Eric Fitzpatrick watercolor inspired by Charleston

Cruise, food good deals in Charleston

By HELEN FITZPATRICK

             My South Carolina genes keep kicking in, sending me to Charleston again, and it was the best trip ever!

              Son Eric and I left April 1 from Roanoke in 40-degree weather with fog covering the mountains as we drove toward Rocky Mount. Instead of clearing, the mist continued to cover those fine North Carolina highways where the median strips were already prepared for spring planting.

              Our route Charleston was different from the one we took last time. Eric has a Garmin NUvi navigation system, and a man’s voice, tinged with a British accent, kept telling us where to go, how to turn. We named him “Reginald,” and it was hard for me not to talk back to him.

              Winston-Salem and Charlotte were also shrouded in fog so we could barely make out the beautiful downtown buildings. We passed three huge vineyards and lots of churches with crosses draped in white cloth, symbolizing Jesus’ resurrection. The first blooming dogwood came near Columbia, when we also spotted semicircles of palm trees in the medians.

              From Orangeburg south, we began to note blooming azaleas, wisteria, tong-needled pines and some Spanish moss. Soon in Charleston, we found our King Charles Inn on Meeting Street, unpacked, and got a quick meal at the Wentworth Grill in the Renaissance Hotel nearby. People on the street were in shorts and summer dresses. It was wonderfully warm.

              The second day, we decided to take the harbor cruise while the weather was sunny. Eric bought combination tickets for us ($31 each), which gave us the boat and carriage ride. We sailed on “The Carolina Belle” with Captain Bobby. He was a grand narrator and pointed out all the historical sites, as well as the gannets -- birds that flew down several weeks ago from inland. Gannets are huge and resemble seagulls, but dive like pelicans. We also watched a dozen dolphins surfacing, one showing off right in front of a huge container ship that was plowing alongside us in the bay. Two hours took us along the port, by many inhabited islands, by Fort Sumter, the aircraft carrier Yorktown, under the beautiful Ravenel Bridge and back again.

              Lunch was atop the Grill 225 building across from the Custom House. It was a never-to-be-forgotten experience, tables set up under umbrellas, a swimming pool, and an unbelievable view of the water. We watched 11 sailboats in a regatta, plus a three-master, which was so beautiful.  

              After lunch, we took a brief walk through the famous Market and watched Gullah women weaving baskets from sweet grass. They learned this process through their ancestors who came from Africa. The market is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, having been opened in 1807. We learned that slaves had never been sold there, only fruits, vegetables and flowers and meats, whose scraps attracted turkey buzzards, nicknamed “Charleston Eagles”.

              Across the street from the market, a shop sold hand-mixed ice cream, so we had cones for dessert. We also saw an intriguing sight, a telephone pole decorated with hundreds of globs of chewed bubble gum. Of course, we had to buy some gum and add ours to the pole.  

              That evening, we dined at the FIG Restaurant where. I had artichoke soup, and Eric had portabella mushrooms with ravioli. He finished with an Olive Oil cake that was delicious and different. I ordered a rhubarb/strawberry crisp with honey ice cream. We tried to walk our dinner off, but finally drove down to the Battery to watch the tempestuous water. A storm was headed in, and the wind was whipping up big white caps.

              The storm continued through the night, and when we woke, it was raining steadily. Due to inclement weather, we decided to visit the South Carolina Aquarium. We spent three hours there seeing displays that led us from the mountains down to the ocean. We began at the Blue Ridge Mountains exhibit where live otters playfully dived into a tank of cold water, fed by a waterfall. They were adorable, swimming and sitting up to be fed by the staff. Children and adults were allowed to feel a pelt of otter hair that is so dense water never reaches the otter’s skin. (Otters have more than 160,000 hairs per square inch on their bodies, more than we humans have on our entire bodies.)

              The next exhibit took us to the Piedmont, where we observed life supported by streams, including mountain trout. We learned that increasing water temperature will kill that kind of fish, and the insects they feed upon. They need clean, cold water to thrive. Then, it was on to the Coastal Plain, where we saw fish, reptiles, amphibians and plants that make their homes in swamps and marshes. From there, we walked through The Saltmarsh, an outside exhibit where we saw giant blue herons, American alligators and various fish. Sea horses and turtles are among the animals that inhabit the Coastal Plain.

              At last, we reached the best show of all, the Great Ocean Tank known as GOT. It is the tallest tank in North America, 42 feet high, and holds 385,000 gallons of water. There are more than 400 animals in this tank with walls made of 18-inch-thick clear acrylic, manufactured in Tokyo. Three divers were feeding the fish while we watched. They wore steel mesh gloves, and even so, when they squeezed little white pieces of food into the water from a tube, they quickly hid their hands under their arms. We were mesmerized by the many kinds of fish, especially sharks, puffer fish, a loggerhead sea turtle and a magnificent (but scary looking) Moray eel.

              Tickets to the aquarium were $17 apiece, which was a bargain.

              Hungry, we headed for the Magnolia Uptown/Down South Restaurant, highly recommended. It is obviously an old building that has been restored. Black pillars in the center of the dining room are wound with black metal vines that end in flowers at the top. Paintings of magnolia blossoms adorn the walls, and the service is marvelous. The menu is loaded with Lowcountry classics.

              Having had a late lunch, we chose a place close to our inn for a light supper, but there is no such thing in Charleston We enjoyed Jestine’s kitchen, which features traditional Southern cooking with lots of fried entrees and sides of homegrown vegetables like black-eyed peas, okra, fried green tomatoes, macaroni and cheese and corn fritters. The restaurant was featured as one of the best roadfood places by writers Jane and Michael Stern of www.roadfood.com. No wonder there is always a line of people waiting to get in there!

              The next day was cloudy, but no rain so we found the Old Towne Carriage Ride stable and mounted a surrey with a fringe on top. Our guide’s name was Fran, and her horse was Duke. They took us on a beautiful two-hour trip of much loveliness (houses and gardens). My favorite area was the Battery, where many mansions are for sale, which says something about today’s economy.

              Lunch was at The Noisy Oyster, a great restaurant near the Market. We got a table by a huge open window and had a waiter from Haiti, who is trying to make enough money to bring his family here. Of course, I had to drink sweet tea, being in the South. We chewed more bubblegum after dinner so we could contribute more to the pole outside.  

              Temperatures were in the 80s in the afternoon, so we drove over the Ravenel Bridge to Mount Pleasant to get some air and a Coke, and then came back to the Battery where we sat on a bench near the statue of Gen. William Moultrie and watched the tourists. This area is known as the White Point Garden or “Oyster Point.” An oyster bank was exposed at half tide, thence the name. It has been the site of many fortifications, and remnants of these are there in the form of cannons and mortars. There are two monuments in the park, the one of Moultrie that overlooks the harbor and the fort that bears his name. The other is of a Mr. Johnson, a soldier during the Civil War who climbed over a huge wall to retrieve a Confederate flag that had been shot down. He was said to have shouted, “We cannot fight without our flag!”

              We spent the remainder of the afternoon driving through streets of magnificent homes, and onto some streets that are made out of ballast of English ships. This led us to Waterfront Park where you can sit on benches or on porch-style swings on the pier and enjoy watching children playing in the lovely fountains. This area was created after a huge fire destroyed a long dockside. Supper that night was at Poogan’s Porch. As a visitor there remarked, “Only in the South would they name a restaurant for a dead dog.” The food was superb. 

              Our last night in Charleston was exciting as the town was preparing for Cooper River Run when 40,000 peoples were expected to participate. We saw the first runners come down to the finish line before we left.

              Next time, we hope to visit the nearby gardens. There will be a next time because Charleston has so much to do. The city makes for a fine short get­away.

              For more information on Charleston, visit www.charlestoncvb.com and www.scaquarium.org. 

              Helen Fitzpatrick is a freelance writer living in Roanoke; her frequent travel companion, son Eric Fitzpatrick, is an artist, www.fitzpatrick-art.com.

Trip to Blowing Rock treats body and soul
By Helen Fitzpatrick

Writer Helen Fitzpatrick at The Inn at Crestwood with daughter-in-law Luann and son Eric Fitzpatrick; son Broaddus, husband of Luann, was the photographer.

On a drizzly foggy morning in October, two sons, a daughter-in-law, and I left promptly at 9 a.m. on a jaunt to Blowing Rock, N.C.. We headed south on Interstate 81, alongside an unbelievable number of trucks.
    We detoured through Chilhowie, where we enjoyed Halloween decorations of corn stalks, straw bales and pumpkins. Next, we toured Saltville, “the salt Capital of the Confederacy.” It’s on the border of Smyth and Washington counties and provides a scenic drive through the mountains.
    Millions of years ago, Saltville was a shallow inland saltwater sea. As years rolled by, the salt in the valley left veins and caverns of salt. During the Ice Age 10,000  to 20,000 years ago,  mammals such as Mastodons and Wooly Mammoths lived there. That is why the townspeople have a Wooly Mammoth Day each year, when lifesize mobile models of a mother and baby mammoth are in a parade.
    I understand they spray water from their trunks, make elephant-like sounds, blink their eyes and move their legs and tails. “Wooly” competes with groundhog Puxatawney Phil, giving a week earlier pronostication of the weather ahead.
    We drove around numerous salt ponds or “wellfields,” where archaeologists have excavated many artifacts dating back almost 20,000 years. This area was the site of the second battle of Saltville (there were two Civil War battles here in 1864). An estimated 2,000 Southern troops held off an estimated 5,000 attacking Northern troops.
    We were intrigued with the name of one of many churches. It is called The Madam Russell Methodist Church and was named as a memorial to Patrick Henry ’s sister. Apparently, she exerted tremendous Christian influence, and is called “The Mother of Methodism.” We also saw steam locomotive No. 11, the oldest surviving Norfolk and Western steam engine in existence. There was a Saltville Shifter and an old N&W caboose on the tracks  close by.
    There is a house in Saltville built circa 1840 by the brother of J.E.B.Stuart. It was later the home of Robert Porterfield, founder of the world famous Barter Theatre. Northern soldiers used this home as their headquarters in December 1864 when they entered the valley and partially destroyed the salt works.
    In 1894, the Mathieson Alkali Works, a British company, began establishing chemical factories in Saltville using the salt reserves. This was the beginning of the chemical industry in our country. In 1972, Olin Matheison closed its plant with a loss of 1,000 jobs because of the pressure of new guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency. In 1970, EPA cited two former Olin properties as Super Fund Clean-Up spots, hoping to restore the environmental quality of the valley.
    Next, we drove through Glade Spring with well-manicured lawns, wreaths on
almost every door and lots of political signs touting the coming elections. (If Mr. Newman doesn’t make it for sheriff, he will have lost a lot of money on his ads!!) There was much tobacco curing in the open, out in the sun under plastic tenting.
    Damascus, known as “Trail Town USA,” was our lunch stop. The Virginia Creeper Trail comes through here. People bring bicycles (or rent them), load them on shuttle vans, which take riders to the ridge of White Top Mountain . . . then one can coast down the trail by creeks, waterfalls, outstanding scenery and snack shops. There were dozens of people on the streets doing just this.
    Soon, we crossed the Tennessee border, and riding beside a rippling stream, we saw lots of color in the trees for the first time. In front of a creekside home, decorated for Halloween, was a big sign saying “HAPPY FALL Y”ALL”! Next, we went through Mountain City, Tenn., a drive   that showed us huge old mansions and many beautifully landscaped gardens.
    When we arrived in North Carolina, we climbed slowly to Boone, home of Appalachian State University. The school ’s Homecoming was that day, and the streets were thronged with excited students heading for the football game. Streets in nearby Blowing Rock were crammed, too, as there was an Arts in the Park Festival. Main Street is charming with hanging baskets, colorful gardens, gift shops, attractive eating places, ice cream stores and a beautiful park.
    Following directions, we wound by the Moses Cone Lake, Trout Lake and on to our lodging, The Inn at Crestwood. The inn is situated deep in the woods and was originally a family home. We were housed in the Winterberry Villa, close by the main building. Wine and cheese were served on an impressive terrace. Brick was laid in a semi-circle surrounded by mountains, the most notable of which is “Grandfather,” which towered over our left side as we sat at copper colored tables. Later, we dined at Dominic’s Restaurant there, with 25-foot windows continuing the terrace view. That night was so cool we could open our windows for some good refreshing mountain air. Sound sleeping!
    The next morning, we attended the Rumple Presbyterian Church, organized in 1887. We celebrated World Wide Communion with that friendly congregation. The church began with seven members and was named for Dr. Jethro Rumple, who was instrumental in its founding. It is built of local stone, layered and complemented by chestnut where wood is needed.
    Luann, Broaddus and Eric led us to Kojay ’s, a small coffee shop that features delicious salads and sandwiches. Happily full, we headed for park benches overlooking Main Street and did a lot of people watching. On to “THE” Blowing Rock. It is an immense cliff, 4,000 feet above sea level, and hangs over Johns River Gorge. Legend has it that a Chicasaw Chief, fearful of a white man’s admiration for his lovely daughter, traveled a long distance to bring her to the Blowing Rock, in the care of a squaw nanny. One day, the girl spied a Cherokee brave wandering in the wilderness below and playfully shot an arrow at him. The flirting worked because he soon showed up before her wigwam, courted her and they became lovers.
    To the west, we could see Grandfather Mountain (the highest peak in the Blue Ridge chain), and Mount Mitchell (the highest peak east of the Rockies). We opted to drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway to the top of “Grandfather.” The drive is awesome, with vistas of red and gold, with fall asters coloring the road’s shoulders blue. The scenery was superb. Dinner that night was at Crippen’s Restaurant, which is elegant and charming. It is a five-star eating establishment, and guests are greeted warmly by the owner--- “Just call me Jim.” A favorite feature for me was a gifted pianist, who could play anything from Bach to boogie.

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