ALONG THE SANTEE

History and nature came together for us during a recent SINHG Trip to Old Santee Canal Park in Monck's Corner. The birdwatchers among us were impressed by our guide's remarkable ear for identifying birds strictly by their song, like the Prothonotary Warblers and Eastern Bluebirds, all busy tending their

Prothonotary Warbler (courtesy Old Santee Canal Park)

nesting sites in the cypresses and live oaks along the many boardwalks threaded through this Lowcountry National Historic site.

The Santee Canal, we learned, was the first canal built in post-Revolutionary War America, authorized by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1786 and completed in 1800. Its 22-mile length. with ten locks, provided a shipping route between Charleston's Cooper River, via the Santee and Congaree rivers, to Columbia, the new state capitol. But the canal couldn't compete with the new railroads that began crisscrossing the state in the early 1800's, and

A preserved canal lock (courtesy Berkeley Observer)

the canal had fallen into disuse by the time of the Civil War. Much of it disappeared by flooding when nearby Lake Moultrie was constructed. Remnants of the old canal's locks have been preserved, along with the Stony Landing House (seen above), built in in 1843 and now used as a meeting venue.

While SINHG Trips continue through May, the schedule of trips for the fall season is under development and will be ready soon. Stay tuned!

IRON, BEER & GARDENS

We’ve been back downtown quite a bit this month, starting with a tour of one of Charleston’s signature features - the ironwork of Phillip Simmons (1912 - 2009), whose delicate scrollwork adorns the gates of gardens and walkways throughout the Peninsula. Some examples we saw are pictured above. During our tour, we learned that some 500 examples of Simmons’ work are still extant, a tribute to his training as a young apprentice with the ironworking grandson of enslaved African-Americans. Simmons was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship for his work. At his death, the city marked all his artwork with white ribbons to honor his contribution to the cityscape.

In the garden with fellow SINHG members.

Simmons’ delicately wrought gates adorned the entrances to some of the private gardens we visited on our Charleston Home and Garden tour, a rare chance to enjoy the quiet corners of downtown seldom open to visitors. We also noted the marked changes in architectural styles that outline the city’s transformation from earthquakes, fires and other natural disasters, all of which changed the face of downtown during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The group at Frothy Beard Brewery

The beer lovers among us piled into two vans for a tour of downtown’s burgeoning craft beer industry, visiting three breweries on the northern peninsula to sample their beers and ales. It’s an industry with a long history tied to the city’s growth, culture and politics. The first mention of a “beer cellar” on what is now East Bay Street appeared in 1732, although at the time most ingredients for brewing, arrived from outside the colony, principally from Virginia and Pennsylvania, as we learned from Timmon Pettigrew’s entertaining “Charleston Beer” (The History Press, 2011). It wasn’t until the 1760’s, with discontent growing over Britain’s control of imports like the malt and hops needed for brewing, that local farmers began growing their own. The passage of the hated Townsend Act that imposed even heavier taxes on the colonists’ favorite refreshment, and much else, drew Charleston into the revolt that led to independence. Cheers!

BASIN BASICS

One of our favorite areas to visit on our SINHG Trip schedule is the ACE Basin, the 350,000-acre estuary less than an hour's drive south on Savannah Highway. Named for the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto rivers which flow through the area on their way to combine and form St. Helena Sound near Beaufort, the scores of secondary tidal creeks and tributaries that thread through this critical environment are popular kayaking sites for SINHG members, thanks to the 23 boat landings that dot this largely undeveloped area.

Known for its pristine marshes, wetlands, hardwood forests and riverine flora and fauna, the Basin's protected status is thanks to the efforts of combined public and private entities that, during the 1970's and 1980's, worked to secure funding, including more than $50 million in federal support for conservation efforts to maintain a healthy ecosystem under the guidance of the ACE Basin Task Force. The Ernest F. Hollings National Wildlife Refuge is one of many great locations for wildlife viewing, hiking and fishing. Learn more here, and join one of our kayaking trips for a unique Lowcountry perspective.