named for Kazimierz Pulaski, a Polish military commander who fought in the American Revolution with George Washington, it was built between 1829 and 1847 utilizing over 25,000,000 bricks.

But it stood unused until it was seized by the state of Georgia as a prelude to the state seceding from the Union and joining the Confederate States of American.

During April 10-11, 1862, Union forces laid siege to the fort in an attempt to recapture it. After a 30 hour bombardment with the new rifled cannons, the previously-thought unassailable walls had been breached.

Knowing that with the collapse of the wall, the 40,000 pounds of gunpowder stored in the magazine were now vulnerable, and would destroy the fort and everyone in it. Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, commander of the Confederate garrison, surrendered to the Union troops.

Within six weeks of the surrender, Union forces repaired the Fort and began the blockade of the port of Savannah which continued through the end of the Civil War.

Later in the war, the fort was used as a prison for captured Confederate officers.

Later a Park Ranger dressed in Confederate gray, demonstrated the loading and firing of a British-made Enfield rifle, used by both sides during the war.

Leaving Fort Pulaski, we drove out to the end of Tybee Island to check out the local beach.

With the passing of Hurricane Sandy, we expected to see higher waves here, but it was actually pretty tame.

One thing about Tybee Island is that you can’t park anywhere with paying for it. Even the parking spots at the local Arby’s had parking meters on them, so you get to pay for parking and your roast beef sandwich.

About 4:30 we headed back toward Savannah to have dinner at Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House.

“Uncle Bubba” is Paula Deen’s brother, whose nickname is Bubba, and in fact Paula Deen is a partner in Uncle Bubba’s.

Everyone enjoyed their meal, with my Low Country Boil, consisting of Boiled Shrimp, Smoked Sausage, Boiled New Potatoes, and Corn of the Cob, being definitely better than the same meal I had a few days ago at The Crab Shack.

Don’t get me wrong, the Crab Shack was really good. But Bubba’s version was just better. And Jan said her oysters were fantastic!

On the subject of oysters, I told Nick this shirt on sale at Uncle Bubba’s explains why I love oysters so much (and Jan too.)

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On the way back to the park, we drove by the Mercer-Williams House. Besides being a beautiful example of Civil War architecture, the house is most famous for being the location of the shooting described in the book and the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”

Since it was almost dark by the time we got there, here’s a photo from the Web.

And in addition to the “Midnight” death, two more deaths occurred here. In 1913 a previous owner fell over a 2nd floor bannister and died a few days later. And in 1964 a boy chasing pigeons on the roof, fell off and impaled himself on the wrought iron fence.

Ouch!

On that happy note, we headed back to the park for the night. Tomorrow will be a goof-off day before we wrap up our visit to Savannah on Tuesday.

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Thought for the Day:

You ever get the feeling that the music is slowing down and you don’t have a chair?

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After Hazelnut coffee and the last slices of Miss Terry’s delicious Pumpkin Cinnamon Bread, we all headed out about noon to visit Beaufort, SC, home of the Marine Corps’ Parris Island, and also their Marine Corps Air Station.

Jan and I lived here in Beaufort from late 1969 to late 1970 when I was working as a DOD contractor at MCAS on F-4’s and A-7’s.

We were able to found the two different houses we lived in while we were here. This duplex was the first one,

and this single family home was the last one.

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After checking out our ex-homes, we spent some time driving around Beaufort, checking out the large, beautiful trees,

along with the many old homes.

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Next we took the bridge over the Beaufort River that leads out of downtown Beaufort (with Nick only sniveling slightly) and headed over to Ladies Island.

Then after a short snack stop at McDonald’s, we drove on down the St. Helena Island. Our main destination was Fort Fremont, the remains of a Spanish-American War era fort.

The original fort covered over 170 acres, but these concrete gun emplacements and the attached hospital building are all that remain.

The other buildings, made of wood, have been destroyed or torn down since the fort was deactivated in 1921.

Driving back toward Beaufort we stopped off at these church ruins that we had passed on the way to the fort.

We discovered it was called the Chapel of Ease. It was built around 1740 as part of St. Helena’s Church for planters that had problems traveling to the main church parish in Beaufort.

It became a separate church after the Revolutionary War, and was burned out in a forest fire in 1886.

There is also a partially-destroyed mausoleum on the grounds which may have led to the stories of strange lights and ghosts in the area.

Next we headed back through Beaufort and up the road about 25 mile to the Yemassee, SC area to visit the remains of another church.

Built between 1745-55, the Church of Prince William’s Parish, also known as Sheldon, apparently was a magnet for destructive military attention.

It was first burned by the British Army in 1779. Then after being rebuilt in 1826, it was burned again by the Union Army in 1865. Sometimes you just can’t catch a break.

We didn’t want to get any closer to the building because there was a wedding ceremony going on at the time.

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Leaving the church, we drove on into Yemassee to check out a nearby Mid-Atlantic/Encore/PassPort America park called The Oaks at South Point. Turned out to be a nice park, but with all the tall trees, it would be sheer luck if you could get a satellite signal.

Finally it was time to head back to the park and dinner. We had decided to check out The Pink Pig.

Serving BBQ and seafood, they’ve been mentioned on the Food Network and written up in Southern Living magazine. And we really enjoyed it.

For their BBQ they have both tomato-based sauces, and the mustard-based sauces, typical to Georgia and South Carolina, including a hot Gullah sauce.

I had a shrimp and rib combo platter, and the ribs were really good. meaty and moist.

We’ll go back.

Since The Pink Pig was only about a mile from the park, it was a short trip. Which was a good thing, since we were all so full.

Tomorrow it’s on to Fort Pulaski.

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Thought for the Day:

If you believe in yourself, you clearly haven’t calculated the odds against you.

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