Blooming Jasmine

We took a shuttle to historic downtown Charleston. As we passed a plantation, Boone Hall, you could see hundreds of flowers blooming. We picked the right time of the year, an intoxicating scent filled the air - Jasmine. You could see it climbing trellises, fences and tree trunks. It's a heavily scented white flower cluster. As we walked along a picturesque cobblestone street, it made me think of my grandfather, Patrick McGuire, who paved the streets of New York City with cobblestone. We strolled down Market Street's small shops. A very crowded area with stalls, almost like a flea market. I saw lots of stuff that I didn't know I needed but wanted. If I only had a car instead of a boat, I would have spent a fortune. They had hand made baskets starting at $15.00 to $500. After lunch at the Noisy Oyster we took a journey into the past. We went to a place called Ryan's Slave Market. This was an auction complex that housed the slaves that would be put up for sale. They would be washed, oiled and fed before being sold. I always thought that you could not put a price on human life but the views back in the 1850s were different. Slaves were valued anywhere from $50.00 to several thousand dollars; based on their skill, trade or beauty. The money that was spent here really shows me the wealth of pre-civil war south. Our final trip in Charleston was to Fort Sumter. You have to take a ferryboat to Fort Sumter, the last thing I wanted to do was get on another boat. This is where the Civil War began. South Carolina had seceded from the Union, yet Union forces still occupied Fort Sumter at the entrance of Charleston Harbor. The south wanted the fort vacated, the north refused. Troops of the Confederacy fired on the fort from nearby Fort Johnson. This was the start of a two day bombardment that resulted in the surrender of Fort Sumter by Union troops.