Day 19 Easter service and a walk in downtown Charleston

Happy Easter!   This morning we visited a church nearby the campground in Charleston and waited in the hall during worship because it sounded like a rock concert -- it was so loud. The message was great though.  It cleared up this afternoon enough for us to drive into downtown Charleston and walk around.  It was around 12:30 and people were leaving a couple of the churches all dressed up in their Easter finery.  Vernon got a kick our of this sideways rocker bench.  He says he wants to make one!               

    

                                                                                    

Beautiful streets, homes and gardens -- the homes were older than in Savannah.  We'll learn more about some of them when we go on a walking tour tomorrow.

How about this to greet you when you go in your front door?

                                                                                        

We walked down what we now think was someone's private driveway (oops!) with several archways like these two along the length of the wall. Vernon thinks that the slits in the middle of each one was possibly for a rifle to shoot at the enemy.  ??

At the end of the driveway was a beautiful garden:    

Thomas Rose's House

Below are 2 pictures of the Thomas Rose house

If you zoom in on the window you can see a beautiful chandelier lit up.

The second level of the porch is just above the front door of the house.  They made use of the small amount of "in-town" space so beautifully!

The Heyward-Washington House

We wanted to take a tour of this home but they were closed on Easter Sunday.  No wonder we got a parking space right in front of it!  It has Washington in the name because President George Washington "was entertained in this house" in 1791.

                                                                                    

                                                                                      

  These wedding dresses were in a shop window just across the street from where we parked.

                                                                                        

Rainbow Row (East Bay Street)

"Rainbow Row represents the longest cluster of intact Georgian row houses in the U.S."  The earliest structures along here were built by 1680!  Notice all the different pastel colors.

This house on Rainbow Row has a funny fish door knocker.  Vernon pointed out the rope molding around the door.

                                                                                        

Driveway made of slate with brick in the middle.  To the right the sign says "Beyond this point by invitation only".  Very genteel!  We have a sign that says "No Tresspassing" next to our driveway in FL.

                                                                                            

How many window boxes have you seen orchids in?

This orchid window boxes were along this alleyway.

Tomorrow:  walking tour in downtown Charleston

Day 18 Travel day -- Savannah, GA to Charleston, SC

Today, besides travel, hooking up and leveling at our campsite, and cooking dinner, this picture shows about all we did today.  Except shiver in the damp, cold, rainy weather.  Yesterday it was 93 degrees. Today's high around here in Charleston was 51 degrees!!!  We're drinking hot tea and sneezing our heads off!  The propane heater in our camper makes it warm and cozy though.

                                               Vernon won.  This time.

Esther made a comment on a Savannah post that Vernon must love the staircase we saw in the Isaiah Davenport house.  He did.  And yesterday the tour guide pointed out the exterior double staircases going up to some of the front doors in Savannah.  Like at the Isaiah Davenport house (below):

            

The tour guide said that there were often double stairways up to the front door --  one for the men and the other one for the ladies, to prevent the men from getting a glimpse of the ladies' ankles.  

Tomorrow:  Easter Sunday service at a local church and then wait out the rain till a Monday tour of Charleston.

Day 17 Savannah day 2

Wow, today was such a relaxed touring day of Savannah!  We jumped on a 90 minute open air tour and were really able to appreciate the many beautiful houses and squares with a very informative tour guide to tell us what we were seeing.  After the tour, Vernon graciously agreed to go to a tea room so I could have tea and scones at "The Gryphon" :                                  

This scone with Devonshire cream was delicious!

The tea sweets  -- the bottom tier was little tea sandwiches and then the scone tier and then the sweets on the top tier.  Vernon did enjoy those!

This young man and all the employees of the tea room are students at SCAD -- Savannah College of Art and Design.

This was such a beautiful room!  It was a pharmacy at one point, and was built in the mid 1800's. The tea room is called The Gryphon because of the dragon like creatures (shown above) that hold up all the globe lanterns all around the room are "gryphons".

     

 Here are some of the sights we saw on the open air tour bus:

                                                                                     

Across Green Square, is the Second African Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr first delivered his "I have a dream" speech.  He only made minor changes in it before he delivered it in Washington D.C.

I missed getting a picture of the First African Baptist Church, near Franklin Square.  It was built in 1733! -- the oldest continuous black church in North America.  There were different pews for the slaves from different areas of Africa who spoke different languages. It also served as an important place in the Underground Railroad.  There was a double floor in the sanctuary where slaves hid when trying to escape to freedom.

The tour guide told us of a children's book called "The Patchwork Path" which tells about how quilts had hidden clues that guided slaves along the Underground Railroad to Canada.

Across the square from this Second African Baptist Church is a statue honoring the group of 500 Haitians who joined the colonists to fight in the Revolutionary War.  

                                                                                    

At the bequest of Mary Telfair, a prominent Savannah citizen, she stipulated in her will that her home could only ever be used as an art museum.  This along with the Owens-Thomas House are examples of Regency architecture.
                                                                            

                                                                                    

The Owen-Thomas House and slave quarters on built in 1819 by William Jay, a young architect from England who designed many of the landmark buildings in Savannah.  I wish we had time to tour this one!  Maybe on another visit to Savannah!  

                                               

Another side of the Owens-Thomas House.  It is supposed to be one of the finest examples of Regency style architecture in the U.S. -- stately columns and simple facade.

We missed the azaleas blooming.  They were early this year -- in February because it was so warm.  But the Magnolias were starting to bloom.

                                                                                    

The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Layfayette Square.                       

This home was magnificent.  You can see a little more of the detail of the windows, etc below:

A different angle on the Isaiah Davenport house that we toured yesterday.

Ballast from the ships coming over from England were used to make the street going down to the river.  It was a bumpy ride over these stones.

The tour guide said this is one of the smaller size container ships coming into this historically important port.

This is the most famous statue in Savannah -- "The Waving Girl".  She was the unofficial greeter of all ships that entered and left the Port of Savannah between 1887 and 1931. She waved a handkerchief by day and a lantern by night.  It's told that her collie would wake her during the night if a ship came so she could greet it.  She became famous and even received letters from ship's captains.

                                                                                    

                  A "double decker" restaurant -- "The Public" -- pretty cool to sit up high in the shade of a Live Oak tree!

We started the day with a devotional from Our Daily Bread  -- "Drops of Red"  meaning in the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, "His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."  Luke 22:44.  The picture on the first page of the devotional was of one of Vincent Van Gogh's "Olive Trees" paintings in the Scottish National Gallery.  There were small red splotches of paint among the trees on the canvas.

The writer of the devotion pointed out that it's important to remember Jesus' suffering (on Good Friday) "Jesus, thank you for being willing to suffer, even to death, so that I might receive eternal life."

Tomorrow:  travel day to Charleston and a weekend of rain in the forecast!

                                                                                      

                                                                                         

                                                

Day 16 Savannah

We walked 5 1/2 miles around Savannah today!  What a beautifully laid out city with lots of green spaces in the form of "squares" throughout the city.  Lots of  beautiful, historic architecture.   Southern food was on the top of my list and when we got to Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room -- southern food served family style, the line was 1 1/2 hours long!  So we settled on Paula Deen's restaurant:  "The Lady and Sons" and we were not disappointed!                                

We're talking really good fried chicken and collard greens and peach cobbler (ok, not fresh peaches, but it was still good)

                                                       Renie "getting her sass on" with Paula

                                                                                    

This is the map we used getting around of center city Savannah.  I mostly wanted to point out all the many squares in Savannah -- that's what they are -- green spaces with statues and lots of beautiful oaks, some with spanish moss hanging from them and magnolia trees.

                                                                                     

At Chippewa Square, there's a statue of James Oglethorpe, the founder of the state of Georgia in 1733 and planner of the city of Savannah.

                            

In Wright's square, is the burial place of Tomo Chi Chi who was a Creek Indian and has been called a co-founder of Georgia with Oglethorpe.  This marker says he was a friend to the English.

                                                                                

                    Juliette Low's home (founder of the Girl Scouts) is in the historic district.

                                                                                    

                                       A beautiful home on the edge of one of the squares.

                                                                                     

We toured one home -- the Isaiah Davenport home.  He was a master builder who built this home in 1820.  He and his wife had ten children and when he died in 1827 (at age 42) of yellow fever, his wife supported the family by taking in boarders.

                                                                                    

Just want to give a "shout out" to these 7 determined Savannah ladies who refused to let the Davenport house be turned into another parking lot -- the picture on the left is a the parking lot that replaced the Old City Market.

                                                                                        

                                            The beautiful entrance hall of the Davenport House.

          

Although the exterior of the house is all square Federalist period, Davenport included Greek Revival aspects -- the tour guide said to impress guests.  This is a parlor looking into another small room.

                                                                                    

                                        The "office" parlor opposite the social parlor

When Davenport died, the inventory of the house was sold to pay off some unpaid bills and debts.  Notice under the Real Estate list:  Nine Negroes - $2150.  We were told that Sarah, Davenport's wife was able to buy back 7 of the slaves to keep the children together.

                                                                                        

The staircase that Davenport built was amazing.  The guide said that no structural repairs have ever needed to be done on this staircase.

The extension of the staircase that goes up into the attic.  It's thought that some of the boys may have slept up there -- except in the hot summers!

Tomorrow:  a trolley tour?  (no more 5 miles of walking!)

Day 15 -- Travel day, Ocala, FL to Brunswick, GA

 We are part of the Cracker Barrel parking lot overnight rv stopover gang!  That's our camper on the left -- about 1/2 the size of the other rvs traveling back up north. Since we ate our Cracker Barrel meal there are 10 that have pulled in around dinner time. The guy in the red shirt is a Canadian parking lot partier!  He belongs with the group in the second picture:                                                                                      

                                                                                     

   

No pictures of travels today.  The only exciting thing was that I saw I had two missed calls from my son Joe a couple of hours ago.  Joe's wife, Kelsey is due with their first baby next week!  But this wasn't baby news.  Just a nice catch up call.  Moms love that!  Joe is wrapping up a 2 1/2 year process of being a certified home appraiser in New Jersey.  He has completed all his hours of appraising and passed all the tests with only one more to pass.  Way to go Joe! 

My oldest son, Ben and his wife, Katie are expecting their third baby! Owen (6) and Lucy (4) have been a source of delight and joy to us -- particularly since they moved only 40 minutes away! Ben has been working at a cabinetry shop close to our home in New Holland, but just accepted a job at Lancaster Mennonite High School as an English teacher. Congratulations and happy summers off!

My youngest, Jake and his wife Emerson have 4 children!  They live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I love to see Samantha (10),  Joshua (4), Matthan (2) and little River (10 months) on regular video calls.  Jake is in the National Guard after completing 3 years in the Army, and is a full time student in the acting program at Northern Michigan University.  He is performing this month in their production of "Grease".

I am expecting 2 grandchildren this year and Vernon is expecting 2 GREATgrandchildren this year!  God has blessed us and our families!  

Vernon's oldest, Don and his wife Paula have three girls -- Alisha (due in May), Renae and Heather and one boy -- Grant, and three grandchildren.  Don works for Creative Energy in New Holland in sales of geothermal heating and cooling systems.  

Vernon's other son, Jeff and his wife, Jenni have two girls -- Megan and Katie and one boy -- Tom whose wife, Lauren is expecting this month.  Jeff and Jenni have 7 grandchildren!  Jeff is co-owner of Choice Home Remodeling in New Holland. 

Vernon's daughter, Anita and her husband Karl have one boy -- Gabe and one girl -- Abbi and one grandchild. Anita is a realtor for Kingsway Realty.  Karl and Anita returned from a missions trip in Peru last week where people were very open to hear and many accepted the gospel message!!

Tomorrow:  Savannah