Moultrie, Headless Osceola & a Triangular Lighthouse

 Location: Buck Hall Campground (National Forest Service); on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway about 30 miles north of Charleston, South Carolina

Today is the fourth and last day at this campground. It is another National Forest Service campground so I'm getting it for half price with my Senior pass. It is close enough to explore Charleston but since I did that back on April 6, 2014, I was not interested in backtracking on the same exploration. The visit to Fort Sumter back then was great and I didn't want to tarnish that memory, so I stayed on the north side of the harbor this time.

This is from North Carolina. They have pretty good roads.

This is the road going into the small town of McClellanville. It is just down the road from the campground, and I had a hankering for some fresh shrimp.

There were 3 shrimp boats tied up when I got there in the early afternoon. There were two sides to their building, one for wholesale and the other retail. I went in and there were 4 women sitting at a table in the back cleaning shrimp. One came up to wait on me. I told her I was a traveling and had a hankering for some shrimp. I said it's just me so I only needed one pound. She said, "you travel by yourself"?, I said "yep, decisions are easier that way",,, she winked at me and said, "I like to travel." Nope, no hitchhikers, at least not yet. Now if she had been a redhead,,,,,oh, nevermind.

My shrimp frying station. The shrimp were large and delicious. You could easily tell they were freshly caught. That's my electric skillet on the bottom left. That is one of the best things I've bought for the RV. I use it for everything. I've made gumbo, chili, steaks, eggs, pancakes, etc. Easy cleanup. 

My campsite here at Buck Hall. I've been really happy with the campground, but I doubt I'll be back.

The weather just barely cooperated one more with a sunrise peeking through.

The campground is right on the banks of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. There isn't much commercial traffic on this part of the ICW but there sure are a lot of private boats and docks. 

I found a "thinking bench" along the canal, but the mosquitoes were pretty tough. I got lucky a couple times when the wind picked up and kept them off of me. 

I visited Fort Moultrie, which is one of the forts that fired on Fort Sumter to begin the Civil War. I think I'm getting burned out or a little jaded at visiting old forts. First there was Fort Macon a few days ago that I sort of blew off after seeing a documentary then the other day, I essentially did the same thing after just briefly wandering around Fort Moultrie. Their documentary was good enough that seeing the old fort was like an afterthought.

This is Fort Moultrie. I walked around it a little bit, but didn't take many pictures. I sure need to think about why I'm so jaded about the old forts.

 One thing that surprised me was the grave of the Seminole Indian, Osceola, located near the entrance to the fort. I remember learning about him in school but would be very surprised if the current generation has even heard of him. Osceola was a Seminole warrior and leader during the Second Seminole War when the U.S. was trying to relocate the Indians to the Oklahoma Territory. He was captured while under a white flag to discuss peace. The U.S. General that did that was looked down on because he brought shame not only to himself, but also to the country he represented. Osceola was brought as a prisoner to Fort Moultrie where he died under mysterious circumstances. He was 34 years of age. Some say he died of malaria, while others say it was a mysterious infection. The weird part of it all was that the attending physician, at the time of his death, cut his head off had it displayed in a medical museum. It was later sold and its whereabouts are unknown. I bet some of ya'll had to re-read that twice to make sure you read it right.

That's Osceola's grave on the right where his head-less body lies. The monument on the left is the Patapsco Monument. It commemorates the sailors on the U.S.S. Patapsco who lost them lives when the ship hit a mine in the Charleston Harbor during the Civil War. 

It's the strangest lighthouse I've seen but the triangular shape makes a little sense. There is also an elevator in the center.

 On my way to the Fort, I stopped by the Charleston Lighthouse on Sullivan Island. It is triangular shaped lighthouse with a steel girder interior and aluminum siding. It was built in 1962 and is the last major lighthouse built in the country. Its original daymark was red/orange and white but once the local residents say that color combo, they complained and had the color changed to its current Black and White. 

Looking back to the lighthouse from the beach walk

There isn't a parking lot to see the lighthouse, so you have to park along the public street. The lighthouse is one block from the beach area and there is a nice boardwalk/fabricwalk approach. It was a nice little walk and served as my "farewell" to the Atlantic Ocean. I doubt that I'll see her again.

Wow,,,his and hers thinking benches. (Nope, I ain't gonna make a comment that would get me in trouble, I've learned). This is also on the way to the beach. 

Really good timing on my part with a large container ship pulling out of Charleston Harbor. There were about 20 people on the beach and swimming. I talked with one lady who had her dog with her, she said, a shark attacked a dog in the water a few days ago. The dog was quick enough to escape but everyone is on edge and aware of the possibility now.
This will probably be my last look at the Atlantic Ocean. As I was looking out at the water and realizing that, it caused a sad, melancholy feeling  

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll be headed southwest to a city-owed campground in Georgia. Georgia will be my 11th state on this trip. The tow will be a little over 300 miles and I did that for two reasons. The first is South Carolina doesn't have many campgrounds of the type I like and the COE's they do have are closed for repairs. The second reason is it feels like I'm turning towards home. For the last 10 weeks I've been gradually getting farther and farther from home, but this next campground will be a little closer. My plan is to be back in Louisiana on July 1st. I'll stay for one month to see the kids, grandkids, doctors and mechanics then off to the big Forest River RV Rally in Goshen, Indiana around the middle of August.

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe I'll Cya down the road.