October 9, 2021

October 9, 2021

We crossed over to the western edge of Charleston, SC to visit Angel Oak Park. This small green space is almost filled by an ancient Southern Live Oak over 400 years old. Its trunk is enormous but its many huge tentacled arms make it look like a forest monster. Good thing it is not Halloween yet. After taking a few photos we get back on the road and head southwest down the coastline.

Ninety minutes later we reach the Sea Islands area. After driving around in circles we manage to stumble upon the new Visitor Center for Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in Beaufort, SC. This park attempts to memorialize the history of the effort to convert slaves to productive free peoples. Unfortunately it has precious few assets to draw upon. The park today consists of a tiny Visitor Center with uninteresting exhibits and a couple other widely scattered sites.

We drive south to Port Royal for a noon ranger talk. This new Ranger has a little contact station in a reconstructed Freedman’s Chapel sitting adjacent to the local farmer’s market. With her we walk the half-mile to Fort Frederick Cultural Heritage Preserve, containing the ruins of an early 18th century British colonial fort. Early in the Civil War, the Union invaded Port Royal Island and setup Camp Saxton here to support the naval blockade of Charleston and Savannah. The local black slaves became some of the first emancipated and first volunteer colored troops. With help from the government, schools were setup and a few Freedmen were allowed to purchase land. With few skills most Freedmen became Sharecroppers working their same plantations. All the early Freedman success came to a screeching halt with the end of Reconstruction.

We drive back to the cute town of Beaufort and have a pizza lunch along the shoreline. We are surprised how touristy the barrier islands are along the Carolina Lowcountry. Aimee also makes the observation that every section of our country has some interesting history to discover.

We think about exploring the Marine base at nearby Parris Island but it is getting late. So we punt and head to our next destination of Savannah, GA.