Yorktown

We had found a Good Sam RV site near Williamsburg but wanted to visit Yorktown as it was where in 1781, five years after the Declaration of Independence that Washington’s army combined and helped by the French, with their munitions and expertise managed to force the surrender of the British under General Cornwallis.

There is a Colonial National Historic Park with a Museum, a 15 minute film and then a road route past the Redoubts, siege lines and Battery sites.

It was the seventh year of the American War of Independence. The British still had hopes of subjugating the South with their army and navy.

This battle resulted in George III and the British Government to give up trying to subdue the Colonies and the Treaty of Paris in 1783 officially ended the hostilities.

Virginia War Museum

This museum was on our route after crossing into the state of Virginia. It had been started in 1923 as the American Legion Museum. The veterans from WWI provided many of the artifacts for the early collection. Hugh was keen to take some pictures of guns and tanks as his grandson Will has taken an interest in military armaments and war.

There was excellent displays starting with the Mexican Wars, then the War of Independence, then the Civil War and on to WWI, WWII, Korean and Vietnam.

There was an impressive display of armaments from not only the US but also enemy’s like the Nazis and the Taliban.

This is John McCain’s fathers uniform

This is a memorial to the 52 US Submarines that were lost with their approx 250 officers and over  3000 crew..

Interesting history of how local Militia were armed before the formation of armies.

A description of how the US became divided before the start of the Civil War.

Dash Cam of driving onto a ferry to the Outer Banks

This video is taken by the Dashcam. It records back about 15 seconds from when you press the button and then forward. I am not sure if it will load onto the Blog. The picture has loaded but I am not sure if it will play.

The Outer Banks

We drove to Cedar Island. It was a long day 513 KM - about six and a half hours of driving. However we had found that we could stay at an RV site (thanks to Passport America discount) at Cedar Island. 

The RV site was close to the ferry to the Outer Banks that we were able to get a reservation for 7 am the next morning. This day we had a two hour ferry ride to Ocracoke then another hour ferry to Cape Hatteras. It is a National scenic route. Wonderful sandy beaches and sand dunes where we stopped for lunch and walked on the beach. Many Kite surfers and even a windsurfer.  Clearly a holiday place. 

We ended up in the Kitty Hawk Rest Area where we will spend the night as either the RV sites were full or rather expensive. A lot of history particularly of the  Orville and Wilbur Wright site where they made their first flight. Also the site of Roanoke Island were Walter Raleigh first grew tobacco and also was a Freedman’s safe haven during the American Civil War. Although we missed visiting these we learned a lot at the Kitty Hawk Rest Area Museum. That is where I can access high speed Wi-Fi after it has closed by sitting out on the patio!

It is amazing how many shipwrecks have been recorded off the Outer Islands as is shown on one of these pics.

Charleston and RVing at James Island County Park

We spent three nights at James Island County Park. It was a superbly laid out and managed park with full hookups, spacious sites, paved biking trails, a climbing wall, a splash park etc.

It had been a great place from which to explore Charleston and surrounding in the Honda Fit. Each morning we went for a bicycle ride.

Charleston has a lot of history and we have visited the Museum and several eateries to eat particularly - fried oysters, shrimp and other fish.

On the last day we visited the Charleston Museum. More very interesting history of Charleston from the early settlers, to the civil war etc. Outside is a model of one of the submarines that took part in the Civil War. Charleston was subjected  to a siege during the Civil war and there is a special section on that.

Charleston seems a very prosperous city. I was told that Volvo has a car plant there. Google has a center.

Here are a few pictures to remember Charleston.

Middleton Place

We wanted to visit an ante bellum garden and house. Middleton Place House is all that remains of the grand three-building residence that was the home of the distinguished Middleton family. The main house that consisted of three buildings  and dates from the early 1700s was burned by the Yankees (Union Army - possibly the Sherman army). Henry Middleton was a wealthy owner of many rice growing, slave labored properties. He married  Mary Williams who acquired the land as a dowry.

They developed the gardens first - gardens that have many old trees and plants - oak, fir, camellia etc. There was an excellent guide for the gardens who was a botanist.

Henry Middleton served as President of the First Continental Congress. His son Arthur signed the Declaration of Independance as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. The second Henry Middleton served as a Governor and Congressman from South Carolina. This Henry’s son became a signer of South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession. Their portraits are in the remaining house as is much of their furniture and other historical pieces. Some pieces - like china and jewelry were collected in Europe. There is a full-length portrait by George Dawe of Tsar NIcholas I. Henry Middleton attended his coronation in August 1826.

Patriots Point

Hugh was keen to visit this naval museum. The main feature is the WWII aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10). It was built in 1943 in Newport, Virginia. The museum also includes the USS Destroyer Liffey which was part of the D-Day landings in Normandy and then went to the Pacific Theatre and was almost sunk by Kamikaze planes on on April 6th 1945. There is also the submarine USS Clamagore. We visited all three.

One of the best naval museums I have seen. Several video reconstructions of bombing and of action stations in a submarine.

On the USS Yorktown there were several separate tour routes that included Living and Working conditions, the engine room, the carrier rooms, the wardroom and the Hangar Deck. There was an Apollo 8 Mission exhibit (the Yorktown picked up the space capsule from the sea) and a Medal of Honor Museum (the Medal of Honor is similar to the Victoria Cross that Britain awards).

Fort Sumter

This was a must do site for our trip as it was where the first shot was fired in the American Civil War.
There is a half hour ferry ride to the site. We were fortunate that there was a stiff breeze in this hot weather.

South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union. It was shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been elected President of the United States. “A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery”. So said the declaration.

Fort Sumter’s construction by the Federal Government began in 1829 (32 years before the beginning of the Civil War). It was one of several forts that had been constructed along the East Coast of the US following the war or 1812 that the British had won.

When South Carolina was succeeding Major Robert Anderson moved his 85 man garrison into it from the center of Charleston on the day after Christmas in 1860.

The fort was in the center of a critical shipping way that would enable the prevention of shipping getting into Charleston.

The first shot fired by the Confederate army on April 12th 1861 was followed by heavy bombardment that meant that Major Robert Anderson abandoned the fort within about 48 hours.

Later in the war in 1863 the Union Navy with their ironclads made several attempts to recapture the fort. It was not until General William T Sherman’s troops advancing north from Savannah that the Confederates evacuated Fort Sumpter on February 17th 1865. By that time the Fort was in ruins.

Savannah

We spent a couple of hours in Savannah as tourists and to have a coffee . Could have spent longer. A very attractive waterfront. We then crossed over a spectacular bridge into South Carolina. We were a day ahead of ourselves and stopped at Lake Aire RV Park (Passport America rate) in time to do laundry and have a swim in the pool. Temperature was around 92F or about 33C. Glad to have the air conditioning on.  Here are some pictures of Savannah. There were many small shops along the waterfront - that I did not get a picture of - in the old buildings which were likely built in the late 19th century.

Two more Georgia State Parks and Hugh’s arrival

I have decided that Georgia State Parks are much more preferable to the usual RV parks.  The camp sites are spread out and they are very well maintained. I spent two nights at Hard Labor Creek State Park - another park constructed with the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and continually improved since then. Hugh arrived on the Saturday night at Atlanta and on Sunday we booked into Skidaway Island State Park at Savannah. We were very lucky to find a bike store open and Hugh was able to purchase a used trail bike. The following morning we had an enjoyable trail ride down nature trails at the park.