Archive for the ‘Travels’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Savannah Tour

August 31, 2008
Victorian Row Houses in Savannah, Georgia. June 24, 2008.

Victorian Row Houses in Savannah, Georgia. June 24, 2008.

The day after visiting Fort Pulaski and Tybee Island, Betsy and I went to downtown Savannah to tour the historic district.

Georgia was the last of the English colonies to be founded in North America.  James Edward Oglethorpe is considered the founder of Georgia, although he was only one of 21 persons named as trustees of the new colony.  An interesting provision of the original charter was that rum, lawyers and slavery were forbidden!

England had several reasons for founding Georgia.  Oglethorpe was personally interested in providing relief to the debtors of England and in helping the English poor and  unemployed.  The English crown wanted to remove the poor so England would not have to support them.  Another interest of the crown was to provide a buffer to protect South Carolina from Spaniards in Florida.

Oglethorpe and 120 other settlers arrived in what is now Savannah in February, 1733.  Oglethorpe soon became friends with a local Indian chief, Tomochichi.  Oglethorpe and Tomochichi pledged mutual goodwill and the Yamacraw chief granted the new arrivals permission to settle Savannah on its bluff above the river.  As a result the town flourished without warfare and the accompanying hardship the burdened many of England’s early colonies.

Savannah is known as America’s first planned city.  Oglethorpe laid the city out in a series of grids that allowed for wide open streets dotted with shady public squares and parks that served as town meeting places and centers of business.  Savannah had 24 original squares and 21 of them are still in existence.

I must admit that we didn’t enjoy our tour of Savannah as much as we enjoyed our tour of Charleston, but we did get a good overview of the historic district and are now ready to go back and take a walking tour!

To see more of our tour click HERE.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

Tybee Island

August 29, 2008
Tybee Island and lighthouse from the walls of Fort Pulaski. June 23, 2008.

Tybee Island and lighthouse from the walls of Fort Pulaski. June 23, 2008.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that Betsy and I visited Fort Pulaski while on our anniversary trip in June.  From the walls of Fort Pulaski we could see Tybee Island and its lighthouse, and since Betsy is as interested in lighthouses as I am in Robert E. Lee, we had to go over to Tybee and visit the lighthouse.

Tybee Island and Fort Pulaski (on Cockspur Island) are closely connected.  In 1861 Confederates held both Tybee Island and Fort Pulaski.  But in November of that year the Union army and navy captured Hilton Head Island (South Carolina) on Port Royal Sound.  Hilton Head is only about 15 miles north of Fort Pulaski, and using this as a base the Union was able to mount operations against Fort Pulaski and the entire South Atlantic coast.

Since the Confederate troops on Tybee Island were in danger of being cut off by the Union navy, Robert E. Lee ordered that they be withdrawn.  He did this because he felt Fort Pulaski was impregnable. but by doing so he unknowingly gave the Union the only site from which Fort Pulaski could be taken.

The Union army under Engineer Captain Quincy A. Gillmore quickly began to build siege batteries on the only firm ground in the area — the northwestern shore of Tybee Island.  Although this site was over a mile from Fort Pulaski, Gilmore had ten of the new rifled cannon available and he was certain that these cannon could breach the brick walls of Fort Pulaski and force its surrender.

On April 10, 1862, after the Confederates refused Gillmore’s formal demand for surrender, the Union forces opened fire on the fort.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Travels | 1 Comment »

My Favorite Island: Antigua

August 27, 2008
The coast of Antigua from Shirley's Height. September 12, 2001.

The coast of Antigua from Shirley

This past Sunday afternoon Betsy and I were watching DVDs of our grandchildren when we decided to watch a DVD of our honeymoon cruise in the eastern Caribbean.  We visited several islands — St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados.  It was a wonderful cruise.

Betsy asked which island was my favorite.  That wasn’t an easy question to answer, but I finally had to say Antigua.  The coast of Antigua was absolutely breath-takingly beautiful.  The ocean was a gorgeous blue in contrast to the rocky cliffs.

In addition to rocky shores Antigua also has beaches and history.  In 1784 British Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson established a base on Antigua for use against the French.  We were able to visit that base, Nelson’s Dockyard.

Our day in Antigua began with a beautiful sunrise and ended with a gorgeous sunset.  To see more of our visit to Antigua click HERE.

Tags:,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

Fort Pulaski

August 26, 2008
The flag flying at Fort Pulaski. June 23, 2008.

The flag flying at Fort Pulaski. June 23, 2008.

In the early 1800s the United States constructed a third system of forts to protect the East and Gulf coasts from invasion.  Most of those forts still exist.

The fort constructed to protect Savannah, Georgia, was named Fort Pulaski in honor of the Polish Count Casimir Pulaski, who lost his life fighting against the British at Savannah during the Revolutionary War.

Fort Pulaski was designed to be one of the most modern fortifications ever built.  Many considered the fort’s 7½-foot solid brick walls backed with massive masonry piers unbreachable.  Construction of the fort started in 1829 and required $1 million dollars (that was real money back then!), 25 million bricks, and 18 years of work to finish.

Unfortunately for the designers of the fort technology did not stand still after the fort was complete.  The rifled cannon was perfected which had both greater accuracy and greater range.  Union rifled cannon a mile from the fort breached the walls and forced the Confederates to surrender after only 30 hours of bombardment.

Fort Pulaski was built on Cockspur Island which was extremely marshy.  Before the fort could be built, a dike and drainage system had to be designed and constructed.  The drainage system was designed by a young lieutenant of engineers — Robert E. Lee.  That explains why I was so interested in seeing the fort.

To see more of our visit to Fort Pulaski click HERE.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Travels | 1 Comment »

Our Walking Tour of Charleston

August 20, 2008
George at the entrance to Catfish Row in Charleston, June 22, 2008.

George at the entrance to Catfish Row in Charleston, June 22, 2008.

Betsy and I were looking forward to celebrating our anniversary on June 22 (a day early) by taking a sunset cruise in Charleston Harbor on a sailing schooner. It had rained the previous day, cutting short our visit to Boone Hall Plantation, but we hoped that Sunday would be better.

As I’ve mentioned we went to church at St. Michael’s Church in the morning, and then walked around The Battery before taking a carriage tour of the historic district.

After the carriage tour we still had quite a bit of time before our cruise, so we decided to get a bite to eat. We had done some internet research and went to the Fleet Landing Restaurant on Charleston Harbor. We were able to eat on the deck and enjoy the breezes coming in from the harbor.

After eating we walked around the historic district some more before we headed to the Aquarium Wharf and the schooner. As we walked we noticed the sky getting darker and darker, but we remained optimistic. We got to the wharf and found the schooner, but there was no one there. A quick phone call confirmed that the cruise was cancelled because of weather. It started raining as we walked back to the car.

Although we didn’t get to take our cruise, we still had a wonderful time in Charleston. To see more of our walking tour click HERE.

Tags:,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

Our Charleston Carriage Tour

August 14, 2008
Rainbow Row, Charleston, South Carolina. June 22, 2008.

Rainbow Row, Charleston, South Carolina. June 22, 2008.

As I’ve mentioned before, Betsy and I were in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday, June 22, 2008.  We attended church at St. Michael’s and then walked around The Battery.

We enjoyed our walking tour of The Battery, but it was a very hot day and walking soon lost its charm.  Several horse- and mule-drawn carriages passed us as we walked, so we decided that would be a better way to see Charleston.

We found Palmetto Carriage and bought our tickets.  We were directed to the nearby barn of the company and told that our tour would soon start.  It was there that we discovered that Palmetto Carriage uses mule-drawn carriages.

Our tour guide was excellent and very knowledgeable.  The city of Charleston has a system to limit the number of carriages in any given part of the historic district.  All carriages have to stop at a control point after they are loaded and it is then that they are assigned one of four routes.  So the guides have to be familiar with all four.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour.  The carriage moved at a slow enough pace that we could see what the guide was talking about.  We would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Charleston, especially first-time visitors.

To see more of our carriage tour, click HERE.

Tags:,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

Charleston’s Battery

August 11, 2008
George at The Battery, June 22, 2008.

George at The Battery, June 22, 2008.

After attending church service at St. Michael’s in Charleston, Betsy and I drove down to White Point Gardens, also known as The Battery.  White Point Gardens sits at the southernmost point of the Charleston peninsula, where the Cooper and Ashley rivers meet and flow into Charleston Harbor.  Originally opened in 1837 as a public park, the Battery was fortified during the Civil War to protect the city against Union troops.

The Battery is one of the best spots in the city for strolling.  There are live oaks draped with Spanish moss, pleasant ocean breezes, and lovely views of Charleston Harbor.  The Battery is also home to some of the city’s most lavish residences.

We were able to find a parking spot and walked along the seawall and then through the garden.  We then walked along South Battery and Meeting Streets before heading back to the car.

To see more of our walking tour of The Battery, click HERE.

Tags:,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

Memories of China

August 10, 2008

We watched the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics Friday night.  I think we can all agree that they were very impressive.

I was interested in seeing them because I’ve been to Beijing several times.  I taught in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, on four separate occasions, and visited Beijing at least once on each trip.

The first time I went to China was in 1987, when the above picture of Tiananmen Square was taken.  China had been ‘open’ for several years by then, but foreigners were still relatively rare.  I managed to attract quite a bit of attention wherever I went.

There were still relatively few automobiles in China at that time — the black bicycle was the usual mode of transportation for most people.  Most older people wore dark Mao suits, and although young people wore white shirts there really wasn’t a great deal of color in the clothes ordinary people wore.

My most recent trip to China was in 1994 – 1995 and by that time things had really changed, at least in the cities.  There were many more automobiles on the roads, but they were still outnumbered by the bicycles.  But now the bicycles were every color under the rainbow.  The clothing of the ordinary citizens, especially the children, was also very colorful.

The announcers Friday night commented several times on the politeness of the Chinese.  I found the average Chinese to be very friendly and considerate on each of my trips, and I have many wonderful memories of China and the Chinese people.

Tags:,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

Patriots Point

August 9, 2008

On our anniversary trip in June Betsy and I spent a couple of days in Charleston, South Carolina.  We quickly learned that we could have spent a couple of weeks in Charleston and still not have seen everything we wanted to see.  But at least we have a good excuse to go back.

One of the places we got to see, but not visit, was Patriots Point, a naval and maritime museum in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, on Charleston Harbor.  Patriots Point is a hands on museum dealing with military units from World War II through the Vietnam War.  It’s possible to tour four warships (an aircraft carrier, destroyer, coast guard cutter, and submarine) as well as a full scale model of a navy advance tactical support base.

Patriots Point got its start in 1975 with the arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.  I visited Patriots Point in 1988, but there have been many exhibits added since then.

We only had the opportunity to see enough of Patriots Point to want to go back.  To see our pictures click HERE.

Tags:,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

A Family Reunion

August 5, 2008

In July Betsy and I went to her hometown, Big Stone Gap, Virginia, for a Bruce/Cummings family reunion.  Betsy is related to the Bruces and Cummings through her mother.

Betsy knew some of her cousins as a little girl, but she had not seen most of them for years.  Of course, there were many other family members that she didn’t know at all.  So the reunion gave her a good excuse to go back to Big Stone Gap and the opportunity to get re-acquainted with people she hadn’t seen in years.

Betsy is very interested in family history, as is her cousin Ellen who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Betsy and Ellen spent quite a bit of time exchanging information on the Bruce family.

Not only did Betsy get to meet people, we were able to enjoy the beautiful southwest Virginia countryside.  We think we live in a beautiful area here on the Plateau, but those mountains around Big Stone Gap are also very beautiful.  All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

To see more of our weekend, click HERE.

Tags:,
Posted in Travels | Leave a Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »