Friday, July 23, 2010

The Battery in Charleston


As night comes slowly and in a relaxed fashion to Charleston, quite often we would take walks at the close of the long, humid days along the Battery. 



This part of the historic district is situated on a peninsula where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers converge into the Atlantic Ocean.


During heavy rains this particular area often floods, due to the peninsula being situated very low, and the water becomes quite dramatic with high tides breaking upon the sea wall.

Walking along here on quiet evenings with a very soft breeze, looking out at the water, and taking in all the romance of the beautiful antebellum mansions softly lit from within, is a favorite pastime.

Crossing over to Battery Park among the huge oaks and palmettos is a nice way to end the day. Right on the waterfront, you can walk among the cannons, pass the gazebo and look at the views of Fort Sumter, but the main reason I come is to stroll by the southern mansions.



The Calhoun Mansion (where the film of The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, was filmed inside), is considered at the period that is was built in 1876 to be the, "Handsomest and most complete private residence in the South".




 Nevertheless, getting back to the Battery Park (known as the Battery), there is included here the White Point Gardens, which contains the promenade where many of the stately homes are. 


 It stretches along the peninsula edged by the rivers and during the Civil War it was a area for the placement of artillery.




     
One aspect of Charleston that caught our attention was the past history of pirates operating here. In White Point Gardens there is a monument that commemorates the hanging at this site of the pirate Captain Stede Bonnet  in 1718 and his fellow mates, to be followed one year later by the hanging of Richard Worley and his fellow pirates.



If you are in the city for a few days, there are a number of tours to choose from that quite late at night take you through cemeteries, and up and down the waterfront streets with fascinating tales of the daring pirates from a bygone era...

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