HMS Beangle

Welcome aboard! We're sailing across North America in our Bean Stalker teardrop trailer. Come share our journey.

Category: South Carolina

  • The Rest of the (South Carolina) Story

    First and foremost, I have a grievous error to acknowledge. I have been misleading you all about Longleaf Pines for some time, and for that I apologize. What I often thought was a Longleaf (Pinus palustris) was instead a Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda). I know. I know. It was a careless, but I also learned…

  • History vs Hollywood

    We toured a lesser known plantation that was less flash and more pan, if you get my drift, and walked around the grounds of two others that were near our Buck Hall campsite. Since cost is a factor for us and these places are expensive to visit, we decided to visit one that puts their…

  • McClellanville & Surrounds

    Was I too harsh on Charleston? Maybe. Maybe my disappointment about our visit to long-anticipated Fort Sumter colored my experience. Maybe it was the busyness, the expensive fanciness that I can no longer abide (or afford). I don’t know. Regardless, we won’t be rushing back to it. What I loved about our time there was…

  • Charleston, daaaarling

    Walking around Charleston is a lot like walking around Vienna. Because things were meticulously rebuilt or restored to their former image, it’s easy to forget that the city was so damaged near the end of the Civil War. It’s a beautiful city, and the favorite of several people I know. To me, it often felt…

  • Union troops robbed the home on their way north FROM the March to the Sea, not TO it. It was after his army had bypassed Charleston and went instead to Columbia (where ironically Charlestonians had moved their families, money, and household goods for safekeeping), on his way to North Carolina that small raiding parties pillaged…

  • Ashtabula

    In Pendleton, South Carolina, two restored plantation homes are owned by a nonprofit organization tasked with researching, restoring, and educating the public about the area’s history through educational tours. Educational tours, you say? Step aside, folks, step aside. I’m coming across that big veranda with its ceiling painted ‘haint’ blue to stop ghosts from crossing…

  • Tin roof (rust optional)

    The weather hasn’t been too friendly here in east central Georgia these four weeks, but occasionally it’s been pleasant and we’ve tried to take advantage of those days. A few beautiful mushrooms have crossed our paths, although I think this one is my favorite. It looks almost silky, doesn’t it? Still not eating it. The…