WPS Southern Heritage Tour
April 8-12, 2002
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Monday 6:00 AM came an hour early, with the change to daylight savings time We stopped only twice, the second time at a McDonald’s somewhere in We also learned that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a VERY long movie. |
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CharlestonWe arrived at Patriot’s Point and met out tour director, Frankie, a bit |
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Fort Sumter is operated by the National Park Service. |
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These aren’t the first cannons from the fort, but they are old. |
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To strengthen the fort for the Spanish American War, these cannon placements were filled with dirt and rubble. They were excavated in the 1950s. Archaeologists were surprised to discover that the cannons were still there. |
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TuesdayTuesday morning we had a nice breakfast at the hotel, then headed for Once in Charleston we discovered we had left one student and his mother |
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The best exhibit at the Charleston Aquarium was UFOs — Unidentified Floating Objects. Between the Tampa and Sydney Aquariums, I thought I’d seen pretty much everything, but there was some REALLY weird stuff in this exhibit.Here, Dani points at some very fanciful seahorses. |
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The salt marsh exhibit yielded few clues in filling out the curriculum. |
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Picking up slimy things.
We had a leisurely lunch at a food court outside the IMAX theater, then |
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Our next stop was the market in downtown Charleston. Originally deeded to the city for use as an open air food market, it is now a souvenir market with many interesting arts and crafts. |
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Student group shot. |
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Chaperones. |
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Hey! Where did everybody go? |
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The pirate walking tour. Our guide was fantastic. She really brought the story of Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard alive, including all the gory details. Roasted lips, anyone? |
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Dinner was at Bubba Gump’s (delicious garlic bread!)
After dinner we went on yet another walking tour. Scattered showers Back at the hotel it was nearly 10:00 pm. A few stalwart souls joined |
WednesdayAfter a nice breakfast we loaded our luggage onto the bus and set off |
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SavannahWe stopped at the Savannah visitors’ center to pick up our bus pass and We had lunch At a shop at the very end of the street I bought some At 4:00 |
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Dinner was at Fort Jackson, a Civil War era fortification located on the river downstream of Savannah. The students were greeted by three soldiers dressed in Civil War garb.They learned some basic field drills and then had dinner (fortunately chicken tenders, not salt pork). Afterwards, they were split into three companies, and cycled through three different presentations.Up on the wall, they learned about the role of blacks during the war, and inspected a fiberglass cannon used in the filming of Glory.Back on the field they learned about nineteenth century communications, and got to try their hand with semaphore flags. In the supply room they were shown what soldiers ate (yuck) and wore. The grand finale was the firing of the 12-pound field cannon. We learned |
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ThursdayThursday morning one of our buses broke down, so we had to transfer the Our first stop was the Railroad Museum, where we had a very entertaining and A circular building in the yard was a community shower. Excess steam |
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Next stop was Fort Pulaski. I was dubious that we could find a third fort in as many days interesting, but our National Park Service Ranger guide was funny, fascinating and really brought the place to life. When one girl asked what cause the impressive holes lining one wall of the fort he exclaimed, “Woodpeckers! We’ve got a terrible woodpecker problem here!”The fort, originally constructed prior to the revolution, was believed impregnable. Yet its wall was breached in just 36 hours, using a new cannon developed during the Civil War.It was quite exhilarating to be up on the railing-free wall. Particularly for those of us trying to keep the kids away from the edge. |
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Near Fort Pulaski is The Crab Shack, an unparalleled dive where we had some delicious crab, shrimp, mussels, and crawfish. Well, some of us did. Chicken and hotdogs won the popular vote. |
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We stopped briefly at the lighthouse on Tybee Island, but with the museum closed it hardly seemed worth the price of admission, so we walked along the beach instead. It was cool, with a stiff wind blowing, but no rain. Nearby was a great concrete structure, now the Shriners’ Hall. I wondered if it was originally a WWII era fortification or U-boat lookout station. There were no explanatory signs, but plenty of keep off warnings. |
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Dinner was on a river boat on the Savannah River. The group, wearing their school uniforms, posed on the River Walk in front of it prior to boarding. Quite a few of the kids were dragging from our busy schedule, and a few had colds or the flu, but there was still an enthusiast group doing karaoke after dinner.We were all definitely ready for bed by the time we got back to the hotel. |
FridayLuggage packed, continental breakfast, and onto the bus by 9:00 am, we One terrific multi-screen show put us in the seats of a B-17 mission, On the way home I handed out some Weird At last the six hour bus ride was over. A cheer went up as we pulled into |
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We learned a tremendous amount on the trip. The students learned about everything from the Civil War to World War II, with stops in Antarctica and under the ocean along the way. The adults learned a few things, too, particularly about keeping track of students. I think everyone had a great time, but I also know we’ll all be happy to be home in our own beds, for a loooong night’s sleep.Steve Alcorn April 2002 |