August 2021 Part 1: Charleston Trip Day 6: The Hunley and Fort Moultrie

Jen and the kids flew home on August 1, early in the morning--well, that's when they went to the airport. They hit a bunch of delays, but eventually made it home. 

We had a bit of church in our hotel room and asked the kids what we should do. Michael said he wanted to go see the Hunley. He found it in one of the many brochures we grabbed at the airport, so we said, "Okay!" and headed out to find it. 

The H.L. Hunley is the first successful battle submarine in history and was built during the Civil War by Southerners. It's history is fascinating! There were two unsuccessful attempts with it before Lt. George E Dixon took it out with six other men. They powered the submarine by using a pedal like system that turned the propeller. They successfully sunk the U.S.S. Housatonic in Charleston Harbor before disappearing for 130 years. In August of 2000, they brought the Hunley back up to the surface and have been working to restore it ever since. 

In the museum, they have the movie prop used in the Hunley movie, which was larger than the actual Hunley. 

Look how small the movie prop is! And the actual Hunley was smaller! I can't believe these guys were brave enough to go inside this thing! 

There was another model that allowed you to turn the pedals and see the propeller move. 

And in a special bath that is helping combat years of salt water damage sat the Hunley. 

Lt. Dixon's legendary coin, which stopped a bullet at the Battle of Shiloh and was found in Dixon's remains, is on display, as well as a few other items. 

Here's a skeleton of the inside wall of the actual Hunley. Gabe is the only one that could stand within it. 

How our kids measure up with the actual Hunley crew. 

The first half of the exhibit is dedicated to the making, testing, and action of the Hunley, and the second half is dedicated to the rescue and recovery efforts. 

We all love a good photo op. 

The kids spent so much time here, and I eventually had to drag everyone away. There were so many hands-on exhibits. 

We bought a picture book about the Hunley in the gift shop, and it remains a favorite to this day, which may contribute to Gabe and Michael both expressing that the Hunley was their favorite thing we saw in Charleston. 

After the Hunley, we headed over to Ft. Moultrie on Sullivan's Island. Ft. Moultrie was originally called Fort  Sullivan and built out of palmetto logs. In 1976, William Moutlrie and the four hundred men under his command successfully drove out nine British ships from Charleston Harbor, and the fort was renamed "Fort Moultrie" in his honor.  The fort was used from that time clear until World War II. In 1960, the fort was transferred to the National Park Service. We arrived at Fort Moultrie just under an hour before it closed, so our tour was quite rushed, but they didn't make us pay, and we got to see it! 

The had artillery from every era on display on the various batteries of the fort. 

Here we are outside the Fort. The kids even finished their Junior Ranger program in time to get the badge! 

After the fort closed, we walked down to the beach nearby, and we couldn't resist losing the shoes and socks and wading in the water. 

It was so beautiful there! 

We stayed until the sun was nearly gone, and then we headed out to find dinner, get a head start on packing, and go to bed. 

 

July 2021 Part 9: Charleston Trip Day 5: Fleet Landing Restaurant and Powder Magazine

Saturday, July 31, 2021 was our last day with Jen's crew before they flew home, and we had a few more things to hit up together. First, we ate at the Fleet Landing Restaurant, located right on the harbor in Downtown Charleston. This place came highly recommended to Jen, and this was the first day that a reservation worked with our schedule. The atmosphere was really fun, and we gave a lot of those traditional Charleston dishes a try, including real hush puppies stuffed with veggies, sea food, and yummy creamy gravy sauce. 

We made everyone try part of one. Despite having seafood inside, they were pretty good. 

We also tried She-crab soup, which our carriage driver told us about. It was okay. 

I got swordfish and Charleston Red Rice. I wonder how many times I'l need to try fish before I like it, and the same with rice. Still, I felt like we needed to taste the flavors of the area, and they weren't terrible. I'm just a steak and potatoes kind of girl.  

We had a good time. 

After lunch, we walked over to the Powder Magazine, after watching crabs on the shore of the harbor. 

The Powder Magazine was completed in 1713 and is South Carolina's oldest government building. It was used for gunpowder storage, so all the nails in the building are made of wood to avoid sparks and potential explosions. The roof was designed to collapse on itself and extinguish itself in the event of an explosion, but thankfully the design was never tested. In addition to small exhibits about the Revolutionary War and pirates, the kids got to hold old muskets

practice writing with a quill and ink,  

experience life in the stocks, 

enlist in the colonial army, 

and play colonial games. 

I think after this, there was a big storm that rolled in, so we headed back to the hotel and hung out in one of our rooms, let the kids go nuts on screens, and just zoned out for a bit. We ordered dinner, which kept getting delayed the the point that Brian just went and picked it up. Jen and the kids packed their bags, we bid them farewell, and went to bed.