Culture in Charleston

Culture in Charleston

OK this is more than a little behind, but we have been busy and even moving – a little.   We finally left Ortega after waiting out some tropical weather ahead of the June 1^st start to the hurricane season.  We made an outside run to Charleston after a few stops to enjoy Sisters Creek and Fernandina Beach.  The weather outside was mostly calm although we were treated to a light show in the clouds and even a rain shower to wash off the salt just before our turn into the harbor in South Carolina.

Even before we arrived we were welcomed by good cruising buddies, Don and Pam.  Periodically reconnecting with boater friends is one of the perks of our lifestyle and folks like Pam and Don make keeping in touch seem easy. It is always nice to enjoy a night out with good friends.  Steve and Don were also glad that the girls could pal around and give the boys some free time. This was doubly important during this visit.

A week this time of year in Charleston is a special treat.  Even though we were a little behind out intended arrival – the many events of Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto were still flooding the city with more choices than we could fit in seven days.  Besides all the tempting restaurants which we continue to sample, we dodged the heat and another tropical storm by attending many free and bargain priced events.  The free organ concerts were scheduled all over town in heritage churches with fantastic refurbished pipe organs and world class performers. Pam and Julia took full advantage of offerings and thanks to Don’s Uber Service – Julia got a ride to the evening concert by noted organist Isabel Demers.  Her 15 minute virtuoso performance on the pedals was a highlight. 

Another was the concert by the Palmetto Bronze hand bell choir who performed everything from Rock ‘n Roll to show tunes with a flourish of bells, chimes and mallets.

We even got a behind the scenes tour of the Henry Erben Organ in the Huguenot Church – although Julia had to cast off before that performance.

Thanks to Pam’s gift for meeting people, we even made new friends, Judith and Catherine attending the events of the festival from Ohio. 

Charleston continues to be a must stop for us – and thanks to Colin – the early season tropical storm we managed to overfill a week before again heading north.