June 23, 2009: Charleston to Georgetown, SC

We passed again through the Charleston Harbor and enjoyed seeing the battery, forts, and magnificent bridge everything one more time. Moving along the waterway we were delighted to see the cycle of life progressing as baby ospreys perched with their Mom on the side of their nest on the channel marker. The babies were almost as big as their mother, so they have grown rapidly and will soon fly away. (That happens in the best of families.)

We turned up Jeremy Creek just to see the water front at McClellanville. It was lined with shrimp boats and old houses and we reminisced of coming here once before traveling from NC in our ski boat. Boats were rafted double on the old piers at the marina so we were glad they were busy. We anchored near there in the rapid current flowing through the inlet to the ocean while we had lunch and then moved on to Georgetown.

Georgetown is SC’s third oldest city and was settled by colonists moving north. It was a busy industrial port founded in 1732. It was a center for indigo production, a treasured clothing due exported to England and Europe. The sizable profits from this industry established one of the earliest public free schools in the state (1755).

Cruising the waterfront, we passed the Shrimp Dock Independent Seafood where shrimp boats could unload and sell their fresh catch directly into the market. There were “Do not feed the alligators” signs on the city dock where we went to shore in our dinghy. The old City Hall and Clock tower were in the center of this small town. The tower was built in 1845 and was where the town was surrendered to Union forces in 1865.


It was fun to ride along the streets of this old southern community with many homes dating back into the first half of the 18^th century (1750). These were large two story homes with long porches. We also saw the William Morgan Mansion where he lived as mayor of the town in the late 1800’s. He was credited with bring electricity to the city and also deepening the harbor for industry.

We saw another SC Champion tree whose age was confirmed at over 500 years in 1940. With a girth of 23 feet, it had branches 50 feet off the ground that were each the size of large oak trees. I so enjoy seeing these majestic works of God’s art.


We found a little park next the wonderful boardwalk pier that ran along the water front. There was a stone monument there to Francis Marion the Swamp Fox commemorating his leadership during the Revolutionary War.


There was also an ice cream shop handy, so we ate waffle cones full of cappuccino ice cream as we watched the sky reflect the sunset through fishing boat spring lines.