Folly Beach - 2016

Dec 7 & Dec 8

--Blogpost written by Bob

Marooned in the Low Country

This is the sixth week that we have been here in the Low Country of South Carolina.  The engine in our sailboat seized up as we were coming down the ICW.  We were towed to Isle of Palms Marina and then to Marine Propulsions in Rockville SC.  We are currently living in a rented oceanfront apartment in Folly Beach SC waiting for the engine to be replaced.  We fill our days with combing the beach and touring the area.  Someday, this will make an interesting book, don't you think?

December 7

It's been in the 60's here during the day.  Usually we wear long sleeve shirts and jeans, carrying a sweatshirt along with us as we tour the low country in early December.

Today, we visited Deep Water Vineyards on Wadmalaw Island.  It was about a 40-minute drive from Folly Beach.  (The vineyard tours are available between 10 AM and 5 PM daily, except on Mondays, and cost $5 per person.)

The Deep Creek Vineyard grows muscadine
grapes which are well suited to soils
in the southeastern U.S.

The muscadine grapes are supposed to be the only truly native grapes to the U.S.  They produce five different wines from their four varieties of grapes.  I liked the "Low Tide" and the 'High Tide" the best.  Their wines are only available at present in the Charleston area.

The Firefly Distillery is located on the same property
as the Deep Creek Vineyards but is owned
by a different owner.  This old red
Ford pick up truck is cool!

This white rooster with fluffy feet attacked my feet
several times.  He simply would
not let me walk by him.

On the way driving back to Folly Beach we drove out to
Bowen's Island which is a higher level area in the
middle of the salt marsh just north of Folly
Beach.  There are a couple expensive 
homes on the island, as well as some 
not so expensive.  This sailboat was 
anchored just off the island.

December 8

For today's adventure, we visited Magnolia Plantation, one of the oldest plantations in the South.  The plantation dates back to 1676 and ancestors of the original family still own it. Magnolia was originally a rice plantation.  The plantation house was burned down during the Civil War.  Today, the nearly 500 acres include azalea gardens, a wildlife refuge, and even a swamp garden.

Three slaves cabins, representing different time
periods have been restored and maintained
on Magnolia Plantation.

This was the inside of the cabin on the left side of the 
previous photo and the oldest cabin.  This cabin 
was split in halves for two different families.
The fireplace was just for heat in the
winter--cooking was done outdoors.

The earliest slave cabins had dirt floors--the oldest one that has been restored has a wooden floor and is elevated off the ground by about 1 foot.  The area around the slave cabins was kept clear of grass and shrubs so that alligators and snakes could be avoided.  All the early cabins (1 room in terms of size) housed two families--one family in each half of the cabin.   There was no indoor plumbing and no indoor cooking--all the cooking was done outside.  The black soot from the fireplace is still visible on the inside of the roof of the cabin.

The above painting called "The Old Plantation" dates to
around 1790.  By 1860 there were over 400,000
slaves imported to South Carolina from Africa.

This was part of the swamp garden which was 
visible from the road on the property.

We got to Magnolia Plantation after lunch and this did not allow us enough time to see everything we wanted to see--so, we are going back again within a week.

Summary

The warm southern sun and
The cool ocean breeze.
I don't think I will ever tire
Of looking at palm trees.

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