Raleigh, North Carolina

Here are some pictures of our tour of the Capitol Building in Raleigh, and one picture of the Governor's Mansion.

Historic Oakwood District, Raleigh, North Carolina

Our next destination was Raleigh, North Carolina for another Capitol tour.  We spent the first day on a walking tour of Raleigh, exploring the downtown and surrounding areas. All the pictures in this post were taken in the Historic Oakwood district, an area filled with beautiful and unique houses.

Columbia, South Carolina

We arrived in Columbia, South Carolina, on a Friday afternoon, planning to stay just a couple of days. We targeted our capitol tour for Saturday, and planned to leave for Charlotte on Sunday. It occurred to Dan that the capitol building might not be open to the public on weekends, so we looked up the information on their website, and sure enough, visiting hours were Monday through Friday only, closing at 5:00. By now it's 3:00, so we jumped into the truck and drove to downtown Columbia, parked, and were touring by 3:30. Luckily, we had enough time to finish exploring the inside of the building before they closed the doors, and had plenty of time to wander the grounds after that.

There is a bronze statue of George Washington at the bottom of the steps leading up to the capitol, holding a walking stick which is broken off at the bottom. There is a plaque that reads "During the occupation of Columbia by Sherman's Army, February 17-19, 1865, soldiers brick-batted this statue and broke off the lower part of the walking cane". When trying to research this a little further for my write-up, I discovered there is a bit of controversy about this story, some even calling it an urban myth. Hmmm…

Charleston, South Carolina

Our original plan was to spend just two or three days in Charleston, South Carolina, on our way to Columbia, the capitol. But Lake Aire RV Park seemed like a peaceful haven after a rather intense bout of traveling, so we extended our stay to one week. Still not enough time, it never is, but it was a much needed respite, with a few down days interspersed amongst the touring.

While in Charleston we visited Fort Sumter, the historic location of the first shot of the Civil War; Fort Moultrie, first built of palmetto logs, which inspired the flag and nickname (Palmetto State) of South Carolina; Patriots Point Naval Museum, which included the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and the submarine, USS Clamagore; a walking tour of downtown Charleston; and a picnic at the beach.

 So much of the history of the South is about the Civil War, and this year (2011) and month (April) marking the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war, it seems there was some reminder of this everywhere we went. War is not my favorite subject; I much prefer peace. However, I do realize the Civil War was pivotal in shaping US history, and I have to accept this aspect of our country's development. Still, I much prefer memorials to peace than to war.