Day 6 on our great southern venture began as a lazy, rainy one. Some of us had ambitious plans to get up early and watch the sun rise, but they were dampened by the rain. We had a slow breakfast (grits) and by midday, we were ready to head to downtown Charleston to do some touring.
We walked through downtown, and a few short but heavy rainfalls, until we found a place to have lunch. After a tasty lunch at The Blind Tiger Tavern, we visited what seemed to me as an average Charleston building called the “Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon.” Once inside, however, it appeared I was wrong. We went on a tour of the building led by a slightly fanatical tour guide who assured us that the building was not only the most important building in South Carolina, but one of the most important in the world. As explained to us on the tour, the Old Exchange building was an original part of the walled city of Charles Towne. As
the city grew it became a meeting place and a central hub for the slave trade (not that we were told that on the tour – we found that one out ourselves). Finally it was where South Carolina declared its independence twice: once from Great Britain, and, 84 years later, from the Union. (It was hard to tell which declaration made our guide more proud.) Our guide was fiercely proud of his “Palmetto State” and must have told us how the state flag was created at least three or four times.
Our next stop was the Stone’s house for a Southern deep-fried feast! Everything was
deep-friend, from fresh shrimp, to mahi-mahi (caught the day before by Mrs. Stone’s son Ben), and a Southern delicacy called hush puppies. We stuffed ourselves full with the Stones along with Ben and his wife Marci as company, and topped it all off with ice cream. Back in the RV, it was great to have no need for AC and sleep in the fresh air again.
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