Mount Pleasant and Charleston Harbor

Monday, April 17, 2017
Charleston, South Carolina, United States
We often travel by the seat of our pants, but usually I've done at least a month or two of research before we start. This time I had 3 days. So today we decided to go to Mount Pleasant, across the bay from Charleston. Guide book said there were antebellum houses and a neat old town in the Old Village area. So we used the GPS to get to the old village area, which took us to Old Village Drive which is an area full of new houses built to look like old antebellum houses.
 
 

 
They were really beautiful houses - great reproductions - but still we were looking for the real thing. We drove around some more, asked some locals who pointed us this way and that, and finally we sort of stumbled across the area on our own. Yes some really beautiful homes and a tiny "downtown" of shops in old houses. 
 
 





Then we discovered Shem Creek which was lined on both sides with shrimp boats and restaurants. and decided to come back later for lunch.  


 
Decided to go and book tickets for a tour to Ft. Sumpter, but the GPS told me to stay to the right and then turn left - and we ended up going back across the beautiful Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge to Charleston to turn around and go back again. The largest single-span bridge in North America, built ahead of schedule and under budget!! We were told it replaced the Grace Bridge, and you'd better say grace before going over that narrow 2 lane, no shoulders bridge.
 














 

We found that the next tour we could take was at 3:30 so we went and ate lunch. Then walked on some piers through the salt marsh which is a city park. We've seen these piers from Savannah to here - when people have "cottages" or houses on the "waterfront" it might not exactly be quite on the water, so they have to build these really long piers to get to water. I can't imagine what it must take to build and then maintain these piers.
 
 
 
We went back to book a tour and decided to do a harbor tour instead. It was about an hour and a half and interesting but not as much as I thought. We did get up close to Ft. Sumpter, and learned some more history of Charleston. Also at the Mount Pleasant dock they have the Yorktown Aircraft Carrier that you can tour ( we didn't ) as well as a destroyer and a submarine.
 
 


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Comments

Leigh Ann
2017-04-18

I'm enjoying your trip. Thanks for the report.

Marge
2017-04-18

My brother Mike served on the Yorktown before it was decommissioned.

2025-02-10

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