Charleston, SC - James Island County Park

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Charleston, SC - James Island County Park Camground

* Again the map is not showing this on the eastern seaboard where Charleston is.

Campsite # 34

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.Friday and Saturday -April 25 & 26. We left Huntington Beach listening to the waves and the birds and drove about 100 miles to get to Charleston, SC. First, we stopped off at Boone Plantation which is still a working farm. The drive into the plantation was like entering Tara in Gone With The Wind – the huge Oak trees with Spanish moss hanging over the driveway. It was beautiful and the trees were planted over two hundred years ago – there is even one tree that is over 600 years old. The gardens were beautiful and the grounds were so well kept. The house was interesting with a tour guide dressed up in a southern belle gown. We took a moving tour around the fields where they grow everything and saw the slave houses that are still standing. The most interesting thing was that North/South mini-series, Queen the mini- series after Roots with Halle Barry and best of all the Notebook was filmed here. We could just picture them here rowing out in the scene to see the birds!

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Charleston has really grown with more golf courses and huge developments with houses built out of brick. We are going to visit Fort Sumter tomorrow and downtown Charleston so will tell you more then. Justine had talked to Charleston recruiters at the Job Fair before we left and they told her that they have a big bunch of young teachers. It seems to be the place to go now and I can see why a number of my former high school classmates from South County have moved down here!

James Island County Campground – Charleston, South Carolina - $27 plus tax – Site 34 – water and electricity. This is the campground that we stayed at after reading great reviews about it on rvparkreviews.com The campground is very interesting. Nice bathrooms with activity center, miles of bike trails, camp store etc. The park itself has a number of fields and ponds for everything – dogs, kids, fishing, splash center etc. Our site was on a little pond with a fountain in it near the activity center. We had shade, palm trees, birds and a swing to sit and watch everything. There is even a local beach where if you stay at the campground you get free parking to go there. Very nice just make sure you follow the directions from the website not your GPS. They have a shuttle for a fee that takes you to Charleston Visitor Center (they even dropped us off at Fort Sumter), or to Folly Beach and they are quite close to a Piggly Wiggly and a Wal-Mart. Our first night here they even had some type of program with music going on in a field with everyone screaming etc but not out of control and ended around 10. Otherwise it is so quiet and peaceful here. Their festival of lights at Xmas time is very well known and campers come from all over to spend weeks staying in the park. They are open year round and are full most of the year.

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Our second day in Charleston was great. It was warm, sunny and a beautiful sky. We took a shuttle from the campground to downtown Charleston – just four of us and we were dropped off at Liberty Square to catch the 9 o’clock ferry to Ft. Sumter. The ride out was great and smooth sailing. The fort was interesting with a museum, flags and walls with the scars of the battle and even some of the ammunition still stuck in the walls. When we got back around noon we walked  to Meeting Street (which is the main and center street going through Charleston) to get to the visitors center and passed this great sandwich place called Kennedy’s – students, firemen, all types eat here. The place felt and looked like it belong in Greenwich. The food was fabulous! Very relaxing place and busy, busy, busy! We then went to the visitor center and walked from there down to Charleston’s historic district to see the houses and famous sites. We stopped at a farmer’s market on the way down and back – it had everything plus the girls from the College of Charleston which is downtown were lying around in their bikini’s so George enjoyed it very much. He even said there is not too much studying for finals going on. We saw the really quaint houses, beautiful gardens and streets that were adorable. Cobblestone streets, interesting restaurants, churches and museums. We walked and walked and walked and saw only one third of it before we had to head back to catch our shuttle back at 4. We saw Jestine’s Kitchen which I had read of its fabulous food for a reasonable price with jazz and pure southern décor. The line was around the block when we walked by both times. We came back on King Street with all its historic shopping stores and collapsed at the visitor center. Thank goodness we had water!. It was a great day and there is so much to see and do that we would need ten more trips to do it. When we got back George took a nap and I took a shower then went to the camp store to buy some ice cream. Riding bikes tonight and then will collapse and go to sleep. Leaving here tomorrow for Edisto Beach which is not more than 50 miles away.