Visit to Fort Moultrie - Friday - October, 21, 2011

Nancy here:  This is the first part of our day trip to Charleston.  I know you have already seen the Bridge Walk Blog.  If you haven't seen it,  just click here.  Like I said, these are out of sequence since we stopped at  Fort Moultrie in the morning and then over to the bridge in the afternoon.  Oh well, the photos are nice regardless of what order they appear ;o))  Let’s just said it all happened on the SAME day!!

Remember to click on any photo to enlarge!


It was a beautiful day for a ride.  We left home about 8:30 and headed south on Rt. 17 toward Mt. Pleasant.  We took the Isle of Palm Connector over the Intercoastal Waterway. 
01 - Crossing Intercoastal to IOP
View crossing the Intercoastal Waterway

We headed south and crossed the bridge to Sullivan's Island.02 - Crossing bridge to Sullivans Island
View crossing the inlet to Sullivan's Island


Once on Sullivan's Island you just continue to
the southern most tip of the island to find Fort Moutrie.
(Take note of the church in the background)03b - Fort Moultrie Visitor Center Sign & Church
Arriving at Fort Moultrie  
03 - Fort Moultrie Visitor Center


We went into the visitors center to purchase Nancy’s
Senior National Park Pass and a National Park Passport.03c - inside Fort Moultrie Visitor Center

They have a very nice visitor center and a wonderful movie. 
Since we had just been here last year to buy my pass,
we didn’t spend time to redo those things. 
We highly recommend allowing time on your first visit to do both.


It was such a beautiful day,
Nancy wanted to climb the stairs to the roof of the visitor’s center
to take a couple photos.
03d - view from roof of Visitor Center
Views of Fort Moultrie from the Visitor’s Center Roof03e - view from roof of Visitor Center


We did not go into Fort Moutrie today,
but we did spend about an hour
walking the grounds around the fort. 

05 - Entrance to Fort Moultrie
Entrance to Fort Moultrie

You can see the photos we took last year from inside the fort here.


As we headed around Fort Moultrie towards the water,
we saw this large freighter entering Charleston Harbor.
It looked like it was about to ram Fort Sumter!!

We walked down to the beach and off to the west,
we could see the bridge we were going to walk later today.


Across the harbor, we could see the City of Charleston.
09 - Charleston from the beach


This is the view of Fort Moultrie looking back from the beach.
08 - Fort Moultrie from the beach


Display of the guns that were used at the fort.
08b - Fort Moultrie guns


As we headed back towards the car,
we saw this sign about Sullivan's Island and
its role in Slavery.
(be sure to click to enlarge)
We learned some history we did not know today.


Nancy had one last thing she wanted to check out. 
She wanted to see the church that is right next to Fort Moultrie.
10 - Stella Maris Catholic Church
It is a beautiful old church that sits right on the corner
across the street from the fort.

10b - Stella Maris Catholic Church
Literally, on the CORNER!!


There was no name on the outside of the church.
However, it was open and we went in.
There was the name...

'Stella Maris Catholic Church'
of
Moultrieville, SC!!

10c - Stella Maris Catholic Church

The Sanctuary and Stained Glassed Windows were beautiful!!

10d - Stella Maris Catholic Church
Nancy did a little research and found out the following on the Internet:

 
Sullivan's Island, the home of Fort Moultrie, suffered extensive bombardment by Federal troops, and by the end of the war, in 1865, the church was the only public building left standing on the island. Father Timothy Bermingham, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Charleston, took up Sullivan's Island as a special project in the late 1860s. He first planned to rehabilitate the old church. By 1868, however, Father Bermingham developed the idea that a new church building should be the centerpiece for a restoration of Sullivan's Island as a popular resort.

Father Bermingham bought the present church lot in October, 1868, for $100. He secured permission from the Secretary of War to use bricks from the ruins of Fort Moultrie to build the new church; indeed, in his enthusiasm for the project, he occasionally had to be physically restrained from tearing down additional walls of the Fort to secure even more bricks. On 18 January 1869 Father Bermingham laid the cornerstone for the new church, which he first called Saint Mary, Star of the Sea, or Stella Maris.


We are really glad we visited this historic church.

But now, we had to cross the little bridge
from Sullivan's Island to Mt. Pleasant
11 - Bridge to Mt. Pleasant
to find the big bridge over Charleston Harbor!!

 
It has been a great day so far and
I have no doubt,
things will be looking up ;o))

8 comments:

  1. Wow this was a chocked full day! You certainly do live in a beautiful and rich place. Whoever wrote the Sullivan's Island plaque did a wonderful job.

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  2. Love old churches. They rank right up there with old cemeteries :) There is usually so much history there.
    I'm impressed at how blue the water is there. Gorgeous!

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  3. I love visiting historic old churches. They are so rich in workmanship that you won't find in modern buildings. Plus, they have a special peacefulness that is refreshing, it sort of make you slow down and appreciate all you have.

    Another super place we have to visit. :c)

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  4. You guys sure get around! Looks like a beautiful place.

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  5. Nice tour. We really enjoyed our time there. So much to see and do!

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  6. Look at how blue that water is!

    We also love old churches. The workmanship is impeccable.

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  7. Hey folks,
    We just got our NPS Passport as well. With all intentions of gathering every single stamp and cancellation stamp before we can no longer walk!

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