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Fort Sumter National Historical Park, Charleston, South Carolina

2026-02-062026-02-05 by Martin

We visited the Fort Sumter National Historical Park in mid-December 2025 while staying at the Thousand Trails Oaks at Point South RV Park in Yemassee, South Carolina just under an hour and a half away.

Fort Sumter is one of 40 fortifications that were built following the War of 1812 and up to the start of the American Civil War. These forts are collectively known as the Third System of Seacoast Defense. Today, Fort Sumter is an incomplete sea fort near Charleston, South Carolina, where the battle that sparked the American Civil War took place. Built on an artificial island at the entrance of Charleston Harbor, it remained unfinished on April 12, 1861, when attacked by Confederate Forces and greatly damaged. Efforts at rebuilding after the civil war never completed the fort’s original plan, but since the middle of the 20th century it has been open to the public and operated by the National Park Service.

Fort Sumter Tours provides access to Fort Sumter via their frequent boat service. The boat trip took about 40-minutes each way and we had about 1-hour on the island to see Fort Sumter. There are two departure locations for the tours: Fort Sumter Visitor Center at Liberty Square in downtown Charleston, and the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum on the opposite side of Charleston Bay. We decided to book our trip from the Patriots Point location because of the ample parking at that location compared to the Visitor Center.

As well as being the departure point for the Fort Sumter boat, Patriots Point also has the World War II aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown as its centerpiece. In addition to the USS Yorktown, Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum has a fleet of National Historic Landmark ships, the Cold War Memorial, the only Vietnam Experience Exhibit in the U.S., the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and the agency’s official Medal of Honor Museum.

On our arrival at the Fort, one of the Park Rangers gave a brief presentation on its history. Most famously, Fort Sumter is notable for two battles, the first of which began the American Civil War. The First Battle of Fort Sumter began on April 12, 1861, when South Carolina Militia artillery fired from shore on the US Army garrison. These were (both sides agreed) the first shots of the war. The bombardment continued all day, watched by many happy civilians. The fort had been cut off from its supply line and surrendered the next day. Major Robert Anderson took the flag with him as they evacuated.

The Second Battle of Fort Sumter (September 8, 1863) was a failed attempt by the Union to retake the fort, dogged by a rivalry between army and navy commanders. Although the fort was reduced to rubble, it remained in Confederate hands until it was evacuated as General Sherman marched through South Carolina in February 1865.

A widely announced “End of the War” celebration took place at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1865, which leads some to now claim that the Civil War started and ended at Fort Sumter. The now-Major General Anderson, though ill and retired, came to the ceremony and raised the flag. The assassination of President Lincoln, which occurred on the evening of that date, almost immediately overshadowed the festivities.

A massive concrete blockhouse-style installation, currently painted black, was built in 1898 inside the original walls, armed with two 12-inch M1888 guns, one on a disappearing carriage. Named “Battery Huger” in honor of Revolutionary War General Isaac Huger, it never saw combat. This battery was deactivated in 1947, and in 1948 the fort became Fort Sumter National Monument under the control of the National Park Service.

Our boat tour gave us about an hour at Fort Sumter, which was just about enough to tour the Fort and small museum that is located in one of the buildings. The park rangers were very knowledgeable in providing information on the history of the fort. It was interesting to see mortar shells from the Civil War still imbedded on some of the walls around the fort. Much of the original brickwork was destroyed during the Civil War battles and was not rebuilt. The bricks were manufactured locally, mostly by enslaved people, and you could still see finger prints of the original brick makers in some of the surviving bricks.

As part of the original construction, cavities in the brick walls were filled with “tabby concrete” which is visible in many areas where the original brickwork has been destroyed. This is a type of concrete made by burning oyster shells to create lime, then mixing it with water, sand, ash and broken oyster shells. The shells are still clearly visible in the exposed concrete that is still in place.

We had recently visited many Civil War sites on our east coast travels, and it was particularly interesting to visit Fort Sumter as the site where the Civil War started.

Pictures from our visit are included below. Click on the thumbnails for the full size images.

Savannah, Georgia

2026-02-01 by Martin

We visited the historic city of Savannah in mid-December 2025 while staying at the Thousand Trails Oaks at Point South RV Park in Yemassee, South Carolina just under an hour away

We decided to book a day pass on Old Town Trolley Tours to tour around the city. We parked at the visitor center in downtown Savannah which had a very reasonable hourly rate and boarded the shuttle at the nearby stop. The hop-on-hop-off trolley tour has 16-stops throughout the old town area. During our visit we rode on several different trolleys as we “hopped on and off” to walk around various areas of the city. The drivers of the trolleys all provided informative commentary about the history of the city, its buildings, and people as we travelled around.

Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia, and was the capital of the colonial Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Savannah’s downtown area includes the Savannah Historic District, its 22 parklike squares which are laden with monuments, live oaks for that iconic Southern-Gothic feel, and the Savannah Victorian Historic District. It is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the U.S., designated by the federal government in 1966, and largely retains the founder James Oglethorpe’s original town plan, a design known as the Oglethorpe Plan.

Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) with an enrollment of 18,000 students now plays a large roll in restoring and supporting the city. SCAD’s efforts to work with the city of Savannah to preserve its architectural heritage include restoring buildings for use as college facilities, for which it has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Historic Savannah Foundation and the Victorian Society of America. The college campus includes 67 buildings throughout downtown Savannah, many of which are on the 22 squares of the old town.

We enjoyed walking around various areas of the city in between our rides on the Trolley. We stopped for lunch at the 30-acre Forsyth Park that was established in 1841 and is the oldest public park in the city. We strolled around the park with its lush lawns and tree-lined promenades with a large memorial and some statues in the center. We bought sandwiches at a store that bordered the park and enjoyed a nice picnic lunch at one of the park benches.

We can recommend the Trolley tour as a great way to see and learn about the city. We particularly enjoyed the architecture and the many historic squares throughout the city with their iconic canopy of live oaks decorated with Spanish moss.

Pictures from our visit are provided below. Click on the thumbnails for the full size images.

Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

2026-01-23 by Martin

We visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial just outside the town of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina while staying at the OBX Campground and RV Park in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina just a few miles down the road.

The 428-acre park is situated on the Outer Banks, a chain of barrier islands along the Atlantic Coast. This park, established in 1927, is the site where Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first airplane flights in human history. They had three criteria for their flight testing location: wind, sand, and isolation, all of which could be found in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

We started our visit at the visitor center. There was a very nice display and timeline showing the history of Orville and Wilbur Wright’s annual summer visits to Kitty Hawk that started in 1900. It was during these annual summer visits that the two brothers, bicycle makers from Dayton, Ohio, initially developed non-powered (glider) flight, and then moved on to powered flight. The visitor center had some very interesting displays including tools that the brothers would have used, and a recreation of a small wind tunnel that they designed and built to test different wing profile designs. The visitor center also has a full size replica of the Wright Brother’s aircraft “The Wright Flyer” in front of large picture windows that overlook the site of their first flights and the Wright Brothers monument on the nearby dune. It was interesting to learn about the Wright Brothers systematic engineering approach to solving the problem of powered flight, and how in doing so, their experiments proved wrong some of the prevailing aerodynamic theories of the time.

The site of the first flights is just outside the visitor center along with replicas of their workshop/living quarters, and aircraft hangar. Markers show the take-off and landing points of the first four successful powered flights in human history made on December 17, 1903. The longest of the three flights was 852-feet in length and lasted 59-seconds.

We walked to the large stabilized sand-dune known as Big Kill Devil Hill at the far end of the park with its huge stone monument to the Wright Brothers. Thousands of times, the brothers trekked up this and three nearby dunes to conduct glider experiments. These efforts paid off as they mastered their flying skills and refined their flight controls that would help with their later powered flights.

The design of the granite monument features an Art Deco style which highlights bold geometric shapes. A notable part of the monument is the inscription that reads, “In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright. Conceived by genius. Achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith.” The monument also features curved, wing-like designs on either side and a lit beacon at the top which functions similarly to a lighthouse. The Memorial started construction in 1928 and was dedicated on November 19th, 1932, with Orville in attendance as well as prominent aviators and politicians of the time. Today the monument continues to sit atop Big Kill Devil Hills as one of the highest points in the Outer Banks.

Located to the south of Big Kill Devil Hill, a life size sculpture represents the Wright brothers’ first flight. Dedicated in 2003 as a gift from the State of North Carolina, the bronze and steel sculpture reenacts the historic first flight. Orville pilots the machine, Wilbur runs alongside, and the witnesses who assisted with the flights that day look on and cheer.

The Wright Brothers National Memorial was an interesting visit to an iconic site in the history of powered flight and had a very informative visitor center. We were able to walk around the entire site in a few hours.

Pictures from our visit are provided below. Click on the thumbnails for full size images.

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

2026-01-21 by Martin

We visited Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia in mid-November 2025 while staying at the Thousand Trails Williamsburg RV Park about 10-miles away. There was so much to see on the 300-acre site we visited twice about a week apart. We started our visits at the visitor center which is located about a mile away from the historic district, with both a shuttle and walking trail that takes you to the historic district and back. During our visits we took both the walking trail and the shuttle bus on different occasions.

Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in Williamsburg, Virginia. Its 301-acre historic area includes several hundred restored or recreated buildings from the 18th century, when the city served as the capital of the colonial era Colony of Virginia. The district also includes 17th-century, 19th-century, Colonial Revival, and more recent structures and reconstructions. Costumed employees work and dress as people did during the colonial era. The costumed employees provide tours and presentations at the various major buildings as well as working and demonstrating in the various trades shops scattered throughout the site.

Both the shuttle bus and walking trail enter the historic district near the Governor’s Palace at the north end of the site. We took a guided tour of the Governor’s Palace which included most of the main rooms. The guide provided interesting historical context about the building and its history, particularly in relation to the events around the revolutionary period of the 18th century. We walked south along the green belt known as the Palace Green towards Duke of Gloucester Street which is the main East-West thoroughfare through the historic district. It is bounded at the West end by William and Mary College, and at the East end by the Capitol Building.

There were a lot of things to visit along Duke of Gloucester Street including historic homes, stores, and workshops. We made our way to the east end of the street, visiting various places along the way. At the east end of the street, we reached the reconstructed Capitol Building. We took a self-guided tour of the building that included period-costumed presenters in various rooms who talked about the history of the building and the events that took place there. Most notably, this building was the home The House of Burgesses, the lower branch of colonial Virginia’s General Assembly, elected by property-owning voters throughout Virginia. Having first met in Jamestown in 1619, the Burgesses gathered in the Williamsburg Capitol from 1705 until 1776. Many of Virginia’s leading revolutionaries, including Peyton Randolph, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry, served as Burgesses.

Allen remembered visiting Colonial Williamsburg on a 7th Grade school trip. He had some general memories of the town and buildings, and a specific memory of having beef and barley soup for lunch at the Kings Arms Tavern. We decided to have lunch there on our visit some 45-years later, and enjoyed a good lunch based on colonial era recipes. During lunch, we were entertained by a minstrel who sang and played a period guitar as well as telling stories about some of the period songs and tavern-life from the 18th century.

The Historic Trades and Skills community at Colonial Williamsburg uses 18th-century tools and techniques to apprentice in and eventually master more than 20 historic trades and skills. The trades shops help produce materials and equipment that are used in the ongoing restoration of Colonial Williamsburg and demonstrate their skills in period workshops scattered throughout the site. We visited several trade shops including a furniture maker, tinsmith, and blacksmith. They all talked about how the shops would have operated in the revolutionary era, and showed examples of their work, all prepared using period tools and equipment.

There was a lot to see and do at Colonial Williamsburg, and you could easily spend several days visiting multiple buildings and taking tours. We were able to see all of the main buildings and walk around all of the historic district during our two visits.

Pictures of our visits are provided below. Click on the thumbnails for the full size images.

We visited George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate while staying at the nearby Pohick Bay Regional Park in Lorton, Virginia about 12-miles away.

We started our visit at the visitor center, where we attended a virtual presentation of the home and its main rooms. The majority of the home was closed during our visit for renovations, so the virtual presentation took the place of the home tour. Even though the home was closed there was plenty to see as we walked around the estate including expansive views along the Potomac River, out-buildings, gardens, a pier on the Potomac, and a farm area.

The building began as a one and one-half story house built in 1734 by George Washington’s father, Augustine Washington, and received its well-known name from his half-brother Lawrence Washington. George Washington began running Mount Vernon in 1754, and over the next 45 years slowly enlarged the dwelling to create the 21-room residence we see today. Washington oversaw each renovation, advising on design, construction, and decoration, despite being away much of the time. Conscious that the world was watching, Washington selected architectural features that expressed his growing status as a Virginia gentleman and ultimately as the leader of a new nation. The estate contained 8,000 acres when George Washington lived there.

As we walked around the outside of the home and outbuildings it was fascinating to see how the wood siding had been shaped and painted to have the appearance of stone. There were several gardens near the home including formal gardens, a kitchen garden, and an orchard as well as a large greenhouse next to the upper gardens.

In 1858 the now run-down and dilapidated building and 200 acres of surrounding land was purchased by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association (MVLA) for $200,000 with the intention to preserve George Washington’s residence and to prevent its sale to land speculators. The MVLA became the nation’s first historic preservation organization, as well as one of the first national women’s organizations. Mount Vernon opened to the public in 1860, and renovations and refurnishing of the building continued over the next few decades. Between 1868 until 1891, the MVLA furnish each room in the Mansion. Eighteenth-century pieces were to be used wherever possible, with more recent Greek Revival and Victorian furnishings filling the gaps. Many decades would pass before the MVLA could furnish all rooms with original Washington pieces or very similar examples.

Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still owned and maintained in trust by the MVLA, being open to the public daily in recognition of George Washington’s 1794 acknowledgement of public interest in his estate: “I have no objection to any sober or orderly person’s gratifying their curiosity in viewing the buildings, Gardens, etc. about Mount Vernon.”

We had booked a table at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant which is near the visitor entrance on the estate grounds, and we took a break to eat lunch during our visit. The restaurant promotes its menu as featuring “the flavors of early America”. We found there to be a great selection to choose from to suit all diets and preferences and thoroughly enjoyed our meal in the historical stylings of the restaurant dining room.

When we booked our tickets, we signed up for the 60-minute “Enslaved People of Mount Vernon Tour”. Our small group was led by an expert tour guide as we explored the lives and contributions of the enslaved community who built and operated Mount Vernon. In 1799, more than 300 slaves lived and worked on the five farms that made up Washington’s 8,000-acre plantation. We learned about their daily life, and visited the slave quarters to view reproduction clothing, tools, furniture, cookware, ceramics, toys, and personal.

Following his death on December 14, 1799, George Washington’s remains were placed in a family vault on the hillside overlooking the Potomac River. Washington knew this site would not be tenable for much longer and stipulated in his will that a New Tomb be constructed below his orchard. In 1831, the remains from the old family vault, including those of General and Mrs. Washington, were moved to their current resting place, which we visited as we walked from the home, through the orchard and towards the Slave Memorial.

The Slave Memorial at Mount Vernon was designed by students attending the architectural school at Howard University. It was dedicated and opened to the public on September 21, 1983, and sits within the burial grounds for those enslaved and a few free Black Americans who worked at Mount Vernon in the 18th and 19th centuries. The memorial is located approximately 50 yards southwest of George and Martha Washington’s tomb, on a bluff above the Potomac River.

We visited the pier and wharf on the Potomac where visitors to Mount Vernon would have arrived along the river and followed the path around to the farm area of the estate with its 16-sided barn located at one end. The farm area provides a small representation of the more than 3,000 acres Washington cultivated during the second half of the 18th century across four different farms. The original 16-sided barn was built in 1792 on Mount Vernon’s Dogue Run Farm by enslaved craftsmen. The barn was the center of a complex that included two corn houses and two stables housing approximately 20 animals who worked in the barn. The barn was reconstructed in 1996 in accordance with the original plans and specifications that Washington sent to his carpenter.

The brilliance of the 16-sided treading barn was taking the most efficient method of processing horsepower/treading and moving it under cover. The other unique quality of the barn was its two-story structure with one-and-a-half-inched gapped floorboards on the top level where an acre’s worth of wheat could be laid down for horses to trot on. The horses were led up the ramp and immediately put into a trot for 30 to 45 minutes. Their hooves knocked 90 percent of the seed from the top of the stalk down through the floorboards to the clean wooden granary floor below. Only 10 percent of the straw escaped through the floorboards, keeping 90 percent of that waste on the treading floor. Once the seed had fallen to the granary floor below, it was swept up, and the seed was separated from the chaff in a process called “winnowing.” At that point, the grain was either stored or transported to Washington’s gristmill for processing into flour.

Our visit to Mount Vernon offered a fascinating glimpse into the life of George Washington and his family, in particular his life as a landowner and farmer as well as a great Statesman and General.

Pictures from our visit are provided below.