Grandchildren, Plantations and Graveyards

November 4th - Election Day and My 71st Birthday

We got to Summerville by 14:30 after an additional 139 miles and checked into this Sleep Inn. This room isn't quite as nice - it has no microwave or fridge.

Room with two double beds

I called our son at work, and he said he hadn't voted yet and his wife was still in line to vote. (We voted in the early voting at home before we left.) His son had ridden his motorcycle over to work and had to be back before 6 pm because he is only 15 years old.

TV with election results in the Sleep Inn

We all met at Oscar's for dinner. Bob and I got there first, and then our son and grandson, and last came our granddaughter and daughter-in-law. Since our son had to get his son home before 6, he didn't have time to vote. One of the ladies there at the restaurant was also having a birthday, so everyone sang Happy Birthday and I decided that the song was for me too, but without the embarrassment. And it was nice to have a dinner where no one had to jump up and get more food.

I had

shrimp and grits $14.95

and a

Triple Sorbet with fruit $5.95

Bob had

Fried oysters $13.95

.
Our son had

Greek Chicken Pasta $14.95

and they both had the

Ice cream crepe $4.50

;
Our teenage grandson had a cup of SheCrab Soup ($4.95) and a steak fillet with shrimp ($29.95) and a

NY Cheesecake

.
I have him well trained as he did not start to eat until I had taken a picture. Our son ordered for his wife - Crab stuffed Tilapia, and our granddaughter had a burger, and shared some of her mom's salad. Neither of them had dessert. The total was $145 before the tip.

November 5th

Breakfast area

We spent today resting up and dealing with posting the photos that I took yesterday for the cemetery site on the internet. For lunch we went to the Atlanta Bread Company,

Inside of the restaurant

I had

a cup of roasted potato soup and a half chicken salad sandwich

and Bob had the.

Chili

Sticky Fingers building

For dinner we went to Sticky Fingers, and Bob got a BBQ dinner and I got a half rack of Sweet Carolina Ribs. We had a coupon for a free Peach Cobbler that I picked up at the hotel, and I had one,

Free Peach Cobbler

but Bob got the fudge brownie instead.

Chocolate Brownie

Sign at night

November 6th - Middleton Place

I decided that we should visit at least ONE of the big plantations in Charleston - we hadn't been to any before this, primarily because they are so expensive. There are three of them on Ashley River Road - Magnolia, Drayden and Middleton. So today we went to Middleton Place which is the one that is farthest north toward Summerville. I think it is actually in North Charleston.

The road into the

Parking lot

was not paved and very bumpy. I knew there were

Carriage rides

and I thought there were also mechanical rides through the gardens, but I was mistaken about that. I didn't want to pay extra for the carriage ride, or to go in the house where I couldn't take photos, so we only got the basic ticket.

Ticket booth

entrance

Even that was a steep entry fee - $25 each.

I was primarily interested in the Mausoleum which the website said had several family members buried there and some of them were historic characters. We walked in past the reflecting pool with its pair of mute swans,

reflecting pool

and up the side of the

Greensward

.

#9 is the Mausoleum

The oldest was Mary Williams Middleton who was an heiress - she brought Middleton (not named that then, of course) to Henry Middleton as her dowry. Her tomb was used as the capstone of the mausoleum.

Mausoleum

The mausoleum had five residents -

Henry (who isn't buried here) was the President of the First Continental Congress. Their son Arthur was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His son Henry was the Governor of SC and a Minister to Russia.

Henry II's son Williams was a signer of the Ordinance of Secession. As a result of his activities on behalf of the south, the mansion was burned down. All that remains is a rebuilt wing.

Elizabeth, the daughter of Williams was the last of the Middletons to bear that name. When she died in 1915, she willed the estate to a cousin.

Self closing gate

Next we

walked across

to the main house -

Big tree stump

passing the

ruins of the original house on the way

You can see the

Ashley River

from here. We passed by the

Main House

and the restaurant

it was almost time for lunch, but I felt that the restaurant would be expensive.

Spider web - in the back, Bob reading the slave cemetery sign

We looked at the

slave cemetery

and came to the plantation stableyard and shops.

Middleton Sheep

I stopped to talk to the .

ladies who were weaving and spinning yarn from the wool of the Middleton sheep

The spinning lady asked where we were from and when I said Maryland asked if we were from anywhere near Patuxent River. We talked quite a bit - her sister was married to Jim Baker and she thought Bob might know him since he was two years ahead of Bob at the academy. But Bob drew a blank. As we were walking away, I stopped and went back and asked if her sister's children swam (I coached the base swim team). And of course that's who they were. Rob Baker didn't swim on the team but Pat, Mike and Steven did. Molly was the mom - her sister said that Mike had been recently killed in a helicopter crash, and that Steven was a vet. Our son didn't remember them (he was only four at the time), but I think our daughters should do.

Cat in the spinning and weaving shop

slave cabins

We also looked at the

Carriage House

Cooperage

And talked to the

Cooper

(who explained that since they were shipping rice which was a dry product, they didn't need to use the iron barrel staves like the ones done in Mystic),

Shop

the potter, and the stables where there were two off-duty

draft horses being fitted with harness.

They also had water buffalo who did better in the rice fields - Middleton was originally a rice plantation.

We walked back to the parking lot, and I took pictures of the sheep tracks and the horse hoof prints in the sandy road.

sand tracks

We decided to eat in the garden shop. We shared a

Chicken salad sandwich with pecans ($6.00)

, and Bob got a Sprite to take his pills with and I drank the water that I had with me, and had a

Vegan cookie

After we left the plantation, we stopped by the

Ashley Baptist Church

to take some pictures to document the graves in the cemetery for the internet grave site.

Concrete slab with imbedded funeral home marker (inexpensive)

We went to our son's for dinner and had hamburgers and chicken.

Grandson in his work T-shirt

Bob with one of their cats

Son and granddaughter

Daughter-in-law

Grandson with black kitten

They also got me a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday.

Birthday cake

November 7th

On the AAA map there is a big cemetery marked behind the shopping center across the street from the motel, but I couldn't find it. But there was another one which was in a tiny circle in a development off Route 78, so we went out to see if we could find it - and DID find it. It was enclosed by a wall in the center of the circle.

Wall around the cemetery

Iron gate on one end

There were only 19 markers there, and there was no cemetery name. I could not find any mention of this cemetery anywhere, nor of the two main names of the people buried there (Peters and Finucan).

Finucan wife

There was one touching memorial to a little boy named George Stewart who died of diphtheria in Summerville in 1870.

George Stewart's gravestone

After that we had lunch at

Ye Old Fashioned Ice Cream and Sandwich Cafe.

I had special #4, which was a bowl of soup (I picked )

chicken noodle

a toasted cheese sandwich, a drink and

one scoop of ice cream

for $7.14. Bob had a

Stuffed egg salad sandwich

For dinner we went up to our son's house and picked our daughter in law up and then drove to our son's work.

Work shop

After we looked around there, we went to the big Oyster Roast that was put on by the Charleston trucking companies. Our son's boss pays for all his employees and their wives to go, plus his customers. They have hot dogs for those who don't like oysters, but the main items are scalded oysters and beer. Bob said he had never had scalded oysters before. They steamed or scalded the oysters in big wire crates

Container of oysters in front of steamers

and then they picked up the big crates at each end and dumped them out on plywood over trestles

Steam from the cooking as oysters are dumped out

You take an oyster knife and pry the oyster out of the shell, dip in cocktail sauce (if desired) and eat.

Freshly roasted oysters

Oysters for eating

I think I ate 3 or 4 dozen and Bob ate more than that. Our daughter in law didn't eat any oysters. She just talked to the other wives.

November 8

We breakfasted and checked out of the Sleep Inn

Summerville water tower near the Sleep Inn

Main Street Summerville

and headed out for Walterboro

Sign pointing to Walterboro