Fort Sumter was built in 1829. It is an island at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, and perfectly positioned to defend Charleston from invaders coming from the Atlantic. The island is man-made. They sunk 70,000 tons of granite plus bricks from local plantations to create the foundation of the island.
This is Fort Sumter from the ferry. It’s a man made island.
In April 12th at 4:30 am, 1861 Confederate canons began firing at Fort Sumter and the War Between the States began. With the 47th shot Private Daniel Howe became the first casualty of the war.
To get to Fort Sumter, we had to take a 30 minute ferry ride out to the island. We had the sweet privilege of helping the rangers raise the five flags that have flown over Sumter through the years. Teachers in our group raised the 33 star flag of the U.S. (which was the flag when the war began), the 35 star US flag (which was the us flag when the war ended, two confederate flags, and the South Carolina,
These are the flags the Wyoming teachers raised this morning.
When we left the fort and got back to the mainland, we boarded the bus and traveling to Quemby Creek. With a quick lesson on paddling, we were stuffed into our own kayaks and pushed out into the water. I did pretty well, and after a small time of getting the hang of paddling and getting the kayak to go where I wanted, we set off down the creek.
Traffic jam on Quemby creek!
Our goal was a chapel, built in 1709 called Pampion Chapel. On the way, we passed rice fields On the way, one of our guides hurried to the shore, jumped out of his kayak, and grapped a snake he’d spotted in a tree. He let us hold it and look at it – a brown water snake. It was pretty interesting to me that he held it in the middle, not behind the head, but the guy didn’t try to bite.
- Getting up close and personal with residents of the creek.
All the while we were kayaking; the sky was turning more and more dark. At about the half way point, the lightening started cracking not far from us. Our guides decided we needed to turn back. No sooner had we managed to turn around than the rain began. It was like being in a shower. The lightening continued to crack and the rain poured. I laughed and enjoyed the trip back immensely. By the time we got back to the launch, everyone was soaked, but safe and happy. I’m disappointed that we didn’t see Pampion chapel, but the experience was rich anyway!
