Rene Cizio's Blog, page 12

5 Reasons Congaree National Park is Worth Visiting

Synchronistic Fireflies and Champion Trees are two big reasons you should visit Congaree National Park. Plus, Congaree is among the least visited in times of national park overcrowding, making it blissfully uncrowded. I’ve been to 25+ national parks and there are essentially two types: those people go to and those they don’t. Some parks are filled with amenities, trails and things to do and see, and other parks quietly exist to protect rare and spectacular environments. Congaree is one of the latter. It protects the largest intact expanse of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the southeastern United States. Getting to the park The drive to the park from Charleston was interstate primarily and then a two-lane highway. The highway is peppered with ramshackle, small houses, nothing like you’ll see in more prosperous areas of South Carolina. A few stores and restaurants where the roadways intersected were interspersed throughout the communities. They were small and many closed, so come prepared with your own supplies. There were a surprising number of churches of all denominations, each with its graveyard attached. After many twists and turns of five miles, five miles, and seven miles, I came to the park. At about 26,000 acres, […]

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Exploring the Low-Country Charm of Beaufort, South Carolina

Beaufort, South Carolina, is known for its low-country charm, antebellum architecture, and quite a bit of Hollywood credit. It’s a little-known but wildly charming low-country community. On the coastline between Charleston and Savannah, Beaufort is worth visiting because it’s the quieter, lesser-known cousin of the two more famous cities, which is probably what brought Hollywood calling so many times. It has all the charm, Spanish moss and coastal character as those other great cities, but none of the bustle or traffic. It’s a small, quaint and idyllic place to spend a day or maybe even a lifetime. I spent the day in Beaufort, where I took a guided tour around the city and learned about some of its history and architecture. History Beaufort, South Carolina Beaufort, South Carolina, is one of the oldest pre-civil war towns in the country. The land was granted to Henry Somerset, the second duke of Beaufort, and chartered in 1711, making it the second-oldest town in South Carolina – the first was Charleston in 1670. Like many affluent communities during the Civil War, the residents fled when the army got close, leaving their homes empty. Since Beaufort was an excellent location, Union troops set up […]

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3 Savannah Telfair Museums Worth Visiting

Three unique Savannah Telfair museums will take you on an art, history and architecture tour of the city from its beginning to the modern day. The best part? It’s one price for all three. Many people who visit Savannah are familiar with the Telfair Academy. That’s where you’ll find the famous “Bird Girl” statue as depicted on the cover of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” by John Berendt. The book and subsequent movie caused Savannah tourism to increase off the charts in the 1990s and it hasn’t stopped since. Many people don’t know that the Telfair Museum is one of three museums. With your ticket, you receive entry into all three museums, good for one week. Telfair Academy The Jepson Center The Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters Two Savannah Telfair museums – the Telfair Academy and Jepson Center – are across the street from each other. The third, the Owens-Thomas House is three squares away but within a 10-minute walk. 1. Telfair Academy Of the three Savannah Telfair Museums, this is the one where I saw people waiting outside in the morning for it to open, but that may be because they, like me, thought it opened […]

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Shrimping in Mount Pleasant on Shem Creek near Charleston

Mount Pleasant Shem Creek is known for its shrimp boats and seafood restaurants, so that is where I went just east of Charleston on the central coast to learn about Charleston’s shrimping history and try my hand catching a few myself. I booked a tour with a local who promised to walk a group of us through the evolution of the shrimping industry in Shem Creek. To do that, we had to back a few hundred years. Where to find Mount Pleasant Shem Creek While Charleston is known for its excellent fresh seafood, it’s not caught in Charleston proper. The fishing, crabbing and shrimping are done on the city’s outskirts. Shem Creek is about 15-minutes east of downtown Charleston on South Carolina’s central coast. This picturesque town was founded in 1680 and had an incredible naval and maritime history – starting with being the first to see the British ships coming into the harbor in the 1780s. Farmland and Seafood History Our guide is “Captain Bryan.” He’s tall, thin and wears khaki pants with a white button-down shirt. The only thing that distinguished him from us landlubbers was his big straw hat and the way he said: “ya’ll.” But I […]

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A Night on a Hearse Ghost Tour in Savannah

A hearse ghost tour could only be pulled off in one city in America, maybe the world, Savannah. No place else has the hutzpah or the ghosts. I was sitting on my balcony on Oglethorpe Square at dusk, watching the tourists stroll by with ice cream cones in hand from Leopold’s Ice Cream around the corner. The scent of jasmine wafted on the summer breeze as the sky began darkening to a deep blue. I was admiring the drape of moss over the southern live oak branches that bowed low over the square when something caught my attention. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a vehicle my mind couldn’t comprehend. At first, I thought, “station wagon,” but those are rare now, and there was something else that didn’t add up. Where the roof should be, eight people were sitting with this torso over the roofline and a roof over their heads. The vehicle was black, and on the side in red letters, I saw the words, “hearse ghost tours.” As they passed, the group laughed at something the driver had said, raised their plastic cups in salute, and took a sip. What in the world? Only in […]

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8 Reasons Charleston’s Architecture is unique

Charleston’s architecture is what makes the city the most charming of southern belles. It’s beloved for horse-drawn carriages, light-colored antebellum houses and more history than any book you ever read in high school. Charleston, South Carolina is a romantic little city along low country waterways is known for its rich cuisine, maritime story, and as the holy city for its 400 church spires. These things are anchored by architecture preserved and immaculately restored over hundreds of years. No place else can you stroll through the residential streets and admire the homes and gardens with the feeling that you have stepped back in time. It’s unique because few places have such an extensive collection of historically preserved homes in one area – and because of what it makes us realize about ourselves and our past. While each home is different, many have similar elements: floor-to-ceiling windows, big porches on multiple levels, extensive gardens, pastel colors, ornate staircases, and decorative ironwork. Being built in the 1670s, the neighborhoods include carriage houses and various outbuildings and cobbled alleys with many details and hidden features waiting to be discovered. I stayed in Charleston for a month and one of my favorite things to do […]

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5 Reasons White Sands National Park is Worth Visiting

There aren’t very many people at White Sands National Park. I don’t know how many national parks you can say that about anymore. On the days I was there, weekday and weekend, I was mostly morbidly alone. The sand is lovely, but who wants to go to a beach without water? And hiking in the sand, I can now tell you from experience, is precisely as difficult as you might expect it to be. But this place isn’t about the common or expected and it’s not for everyone. 1. Driving to White Sands is a One-of-a-Kind Experience Part of the low visitation is the difficulty of getting there. The park, somewhere between a town called Alamogordo – where I stayed – and Las Cruces, New Mexico, isn’t exactly on the way to anything else. Nor is there anything else to see nearby. You must circumvent any other more interesting or lively route to get there. But this remote placement has given it a claim to fame: the Trinity Site. It’s where they tested the world’s first nuclear bomb on July 16, 1945. It’s now marked by an obelisk made of black lava rock and a commemorative sign if you’re so […]

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Charleston Haints and Graveyard Ghosts

Down south, I went looking for Charleston haints and other cemetery ghosts. Haints are just southern ghosts. In the south, there are ghosts on every corner, so it’s a good place for storytelling. In Charleston, there are the ghostly soldiers still dueling in the street, an apparition of the proprietress still in the restaurant bathroom, and a library patron who haunts his old books. There’s a great story about a famous poet, another about a female serial killer, and even one about a tragic mother. …. I’d venture to guess there isn’t a location in Charleston that doesn’t have a ghost. And I do love a good ghost story. While visiting, I took a late-night ghost walk, a carriage ride, and a few other excursions. I talked to people in shops, when I ate in restaurants, and everywhere I went. Ghost tour or not, I heard about ghosts in some way. There are many things I love about the south (the food ya’ll), but their passion for keeping stories alive is something to be admired. Gullah Geechee Charleston Haints Like in Savannah and other southern places I’ve visited, the ubiquitous “haint” blue paint adorned many porch ceilings, roofs, and shutters. […]

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Charleston Haints and Cemetery Ghosts

Down south, I went looking for Charleston haints and other cemetery ghosts. Haints are just southern ghosts. In the south, there are ghosts on every corner, so it’s a good place for storytelling. In Charleston, there are the ghostly soldiers still dueling in the street, an apparition of the proprietress still in the restaurant bathroom, and a library patron who haunts his old books. There’s a great story about a famous poet, another about a female serial killer, and even one about a tragic mother. …. I’d venture to guess there isn’t a location in Charleston that doesn’t have a ghost. And I do love a good ghost story. While visiting, I took a late-night ghost walk, a carriage ride, and a few other excursions. I talked to people in shops, when I ate in restaurants, and everywhere I went. Ghost tour or not, I heard about ghosts in some way. There are many things I love about the south (the food ya’ll), but their passion for keeping stories alive is something to be admired. Gullah Geechee Charleston Haints Like in Savannah and other southern places I’ve visited, the ubiquitous “haint” blue paint adorned many porch ceilings, roofs, and shutters. […]

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In Charleston’s Cypress Gardens it’s an Alligator’s Playground

As I walk, I note alligators sitting on the sides of the swamps, sunning themselves like teenagers on spring break.

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