GA and SC solo trip

Saturday, December 27th: My first was the Jepson Center for Contemporary art, part of the Telfair organization, just to see if there was something good there that I missed. I didn’t miss anything good. My next stop was the Telfair Academy art museum. They have a small collection of American and European paintings, the bird girl statue from the cover of the novel “Midnight in the garden of good and evil”, and a small collection of old silverware made in Savannah. It is not a big place. I didn’t spend more than an hour here. Then I had time for the Harper-Fowlkes house. My guided tour was just me, the guide, and two others. A lady lived there until 1985. Not included in the guided tour but open to participants was the basement, with a kitchen restored to the way it looked in 1844, and a room with an exhibit on the society of Cincinnati. Then I had time for the Green-Meldrim House. General William Tecumseh Sherman stayed in this house for 41 days from December 22, 1864 to February 1, 1865. Then I sat on a bench between the house and the Church that owns the house, for at least 10 or more minutes. At 3:30pm while on the bench I checked google maps to see if there was anything else open that I could squeeze in. I spent 50 minutes in the Webb Military museum. A guy who isn’t well known, spent at least 60 years collecting artifacts related to American involvement in wars starting with the civil war. The lady at the desk said the guy goes on e-bay every evening and that what is on display is about half of what he owns. I didn’t read everything. The place has multiple detailed anecdotes about individual soldiers.

Sunday, December 28th: I picked up my pre reserved rental car. I had picked the option for “Kia Rio or similar”. They gave me a Toyota Corolla. I reserved on booking.com. So far my credit card statement says the cost was $204.04 but booking .com says the cost is $125.65. My first stop was Fort Pulaski. I attended the talk by a volunteer. Then I saw the rooms on the perimeter of the fort. This is not a super huge place. The fort was started in 1829, built for 18 years, and never quite finished. Then I drove to Tybee Island Light house. I had time to climb to the top of the lighthouse, and see the restored light house keeper’s house and outbuildings. My next stop was the Tybee Island pier and the beach next to it. Then I returned the rental car at the airport in Charleston and got a ride to the Hostel. I spent 5 nights at Notso Hostel, at 156 Sprint Street. It worked ok. I had a private room. That’s what I paid for.

Monday, December 29th: My first stop was my pre reserved walking tour, at 9:45. Then I had time to go through the Charleston City Market while waiting for my pre reserved tour of the old reformed synagogue, at 2:15. I didn’t buy anything. After the synagogue tour, I realized I might have time to squeeze in the Gibbes Art Museum. Yes I did try to take breaks to sit on benches but I tried to not sit on a bench for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. There was an exhibit of miniature pencil and/or ink on paper portraits by Rembrandt, the Dutch artist who lived from 1606-1669. I was at the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam, in July 2019.

Tuesday, December 30th: My first stop was the boat ride to Fort Sumpter. The whole fort is not a huge place. They give you an hour there. Which is probably enough time. My next stop was the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon. They used to weigh imported goods here to figure out the tax. During the revolutionary war, the British imprisoned traitors in the basement. South Carolina representatives signed the declaration of independence here. Then I had time for the Old Slave Mart museum. They used to sell slaves here.

Wednesday, Dec 31st: My first stop was the Nathaniel Russell house-museum. The house has been marvelously restored to how it looked in 1808, when it was finished. My second house museum was the Aiken-Rhett house, built in 1820. Unlike the other house museums, this house is not being restored. It is just being preserved in its current semi-decrepit state. The carriage house has 2 rotting and rusting carriages that were pulled by horses. While waiting for the tour to start, I sat on a bench in a park across the road for 20 minutes; its not quite like I was rushing around all the time even though I fitted in 4 historic house-museums. My third house-museum was the Joseph Manigault house. This house didn’t have any out-buildings; the tour seems shorter and lacking compared to the first two houses. The house is well restored. It was built in 1803. The 4th and last house-museum I saw was the Hayward-Washington House, built in 1772. The tour was only an audio-guide. There was an outdoor garden and outdoor kitchen. The dining room table was completely set, with fake food. There were two pantry-closets converted into display cases with old dishes and artifacts found buried. The Then I walked o the park at the tip f the peninsula, where I saw a few fireworks in the distance across the wide river. Then I got a ride back to the hostel.

Thursday, New Years day, 2026: First, I got a ride to The Charleston Museum. Originally I didn’t think I would fit this place in. There was a lot of stuff to read. I skipped the natural history section. Then I got a ride to Middleton Place (plantation). I arrived about 1pm. I had time from two talks, the first about slavery at Middleton, the second on the Middleton family. Also I passed by the farm animals and the live-oak tree that is supposed to be at least a thousand years old.

Friday, January 2nd: My flights back to Detroit left from Charleston on time, at 1:05pm. On the way to Savannah, I got charged $35 for checking-in my partly-filled 24-inch long Jansport duffel bag with spare clothes, but when I checked the bag in, at the airport in Charleston, SC, at first the Delta agent was going to charge me $35, but then she waved the fee by somehow classifying the bag as something like a “carry-on bag”.

Thanks for the trip report, Mike! It sounds like you got to see a lot in the time you visited.

Happy 2026! What a carefully planned trip and what a great way to celebrate the end of 2025. Thank you for sharing!

I'm impressed that you made it to so many places. I'm on a mission to see the Revolutionary War sites here and we are going to the Heyward Washington House tomorrow.

For anyone who comes to Charleston and has a car, I strongly recommend that you drive North on Hwy 17 to Hopsewee Plantation. It closes mid Dec-mid Jan, so Mike L couldn't have gone there. It is the home of a signer of the declaration and is very interesting and you can have a delicious lunch at the tearoom. If you come in the summer, be warned that the mosquitoes there are so bad that they have complimentary insect repellent for your use. I would also suggest that you not wear a blue shirt as I read later that mosquitoes love this color and that was definitely my experience. I also think that Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island is much more interesting than Fort Sumter.

I applaud Mike's visit to the Old Exchange and Dungeon. I've made many trips to Charleston during my adult life and have lived here half the year for the past 4 1/2 years, but had never been there until recently and it is well worth a visit.

Boone Hall plantation in Mount Pleasant, SC, might have been another good plantation to visit. Google maps says it is a 23 minute drive from the hostel I stayed at, in Charleston.