Ever been to Pumpkintown (while feeling punk) ?

Continuing with our South Carolina adventures...
We drove back to Greenville SC on Sunday night.  Bernie had to go to work the next day.
Outside it was warm and rainy.
I felt totally glum, and a tad "off".
I snuggled down into the hotel bed, and began to read the book "Unbroken", which has been on the best seller list for months.  It is the true story of a WWII POW.
Quite a gut wrenching story.
Probably not the best "read" for one who is already feeling inexplicably down.

Outside the window the warm fog and rain offered my mood no respite.
At noon Bernie called for me to come join him for lunch.
I got turned around driving the few short miles there, and he was pretty unhappy by the time I got to his office.
No one with a short lunch break enjoys waiting outside a building in the rain.
We did have the best shrimp and grits ever.
(Harry and Jean's Restaurant: in case you ever visit Greenville...don't miss their version!)
I then returned to the hotel to camp back down deep in our bed's down comforter.

Occasionally I would prowl out to the living area of our suite.
For some reason the door lock system kept refusing my key card and if I left to go to the lobby, eight stories down and then came back to the room, the key swipe wouldn't work.
I'd have to go back down and have them reset the card every time.
Eventually they had a building engineer come up.
He suggested that I wasn't doing the card swipe right.
He is very lucky to still be alive after saying that to me.
I clenched my teeth and suggested HE try the card.
It didn't work for him either, surprise surprise...
He kept swiping and felt that two reads out of eight tries wasn't too bad.
I disagreed.
Eventually they installed a new card reader to our suite.
Grrrrrrr.
But that wasn't the only low moment.
Right after lunch with Bernie I got a call letting me know I had been selected for a position with the St*te  of  Ut*h  L*bra*ry  system.
(I am putting * in the words as I do not wish to "found" if you know what I mean....)
I had been looking for a new job, and had applied for the open position which had sounded interesting.
I was shocked when six weeks later I was called for an interview.
The interview had gone well two weeks earlier...I felt that I had nailed it.
I just mentally wasn't in the place to get the news of a new position while in SC.
Especially since I was feeling funky.
And the new job would be both full time and much more challenging.
Anyway, I told the person calling me I needed to think about it before accepting.
She was OK with that...but said they would like me to start ASAP.
I asked if it could be a first of Nov. start date.
She was OK with that too.

So while I was mulling what it would mean to take this job (which believe it or not also required getting a truck driving license...I don't do well with mirrors...)
I got ANOTHER call.
Remember I had written about having a racing heart rhythm back in August/Sept?
I had seen my general practitioner who referred me to a cardiologist, who put me on a monitor for a full month.
(My upper chest area skin may never look the same, the monitor pads left circles everywhere.)
Well, this second call on a rainy unpromising looking Monday was the cardiologist's office.
They wanted to see me IMMEDIATELY.
I explained I was in South Carolina.
They asked if they could see the next day.
That got my attention fast, let me tell you....
Eventually we booked an appointment for the day after we got home, which was to be Friday, five days after this disturbing call.

It kept raining all Monday and Tuesday.  For every moment of bliss I had experienced in Charleston I now was experiencing a nightmare.

What exactly was the problem with my heart?

What would the new position be like, really?
How could I start a new job if there were cardiac issues to address?

Would you be surprised to learn that it wasn't too long before I was mentally and emotionally strung out?

And that then the stress then took on my digestive system?

Being sick in a hotel is NO fun.

By Wednesday I had had enough. 

I took the car and decided I would drive around and eject any troubling "what if?" from my mind for the afternoon.

















I bought a map, turned on my cell phone's GPS and headed out to the countryside.

It was a bit sad to realize that fall scenes like this are common just about everywhere.
Where was a scene that was as distinct as the sights of Charleston?

Perhaps the southern red soil was distinctive?

I had decided to head to the town of Travel's Rest, thinking it was a small town.
It actually was a sprawling area, so I took another tactic:
I would take a drive to Pumpkintown.

Nice back roads, pretty scenery, and I had no idea what charms a placed called Pumpkintown might hold.

I felt my hopes rise when I saw the sign...

And then I was at the town's crossroads.
In one corner: A produce stand.

In the caddycorner...a general store.
Now aren't you glad that I went to Pumpkintown so you don't have to?
Really, there wasn't anything else to see.
This was as good as it gets.
From there I checked the map for other "interestingly" named places.
"Table Rock" sounded interesting.
So away I went.

At Table Rock State Park, beauty berries were to be seen in large plantings.
Their leaves had turned golden in the sun; the plants growing in the shade still have deep green leaves.
I thought that was kind of interesting.

A view to Table Rock.
Hmm.
Well, I was not overly impressed.

The state park offered camp sites and cabins. I could imagine camping there and hiking up to Table Rock would be a nice family activity if I lived there.

I glanced at the interpretive materials and still was not impressed. 
(Do you get the sense of how glum I was during this last part of the trip?)

This was near the same area where the movie the Last of the Mohicans was filmed.
I think I might have liked it better if I could of seen Daniel Day Lewis charging through the trees with his long musket in hand.

Someone in the park commented to me that the triangle on the rock face is quite curious, and no one knows who put it there.
I really didn't care.
I still don't.
From there I turned my car towards a place called Pendleton.
Bernie's great, great, great, great, great grandfather Reason settled there in 1790 with his wife Comfort.
Their son Elijah, Bernie's great, great, great, great grandfather was raised there, and left there to enlist in Washington DC to fight in the War of 1812.
Elijah's son James Joseph (JJ) was born in Pendleton.
Elijah died of consumption there in the late 1820's.
JJ was taken as a six year old up to Illinois with his mother and her brothers.
To the best of our knowledge, he never returned, and we only know that Reason continued to live there until the late 1830's when we lost track of him in the census.

My goal in visiting Pendleton:
To photograph buildings that stood during the time that Bernie's family lived in that area.
I parked in front of an old gas station that had been converted into an antique shop.
Since it was quite warm and I was still feeling quite off, I didn't indulge in shopping.

Instead I crossed the street to go over to this building.

Farmers Hall.  The dates were right for Reason to have visited this building.  He was a lawyer but of course would have farmed as well.

I did admire how the town had added fall touches to the area of the town square.

The Pendleton Visitor center was inside the Farmers Hall. I was able to get a handout that would guide me through the area's historical district.
The woman manning the center said they could do some research on my husband's family if I wished. I got an email address and hopefully they will assist me in identifying which bit of area property was owned by our family way back when.

I selected to see only the building that would have been standing between 1790-1840 when Reason's family lived in the area.
Lowther Hall was one such candidate.

Lowther Hall.
Now seriously...would you have guessed this house dated back to 1793 if you didn't have a guide to tell you so?

Of course the massive oak tree in front might have tipped you off that it was a very old piece of property.

Next up...Elam Sharpe House.  Built shortly after the War of 1812.

It had that double stair case to separate the men from the women thing going on.
I would have liked to see what it was like inside.
These houses are private residences and no touring hours were offered.

My favorite house...

Boxwood was my idea of a charming home. 

Another view of Boxwood.
I could picture Reason riding up to this place, maybe standing in front discussing the War of 1812 with the owners...

Reason was born in  31 August 1766 in PG Co. Maryland and was baptised in an Episcopal church.
I do know his wife, Comfort Dedman was from a family with a varying political/religious take on life, and he met and married her in Rowan North Carolina.

Not sure if they were Episcopalian or not while they were in Pendleton.
I do know he and she were not buried at this church.

Kind of too bad that they weren't as it was such a charming old graveyard.

The damp air brightened then clouded over and over again, with the moments of sunlight causing the fall leaves to glow like stained glass windows.

Pecans had been hulled and shelled at one crypt.

I just wandered a bit...wondered if Reason or Elijah or even JJ had ever had to attend a solem occasion here during their lives.

Wondered if they had ever sat in the pews on a fine autumn day and enjoyed seeing the colors glowing outside?
Perhaps someday I will know.
My explorations done, I got back into the car and drove back to the hotel.
We flew home the next day with a stop over in Detroit.
Flying while one's stomach and emotions are churning is pretty crummy.
The next day we saw the cardiologist.
I have what now seems like a rather common (and mostly correctable) heart rhythm problem that will be treated on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
I accepted the new job and will begin work on Halloween (!!!)
How much time I will have to enjoy blogging once I begin work will be much more limited than before.
I hope I will still be able to enjoy reading favorite writers and friends, and post occasionally as well.
My new position will involve me overseeing librarians across the state...I will be traveling to rural areas and hopefully my camera will go with me as I travel.
My life is taking a turn, heading into a new chapter both physically and professionally.
And in other ways as well...

To be continued...

Charleston-Day Two

We only had but two days in Charleston and not two full days at that.
As usual on our whirlwind trips, we made the most of it.
Leaving our bags at the check out desk at the hotel Sunday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at a very simple restaurant around the corner then we bought tickets for a mule drawn carriage tour of the city.

The carriage company was VERY communicative about how well their horses and mules were kept; a sign compared working standards and benefits for human employees verses the animals.

If one was smart, one would make sure they were hired on as a mule instead of a human.

And then the City of Charleston had very stringent rules about how many carriages could be on the city streets at any time.

The carriage driver had to pull up to a small building where the woman pictured above would record the number of carriage passengers on each tour for taxation purposes, and the route the carriage driver would be taking was determined via a ping pong ball lottery.

The whole process was as complex as the woman's hairstyle!

On the road at last...or at least this is what a similar carriage tour looked like.

We passed the round church that was built like a three leaf clover...it was named the Circular Congregational Church.

Here we are reflected in a window with me shooting a picture...

I got quite a kick out of seeing American flags flying with varying numbers of stars in the field of blue.
Whatever the date was that a house was built became the guideline for what flag style was flown.
If I had a better grasp of flag history and faster counting skills I could have known in what year many of the houses were built.
The tour guide really caught my attention when she shared about how Charleston was used for the location of the Mel Gibson movie "The Patriot".
Since so many of the city's houses were built during the same era that the movie portrayed, the production company just came into town, bought filming rights to various streets, then stripped the streets of any modern details (lamp posts, parking meters, telephone wires...) then back filled the street pavements with dirt and instantly the scene became authentic in every way.
The only "modern" detail that had to remain by law was the fire hydrants.
That was an easy fix.  Hoop skirted women stood over the hydrants to hide them when necessary, or they were covered with barrels or straw bales.

Isn't this a gorgeous front entryway?
In the 1800's a woman's ankles were NEVER to be seen.  To prevent a man inadvertently catching a glimpse of that delicate body part, women used one stairway to the front door and the men used another.

Keep in mind that Charleston is in the very warm south...so women compensated for covering up their legs and arms by dropping their bodice levels down to what would be today considered scandalous levels. 

Even back then, according to our tour guide, men would still race to the top of the stairs in order to offer their hand to the ladies assending the staircases, with quite a rewarding view provided by the lovely lady lifting her hand.

Climbing steps in a hoop skirt was something that was taught in girls finishing schools.

Mid 1800's fear of slave uprising gave birth to this kind of iron work...sort of like barbed wire only much stronger and prettier.

A beautiful front door....

Beautiful windows seen through barely dappled autumn leaved crepe myrtle.

Boxwood garden features were pretty common.  I really like how they look and think they must look especially nice to look down on from balconies above.

Curved glass in an oriole window...I suspect if they were to be broken it would be quite expensive and difficult to replace.

How fun it must be for the home's owner to sit in the window drinking tea and watching what is going on down on the street below.

The guide said this double circular balcony originally belonged to a girls finishing school.  The girls had to learn how to glide on to the porch and glide back inside without their hoop skirts lifting at any time.

The basement of the building housed a school for wayward boys. 

Interesting combination of building usages. 

Have to wonder if the girls were good influence on the boys or were the boys bad influences on the the girls? 
Somewhere there must be a diary or two with some pretty interesting entries about clastine meetings...

This photo was taken around 11 am on a Sunday morning.  Check out the smocking on the little boys suit.  

The Gullah people that live in the area still practice basket weaving skills that are found in Africa.  The slaves used the weaving techniques and passed them down to their children.  The skills are used to create baskets that sell for a good price now and probably has sent more than one Gullah child to college over the years.

Nice autumn street scene...it is warm enough for shorts, but a colorful long dress works well too.

After the tour we stopped for coffee...I noted the lace and cowboy boots outfit on one customer.
Surprisingly to me, a lot of the local girls sported cowboy boots.

We meandered about windows shopping.
Don't you love the triple reflection: Me in the  window glass and the entire building behind me reflected in the glass cloche?

Many of the shops were closed, it being Sunday and all, but the shop with all the hats in the window was open.
Such a cute sinamay straw hat and dupioni silk trim!

Love the use of dotted veiling.

An entire shop was devoted to honey.

The honey shop's light fixtures were made from bee keeper bonnets and bee hive frames.
Taste testing honey was fun.

I did  mention how much I like bow ties didn't I?

Purple, ponchos and animal skin prints are big fashion items this fall.
This outfit kills three birds with one stone.

I always enjoy seeing vintage jewelry.
Can't quite figure out where I would wear such a piece, but it sure is pretty to look at.

Anyone know the name of this interesting flower?  I like the fuzzy pom pom center combined with the simple yellow petals.

I would love to be a member...where do I sign?

Dabs of fall color mixed with a touch of Spanish moss.
So romantic....

Ignore the lady taking the photo...Check out the shape of those lamp shades!

I'm guessing this is the Episcopal church based on the English styling.

Charleston, established in 1670.  A fact noted on the storm and sewer drains just in case you forget...

I would SO be willing to paint a house that coral and cream with black and grey accents...why do so few people do so?

So many houses sported their pedigrees.
I like that.
I suppose it would be presumptuous to place such a item on a house that is but 57 years old like mine though.

Can't go wrong with black shutters and lively window boxes if one wants to make one's old building look fantastic.

More is more when it comes to window boxes in my opinion.

Our tour guild explained that a long ago earthquake caused the church town to lean by 6 degrees. 
Once she pointed that fact out it became really obvious to me.

Spanish moss...autumn leaves...bliss!

We knew we would only have time to tour one house so we choose one with a koi pond.

The gardens surrounding the home...

which had multiple fountains had us facinated even before we were able to enter the home.

While we waited in the gift shop the sales clerk pointed out that the magnolias were in bloom out of season.  This was the first week in October and yes, we saw magnolias blooming all through the area.

Quite odd according to the clerk.

Facinating details were to be seen everywhere in the small garden.

The original owner of the house we were to tour was a very wealthy merchant and he build mansions all along his street for his children to live in after they married.

 Pictured above:  One such mansion.

The wife of the owner of this home with a very large balcony was unable to have children so she routinely indulged local orphans with ice cream socials and other events on her balcony.
Her husband indulged her by widening the balconies so more and more orphans could be invited.

Awww...how sweet is that?

The front porch of the mansion we were to tour.  The lead glass doors were amazing.

Porch celing...note the gorgeous wood work!

Haint blue ceiling of course!

The home's original owner was fascinated with rope motifs. Ropes were a symbol of ships and merchants involved with shipping and the bigger the rope the more wealth was suggested.

The history of the building was incredible. 

When the merchant's daughter was to marry, she awoke to find a check for something like $75,000 on her pillow from her daddy (back in the early 1800's) and a letter wishing her every happiness while she would go on her two year honeymoon in Europe.  When she returned, her daddy had built her a mansion a few doors down from his house.

Must have been nice....

Eventually the family's fortunes were lost during the Great Depression and so was ownership of the mansion we were to tour.  The house eventually became the property of the US Navy and given five coats of navy gray paint inside and out.

Eyes crossing at the thought...

The current owner is a Washington DC attorney who restored it to perfection and filled the inside to the brim with amazing antiques.  When our guide opened the front door our jaws just dropped.
No pictures allowed inside sadly...
I could have spent hours peppering our guide with questions about everything.
The home is lived in by the owner.
The family resides on the top floor and their guests use the side stair cases to go in and out during the day when tours are given.
Tours occur 365 days a year...
At the end of each touring day, the velvet ropes are tucked away and the family uses all the rooms...entertaining family and friends regularly.
I have to commend the owner for allowing the public to see all the fabulous antiques and may I just say if they ever need another person to fill up the dining table at one of their parties I would be available.

 

The front of mansion with Bernie....

In case you ever go to Charleston....the mansion we toured is called the Calhoun Mansion.
If you are afraid you will never get to Charleston to take the tour, the next best thing is to visit it (including inside!) via the slide show on the Calhoun Mansion website.

Another wealthy father built his three daughters homes.  The story goes that the girls were not quite attractive.  A story is told about each daughter's appearance and how the architectural design mimics their facial features and coloring.  Recently one of the houses was purchased and the new owners were contemplating paint their new residence a new color. 

Charleston told them that the colors had to stay as they were in keeping with the guide's gossipy story.

A gate that looks a delicate as fine lace...

Bernie was such a good sport to pack my camera bag around as we meandered the city.

Neither of us can remember what this bench is used for...we should know this...we have seen such a bench in several historic southern locations.

Awww...a heart!

This isn't actually leaning...

Another view of the girl's finishing school balcony.

 Love the tiled Mansard roof

It did start to rain a bit.

A bit more window shopping...
Wouldn't using this set of china make for a fun children's party?
Oh heck, fun for any age party.
I dibbs the yellow bird plate!

Fun fashion...like the coral reds...especially as a side feature in the dress.
Bet it would make you look thinner.

We were getting hungry for lunch and without a moment of hesitation headed back to 82 Queen where we had had dinner the night before.
These two guys were walking just ahead of us for a couple of blocks; we whispered to each other our curiousity about where they were headed so dressed and carrying construction tools of hammers, levels and tape measures.
They disappeared into a building before we got up the nerve to ask them.

Are these chairs not the best?  Everyone seated in them look like they have sprouted fairy or butterfly wings.
I did try the chairs to see if they were comfortable.
They were!

The history of 82 Queen Restaurant.  Be sure to visit their website!  There are recipes!

I had a Charleston Breeze again.
This time they mixed it a lot stronger.
A whole lot stronger in fact.
Bernie had the Ultimate Bloody Mary.
Oh it really was!

As much as I wanted to try the Chicken and Waffles, Bernie went for the Low Country Crab Benedict; I went for the Charleston Benedict.

The lunch menu looked pretty awesome too...

Bloody Mary swizzle stick. The pickled okra was delicious when pulled off the hand tied stick.

Southern biscuits are all that they say they are.
Sorry everyone else...it isn't the recipe that makes it happen, it is the fact that southern biscuits are made with a soft wheat instead of the the northern raised hard winter wheat.

This repast we took in the garden.
Bernie really liked that Bloody Mary...

We were watched and sung to by cute little birds who knew where to find fine food.

They showed up right after the waiter took our order and seemed to know that was the sign that good food was on the way.

And was is ever!
Cheesy grits, and shrimp cake in chived Hollandaise sauce.
Oh yum!
I could lick the screen right now!

We had finished breakfast when the rain picked up and chased us inside for our dessert.
Check out the bar treat on the menu: Fresh Pork Rines served daily.
I was so sad that we wouldn't be around to get a taste of them at 4pm.

But...the peach praline cobbler quickly made up for it.
Bernie and I both kept going "Oh my gosh...oh my gosh..."
So good and the recipe is on the restaurant's website!

Leaving the restaurant we headed back to the hotel to get our car and bags, stopping to admire small bits of scenery.

 

The hotel's rose was still in bud and I thought its lovely blush was a perfect emblem of Charleston's charms.

We drove by the seaside walkway, and got out to check out the choppy storm driven waves.  A storm was heading to the area up from Florida; if this is how a small storm affected the coast I can't imagine what it must look like during a hurricane.

Huge mansions were just across the street from the sea wall.
Lots of them were for sale.
Was it the current poor economy driving the sell off or had facing down hurricanes gotten the best of the owners?

Facing the water further on was the Battery Park (which is not how they say it in Charleston but I can't recall how to say it properly).
I know the cannon was real; I just can't imagine it being used in real life.
It must have been really something awful to see in use.

We drove away from Charleston in a steady rain, heading back to Greenville where the next day was to bring many changes to my world.

Were you wondering like I did about what was with the oddly placed moon on the South Carolina flag?

Answer:  It isn't a moon but more likely a gorget, the mark symbolizing a second son on a family crest.

Here's the story of the flag design:

The palmetto tree represents the palmetto logs used to construct the fort on Sullivan's Island. These logs are soft, so the cannonballs that the British fleet fired on the fort did not shatter them.

The top left corner bears a crescent shape. The symbolism of this has long been a matter of controversy - suggestions have included a crescent moon and a gorget,  a throat proctective piece of metal or leather in armor.

As for the crescent, it is known to have been worn on the caps of South Carolina's revolutionary soldiers, and it is likely according to many experts that it is a gorget, not a moon as is commonly thought.

However, its significance is based more on legend than on documented facts. One hypothesis is that it stems from the crescent as the cadence mark of a second son. It is true that many of the early colonists were second (and third, etc.) sons who had no inheritance in England and came to America to find their fortunes.

Their coats of arms would have crescents to distinguish themselves from the first sons; and thus, perhaps the crescent was adopted as a symbol for the colony.

It is fun to look HERE to see what cadence mark you would have had if your family had had a crest!

To be continued...