ANOTHER DAY IN CHARLESTON

This morning, instead of heading downtown, we drove to the Charleston Tea Plantation near the end of Wadmalaw Island. It was not far from our campground on James Island. It is America's only tea plantation, owned by Biglow Tea, and marketed under the brand of "American Classic Tea". A tour of the plantation showed how they harvested the tea leaves once every 21 days during the growing season, oxidized the leaves, broke them down, dried them, and turned them into the tea we drink. The entire operation requires three employees. The harvester is a unique American creation built from an old John Deere cotton harvester. The plantation is entirely organic. Tea plants are resistant to bugs and weeds are pulled by hand before the harvest. The machine is like a giant lawn mower that clips the plants at table height. It only takes the new growth each 21 days.

From the tea plantation, we headed out to the end of the road on the island. Here we found a nice spot for our lunch. While sitting here a brown pelican came towards us scanning for fish. The wind currents took him up over our dock. He cleared our heads by about 6 feet. It all happened so fast I couldn't even get the camera out.

In the background you can see a red roofed house. A sign along the road said "Fresh Shrimp". We drove to the end of a dirt road and found a couple of shrimp boats and the mooring dock. Large shrimp were $8 a pound so we got a bag full for our dinner. We dropped them off at the motor home and headed off for North Charleston to visit Historic Fort Moultrie.

One reason I wanted to go there was to get a chance to cross this unique suspension bridge. The only one I'd seen like it was in Germany. It's like a work of art with a purpose. Hopefully they can build something like this when they rebuild the Colombia River crossing in Portland.

The suspension cables are encased in plastic to prevent corrosion from salt air.

Fort Moultrie has been in existance since the Revolutionary war. It has been a guardian of the Port of Charleston through the War of 1812, The Civil War, The Spanish American War, World War I, and World War II.

Together with Fort Sumter, seen in the background where the flag is flying ships and boats were prevented from entering Charleston Harbor. During WWII it was part of the Coastal Defense system with cannons capable of shelling submarines lurking outside the harbor.

On the way back from the fort, we came across a wonderful farmer's market. We couldn't resist since this was the first market we have come across. We found organic strawberries, peas, and asparagus along with fresh baked bread, some Gouda cheese and tomatoes. Marlene whipped up a wonderful meal using shrimp sautéed in garlic and butter, rice, and asparagus. We topped it off with strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar. So ends a good day.