The Southern Journey 2013

Just got home from what we have called our "historical tour" of the South.

We had planned this trip for some time with my sister, Linda, coming along for the tour.  She is a walking history book (a history teacher) and gave many insights to the landmarks we visited.

Our first stop was Charleston, South Carolina, where we toured many historical homes. I'll not give you the whole "lecture" on each home but just show you some pictures of the sights we saw!

This was the John Calhoun house.  Such a beautiful house on the outside but we were terribly disappointed about the inside.  Apparently the present owner lives there part of the time and is a collector of all kinds of artifacts and art. The house was filled with so many "what-nots" that to me it took away from the beauty of the period of the house.  Wild-looking....not tastefully done from my perspective.  Others may love it but I thought it was "tacky". Plus, it cost more than all the other historical homes to visit.

Here we are on a wind-swept day by the Charleston Bay. The weather co-operated so very nicely and rained only when we were touring!

The two homes above are typical residences in the historical area of Charleston!

I think my very favorite things are the lush landscaping around the area.  Love the little garden gates that lead to a small garden between houses.  We saw nearly every plant imaginable and all so healthy and in bloom!

We took a boat ride out to the island that Fort Sumter is on.  It was very interesting and certainly made you stop and realize how difficult soldiers' lives were in those days.

After two days in Charleston, we left via the interesting-looking Ravenel Bridge to drive to North Carolina and Virginia.

We made a quick pit-stop at Myrtle Beach to let Sister put her feet in the Atlantic Ocean.  Yes, we were the only people on the beach fully clothed!

We drove to one of my all-time favorite places: Williamsburg, Virginia.

This was an all day adventure and we loved every minute.

I love the grounds there.  So well-kept and even has vegetable gardens and flowers of all varieties.

The day we were there they were having a re-enactment of "The British are coming, the British are coming!!"

I love the authenticity of all the clothes they wear.  Even in the hot weather!

From Williamsburg we traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia to visit Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.

Monticello sits up on top of a beautiful mountain.  The land surrounding the house are breath-taking! A full garden was planted for many acres.

Of course, they do not allow pictures to be made in any of these homes but they were each unique as the builder himself(Jefferson) planned.  

Such interesting trunks on this tree.

Sister posing with Thomas Jefferson at the end of our tour.

Our next stop was in Charlotte, North Carolina to visit Billy Graham's childhood home and museum.  The pictures do not do it justice.  It was so beautiful!

The museum itself is in this barn.  It was very professionally done down to the unique "barn" bathrooms!  It was one of the highlights of our whole trip.  So much history about Billy and his family but everything said and shown pointed to the great God we serve and how He used Billy for His purposes.  It was very moving.  Well done!

Ruth Bell Graham is buried on the property.  She had the most simple flat stone marker that simply said her name and this: " End of construction. Thank you for your patience."  She had quite the sense of humor.  But, to think of it, that describes the end of life, doesn't it?

Hubs and I are sitting in front of the gravesite of George Beverly Shea who recently passed away and is also buried in the garden area.

After we left Charlotte, we headed for Tennessee.  We drove through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg and had planned to stop and visit.  The traffic was so bad that we decided we weren't interested in shows, miniature golf or shopping so that left us with eating and moving on. We were there less than 2 hours!

We hadn't planned to go to Nashville but we decided to drive there and go through Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage.

Out of all the historical homes we visited, The Hermitage was one that I would have loved to live in, well, providing someone would build a modern bathroom near the bedrooms!  It really wouldn't matter to me that the kitchen was in another building away from the house!

The bedrooms were HUGE and the entryway had the original wallpaper which I loved!  

The grounds were just spacious and the landscapes were awesome.  You could take a ride around the property in a horse-drawn wagon. 

People have different opinions, I'm sure, about the presidency of Andrew Jackson but I know this one thing about him....he loved his wife.

He built this tomb honoring her where he expressed his great love for her. He was buried next to her with hardly any words on his tombstone.

We went downtown Nashville just to show Sister the sights.

There is always lots of "live" music on the streets and many wannabe country singers.

But you know you will always run into this guy everywhere you turn! So I made Sister stand next to him so I could make her picture!

We put nearly 3,000 miles on the car, ate in 10 (at least) Cracker Barrels (that's 'cause we are fancy people) but had the BEST time!

Coming home just in time for the Fourth of July and fresh in our minds the sight and sounds of our beloved country!

We talked so many times of how blessed we are!

God Bless America!

Land that I Love!

Where are you heading out to (or have been to) this summer?