Charleston Part 2

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We picked a second plantation to visit during our stay near Charleston. The one we chose is an actual working plantation (of sorts) but with much less history than Middleton Place. The Charleston Tea Plantation is about a 50 mile drive from our campground on Madmalaw Island. I don’t drink much tea but if I do it’s usually iced tea. Chris drinks a wider variety of hot teas but is far from a connoisseur. I don’t think either of us had even given any thought as to what goes into making teabags that show up on grocery shelves. We figured this was our opportunity to learn something.

Entrance to Charleston Tea Plantation

The tea garden sits on 127 acres of land that apparently has the right soil and climate for growing the Camellia Sinensis tea plant. The place is open year round with the exception of a few holidays. It’s free to visit the gift shop or check out the factory tour but if you want to see more of the facility and learn a lot more about tea, you’ll want to take the trolley tour at $15 per person. Given the relative remoteness of this place, it was surprisingly busy. But when a 45 foot tour bus pulls in loaded with a large group of visitors, it’s bound to get crowded. We went in to get our trolley tickets and had a bit of time to kill while we waited.

Thirsty?

Waddy the Frog Greets Visitors

The gift shop has a huge assortment of teas for sale. They also have several pots of various teas to try out while you wait - all for free, as much as you want. The factory tour is free and self guided along a walkway next to the factory floor. Even though it is too early in the year to be harvesting, processing and making tea, the factory was well lit and we could see all the stages of the process thru large glass windows. There are several monitors along the walkway that show the process of harvesting and making tea. The videos were well done and show all the equipment being operated so things made sense.

Inside the Gift Shop

Withering Bed on Factory Floor

It wasn’t long before our trolley tour was to begin. They actually have at least 2 trolleys (a red one and a green one) running so I guess the place is frequently this busy. The trolleys are actually quite nice but I was envisioning refurbished old school buses. There is a good audio system on the bus so we could hear our tour guide/driver even though we were at the very back of the trolley.

The Red Trolley Awaits

Inside Our Trolley

It’s not a very long drive through the various parts of the plantation but takes about 40 minutes to make the loop. All the while our tour guide uses every tea pun or joke imaginable - perfect for keeping the younger audience entertained during the tour. Interspersed with the act were some actual facts about the history of this place and how tea is grown and made. Research on tea plants started back in 1963 and in 1987 Charleston Tea Plantation was created. In 2003, the Bigelow family worked out an agreement with the original owner to take over the business. There are numerous stops along the drive where we can see the actual tea plants in the field. If you didn’t know any better, the plants look like hedges you might see along a property line of some home. But these hedges are line up right next to one another.

Long Rows of Tea Plants

Later this spring as the temperatures start to warm up, the tea plants will start to send up new shoots with fresh green leaves. Once they are about a foot tall, a very special harvester is used to drive over the tea bushes and trim off just the new shoots and collect them in a hopper. This is then placed in another container to be taken to the factory floor where it is processed. I think our tour guide said there are only 3 workers needed during the harvesting. We had one stop where we exited the trolley to check out the greenhouse they use to start new tea plants. It was quite an enjoyable and informative tour - well worth the money. We had brought along lunch, so we grabbed some tea from the gift shop and sat under the porch to eat. They have plenty of picnic tables, but another tour bus just got there and the new visitors were handed their box lunch and were occupying all the tables.

Tea Harvester

Our tour guide at the tea plantation had suggested another nearby attraction - the Angel Oak. Admittedly, we already were planning on stopping there since there was a virtual geocache at the location and it sounded interesting. But it was good to have a second opinion about the stop. It’s not far away on the neighboring Johns Island. Believed to be the largest Live Oak tree east of the Mississippi, the Angel Oak is 65 feet tall with a circumference over 25 feet. It’s estimated to be between 300 and 400 years old.

Angel Oak Trunk

We arrived to find this place quite busy too. The road back here isn’t all that large but there are a number of parking spots along the shoulder. The tree is in a fenced in area with all sorts of regulations about what is and isn’t permitted while walking around the tree. It is definitely an impressively large tree. Many of the limbs arch out from the trunk, rest on the ground for several feet before turning back up to the sky. I don’t think this is a type of tree that grows roots from the limbs that make ground contact, so it really is just to support the weight of the limb. We notice a few cables that are supporting some of the limbs as well as ground supports for the longer branches. We spend a bit of time wandering around the grounds admiring the tree from all angles. As we were heading out, another tour bus was arriving and several dozen passengers were disembarking and heading to check out the tree.

That evening we had a rather exciting time. A strong storm front was moving thru the area and there was the potential for bad thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. Just as the sun set, the storm activity ramped up. I had mentioned earlier that we had decent over the air TV signal but rather minimal cell coverage at Givhans Ferry. Our phones would get alerts as new watches or warnings were announced but it was a challenge to get the maps to come up to show where the trouble spots were. We also have a weather radio that was sending us alarms every 10 minutes or so. One of the Charleston TV stations had two of their weathermen on the air for several hours as the weather intensified. This helped us keep an eye on things and we quickly learned some of the small towns in our area. The town of St George (about 15 miles to the northwest) and Holly Hill (20 miles to the north) were getting the brunt of the tornado warnings.

The most worrisome feature of this TV station’s radar system is that it could detect when there was debris in the air - presumably from a tornado touching down and kicking up all manner of things including the roofs of homes! Some of these things got a little too close to us for our liking. I managed to grab screen shots of two of the “tornado warnings” that were right on our doorstep. The fact that our blue dot was technically not in the red polygons wasn’t all that reassuring. By bedtime, the strong storms were done and there was just some additional rain moving thru.

Two Tornado Warnings Right Next Door

The following day, the weather improved and we did a little bit of driving around the area with the main purpose of finding geocaches in additional SC counties. One stop was at a pretty little church in Yemassee SC. Sheldon Chapel Episcopal dates back to 1745 although it was dismantled during the Civil war for construction materials before being rebuilt in 1898. In either case, it’s old. The separate bell tower behind the church looked like the steeple that was never added to the main church building.

Sheldon Chapel Episcopal

Stand-alone Bell Tower

Not too far from this first stop was an even more impressive church - or at least the ruins of a former church. The Old Sheldon Church ruins was originally built in the 1750’s but burned by British troops in 1779. It was rebuilt in 1826 but was burned again during Sherman’s “March to the Sea” in 1865. The brick walls remained but it was never rebuilt so just the shell of the church remains today. That evening, we had more storms come through the area but this batch was much less severe.

Approaching Old Sheldon Church Ruins

Plaque at Ruins

The following day, we stayed within the state park and hiked the River Bluff Trail. It’s listed as a 1.9 mile out and back trail not far from the campground. But we found it more convenient to walk from our campsite, over to the trailhead, follow the nearly 1 mile trail back near the entrance station to the park and walk the park road back towards camp. This gave us the opportunity to both hike in the woods and see the kayak launch area near the ranger station along the Edisto River. It was a pleasant hike and not very strenuous.

Overlooking Edisto River

River Bluff Trailhead

Strange Place for a Stop Sign

Bridge Along Trail

Near Kayak Launch

On our last full day at the state park, we drove to Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site near Summerville SC. This place is quite old - dating back to 1697. The town of Dorchester flourished up until the Revolutionary War after which the town all but disappeared. The site is right along the Ashley River which flows out at Charleston 30 river miles away. We found it strange to see how strongly the water level is impacted by the tide. When we visited, the tide was starting to come back up, so the water in the river appeared to be flowing backwards.

Ashley River at Colonial Dorchester

Great Camouflage

There are the remnants of an old fort and powder magazine. This is another example of tabby construction similar to what we saw while at Fort Frederica a week ago in Brunswick GA. The walls of the fort are quite thick and really interesting to see all the shells as part of the masonry. It was built in 1757.

Approaching Fort

Details About the Fort

Massive Fort Walls

Detailed Photo of Shells in Tabby

As we head into the “town” portion of Dorchester, we see a group of five people working on one of the former home sites. We spoke at length with one of the volunteers that was carefully digging around the corner of the building’s foundation.

Pretty Fence

Dig Site

Our next stop in the park was at the remnants of the bell tower of the former church. The church had been built in 1719 and the bell tower added on in 1751. After the town was abandoned, the church was likely torn down to use the materials for other buildings but for some reason the bell tower was not dismantled. It’s a very pretty building although it is clear which side of the tower must have been adjacent to the old church because the brick and masonry work are not as well constructed as the rest of the tower.

270+ Year Old Bell Tower

Straight Up View in Bell Tower

Colonial Dorchester isn’t a very big place but it was still neat to check out. We found an area of the park with picnic tables and enjoyed our lunch before heading out to see the Azalea Park in Summerville. We had less luck here. We suspect we were a couple weeks late so there were very limited azaleas in bloom. It is still a cute little park with walking trails, and fountains and lots of bronze statues scattered around the park.

Kids at Play

Actual Turtles - Not Sculptures

"Ribbit"

Some Blooms

I’m sure there were many more things to see in the Charleston area but we had only allotted 7 nights so it was time to move on. Our next extended stop will be in Brevard NC. The drive is over our normal limit of 200 miles so we pick a stop at an Elks Lodge in Greenville SC about 190 miles away. We were arriving on a Saturday but the lodge wasn’t open. Fortunately we knew where the intended RV parking was and found the 30 amp outlets well hidden under the deck of another build just up from the lodge. The driveway into the lodge off the road has a rather extreme slope and hump associated with it. I was a bit nervous about the center of the motorhome bottoming out as I made the turn. I took it real slow and things seemed okay. There are two spots for rigs and we started out being the only ones there.

Parked at Greenville SC Elks Lodge

Since we arrived early enough in the day, we headed out for a couple of geocaches in the area. One was in a small veteran’s park in the town of Greer. There were lots of monuments and an armored personnel carrier and helicopter. It was a cute little park and we found the cache.

Armored Personnel Carrier

Attack Helicopter

After we got back to the rig, we saw someone else pull in with an RV. Fortunately she had a rather small travel trailer so we were able to help get her parked next to us. I don’t mind helping direct someone especially when there is a chance if they screw up, they hit our motorhome. She was a solo traveler and planned to visit with some friends in the area for a couple days. Her power cord was not long enough to reach the poorly positioned electrical outlets so I let her borrow my extension cable for that first night so she would have power on what turned out to be a rather cold night getting close to freezing. Maybe we were heading too far north too early again this year? Next post back to North Carolina.