There are a number of common words in English the convey the concept of a road or path, but they all have their origins in descriptions of what was happening rather then where it was happening. Path descends from the Latin and Sanskrit ped and pad meaning: foot, thus a way to travel by foot. Road, on the other hand, evolved from the Middle English words: rode and rade, (a riding or mounted journey). For that reason a road was generally considered to be a rural way as contrasted with the more urban street. Street
that one comes directly from the Latin: via strata which means: a way spread or paved, with stones.
All of these ideas have one other thing in common: way. Thats the oldest of the bunch and rolls all the way back to the Proto-Indo-European root: wegh (to move). It arrived in English by way of the Latin word: via (which oddly enough means: by way of). Them there Latins
the Romans that is
those folks were rather good at building ways. They put them down all over Europe and a considerable number of those vias are still in existence
.
That last image is a good example of a Roman road and the cross section below shows how they would cut a drainage ditch along either side and then move the excavated earth toward the center. Several layers of substrate were put down with he ultimate top level being determined by the importance and final use of the Via in question. The result was consistent though: a raised way, a bit higher then the surrounding land, with a curved crown to allow the rain to roll off to either side. That physical height would later lead to the more important roads being referred to as high-ways (byways, a word with a similar origin, generally refer to private and toll roads). Now, if said road were deemed important enough for a monarch to consider providing maintenance for or even ensuring safe passage upon it as a vital interest to his kingdom, then it would be designated as a Via Regia (Royal Road or Kings Highway). And that circuitous (and purposely tortuous) introduction / dissertation finally brings us to the initial topic of this part of the TR
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The Kings Highway
There were two such important trade roads with this moniker established during the infancy of the New World; one on either coast. El Camino Real as developed by the Spanish Missionaries on the left coast, and the one that Charles II directed his colonial governors to establish in 1650 ran along the Atlantic.
Its the east coast version that well be following part of this morning. Running from Boston to Charleston, its around 1,300 miles in total and is pretty much still intact. Now-a-days its US highways that demark and follow the route though. From Virginia to the southern terminus, that would specifically be the highway identified as
US-17.. In fact, its even still named Kings Highway as you travel through Horry county, which is where we were starting our journey this morning (and by the way
Horry is not pronounced like its spelled
rather is: Orree; one of a hand full of unique family names that youll see cropping up from time to time down this way.).
So anyway, wed decided that we were going to follow the Kings Highway a bit farther south, but first
its time for breakfast!
The Garden City Pancake House is one of many spots along the Kings that specialize in breakfast and most of them close up by dinnertime. Of those that Ive tried in my time along the Grand Strand; this one rates somewhere in the middle. Its good, but Ive had a better break of the fast elsewhere. It did have the advantage of being very near our starting point and also on the way toward our ultimate destination. Oh and the staff here are quite friendly and accommodating, so it has that going for it as well
which is nice
Fast properly broken, we got back on the highway headed south. Into Georgetown county, past Muriel's Inlet (where youll find a large number of excellent seafood restaurants) and on down toward Pawleys Island. Thats not just an area name, Pawleys actually is and island, and a very fine high-end beach resort. Most of the homes are rentable and relaxation is the order of the day. Ive never had the opportunity to actually vacate here, but ruminations from a TR authored by these very fine folks can tell you
all about it.
On this stretch of the road youll also encounter both
Huntington Beach State Park and
Brookgreen Gardens along the way toward Georgetown (across the street from each other actually).
The park is a pristine strip of Atlantic beach; a fine campground and a designated nature preserve known as a birders haven.
It even includes a
Moorish Castle that can be toured during the summer
The gardens (which share a common history) include one of the largest collections of outdoor figurative sculpture in the US, along with gorgeous Victorian style gardens, walking paths and trails.
While not everyones cup of tea (especially those with kids or even grown family members that find culture to be supremely boring and devoid both of thrill-rides and explosions), there are a few other offerings here to make it a bit more palatable. Things like the
Lowcountry Zoo and even a Pontoon Boat Creek Excursion if youd like to learn about the critters that inhabit the mashes and a little bit of local history. I can also pretty much guarantee that somewhere along the line youll encounter at least one of these critters
The encounter may not be quite as exciting as say
this one was
but its a little something else you can use to convince the youngens (and youngens in mind) to tolerate a bit of time in a garden amongst a bunch of sculptures
figurative sculptures
have your tween boys look that last phrase up and they may well be requesting to spend time here. Oh, unfortunately none of this is free mind you, but it makes for an interesting diversion from the considerably more commercial offerings along The Stand.
Moving on
The next thing along the Via Regia would be the city of
Georgetown.
Believe it or not this town (that you may well never have heard of) use to be one of the wealthiest and most important seaports on the east coast. At least up until the 1860s when there was a minor (and necessary) change in the way labor was distributed. Theres still a good bit here to see though.
Find the
old part of town and poke around a bit. Trust me
its worth a little bit of time to check out.
The next thing you encounter along US-17 is the
Francis Marion National Forrest. The view through this part of the journey can best be summed up by this picture
Thats pretty much the view youre going to have for a long while until you get into the outskirts of Charleston (or more rather: Mount Pleasant). Its not that there isnt anything to get into in this area
theres hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, and any number of other outdoor activities, but not too many that could be considered a part of a site-seeing excursion. There is one bit of tourist oriented commerce that does begin cropping up as you get closer to the Cooper River
These hand weaved baskets are a staple of Charleston history and its modern tourist trade. They can also be a bit pricy (if they were actually weaved by hand that is
if the price seems reasonable or even cheep, it was probably manufactured by machine and imported from else where), If youre interested in having one of these gems as proof of visitation, there are stands chock-full of em all along US-17 coming into and back out of the Mt. Pleasant area. The town actually builds some of the stands and rents them out to the vendors so theyre actually more common then kudzu along this part of the road.
Weve almost made it to Charleston now and the end of the first part of our drive for the day. The official gateway into the city proper would be this rather picturesque suspension bridge
To those of us from down this way though, that is considered to be the new bridge over the Cooper. The pair that Ive crossed far more often in my time as a Carolinian were of a somewhat older vintage which you can get a bit of a glimpse of
here (just scroll down a little bit).. Actually, Ive got a more entertaining glimpse of the old bridges
There ya go! I was actually able to work an explosion into this part of the TR.
Youre welcome.
Now then, just to be clear, Ive seen all of these sites at one time or another but didnt stop at any of them this day. So why exactly then did I spend so much time explaining some of the various sites that are available for you to enjoy on this often ignored stretch of road? And why did I make a point to add copious links throughout leading to other TRs and various information sources along the way?
Well, its as a bit of an apology for what is about to happen next. Ya see
My friends (or at least one of them) are just about as geeky as I am and our destination for the day actually did not involve crossing that bridge and partaking of the many historic aspects of one of Americas oldest cities. No, we were going to make an actual left turn off of US-17 right at the foot of that bridge and get into something else (or more rather: get on board something else)
A ship
A couple of them actually
Sorry about that, but thats where we were going. So, being as I spend far too much time discussing ships in the first place, it wont hurt my feelings one bit if you just skip the last part of this update (and probably the next couple as well).
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Patriots Point
Lets say, just for a moment, that for some odd reason you were interested in exploring an Aircraft Carrier. Yes I know that the notion seems a might odd, but since youre still reading, Ill assume that youre somewhat willing to go along with this preposterous notion. Now this goal could be accomplished by joining the US Navy (the ultimate experts on this type of vessel, as they maintain more of them then the entire rest of the worlds navies combined). Once enlisted you could then set about working toward being stationed aboard one. A might extreme as solutions go, but there are several retired examples that are more easily accessible (if you happen to be in the vicinity of one of them). In the eastern US there are three that can be explored. Sisters actually and all from the same class of WWII veterans.
The
USS Intrepid (CV-11) in New York City
USS Lexington (CV-16) located in Corpus Christi Texas
and the one that we were headed for
The USS Yorktown (CV-10) located at
Patriots Point on the north side of Charleston Harbor.
There will also be one thing about this part of the TR that is a might different from most of my updates (and you better shield your eyes because Im going to demonstrate it right here
Pictures with people in em (worse yet, pictures that I show up in form time to time). When on vacation, Im generally the photographer (so Im not usually in the images). The rest of my family is basically averse to being photographed so my wife and son rarely even allow me to post pictures that include them as part of the subject mater. On this trip however, all three of us were armed with cameras and being guys, were neither so bright nor not quite so proud. Heck, hen youre this ugly, you cant afford to be proud. Of the two goofs in that first proof of visitation image, Im the really ugly one. The other fellow on the left there is Billy; one of my best friends and a fellow ship geek. The guy taking the picture in this instance was Sal (short for Salvatore, youll see him in a minute or two). Another good friend who thankfully aint so much of a ship geek, but wanted to join us on the expedition just because we were going. A good reason if ever Ive heard one.
Anyway, we were actually here today specifically to get aboard on of the smaller ships at the museum:
The USS Lafffey (DD-724)
The ship that would not die, is a highly decorated vessel that had just recently returned to the museum after nearly three years of renovations (and desperate attempts to avoid the scrap yard, complete the repairs and then bring her back to the museum). The triumphant return only a couple of weeks earlier just reinforced her justly earned epithet. For that reason we wanted to check out the work done.
Is it happens, wed have been better off waiting a few more week s before heading down here. Exploring the upper decks of the Laffey was allowed, but the exhibits on the lower decks were still under renovation and closed to the public. Ehhh
win some, loose some, but we did get aboard
Theres Sal, next to that ugly guy. We were inspecting the aft five inch gun turret at the time. From there we worked through the artifacts and historical exhibits on the main deck and then headed up to the boat deck and the ships bridge. While I was trying to take a picture across the bow and toward the marina, Bill decided to snap one of me doing so
Honestly! I think he could have chosen a better subject. If youve never been aboard a naval ship (museum or otherwise) youll quickly learn that the stairwells are better described as ladders with handrails so you might want to watch you step
Now, from this point I could bore you with a couple hundred detail shots of the inside of the ship, but I do that kind of thing far too often. Given that fact Ill be nice and restrain myself. For now at least, so I guess its time to move on
However
if you were to inadvertently click on that last image, it will take you to an excellent little video that walks you around the vessel and explains a lot about what you actually looking at.
Really! Try it!
Like I said, time to push on. We werent going to come all this way and not also explore the Yorktown while we were here. When you first board the carrier youll end up on the main hanger deck where all the aircraft were stored and maintained
There are a lot of exhibits on this deck alone and I do mean a lot. Its the perfect spot for two ship geeks to
well
to basically geek out!
And we certainly did. Again, Im going to spare you the bulk of the pictures taken but there is one exhibit in this part of the ship that actually confuses a lot of folks.
This one
What youre looking at there is a mock up of the Freedom 7 Mercury space capsule and the Apollo-8 Command Module. Now why would those be there? I actually heard someone asking that very question but I also got the feeling that they really didnt want me butting into their conversation to explain it. This being a monologue however, you are not so lucky. Unlike the Russians, NASA figured that a parachute assisted landing of a space capsule would work a bit better over water then over a Kazakhstani desert (a somewhat more pliable surface to be sure). But once one of these voyagers would splash down, theyd obviously needed to be rescued from the waves by somebody and generally that somebody was the crew of one of the Navys carriers.
For Apollo-8 astronauts: Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, the first folks to ever orbit the moon, That someone who would pluck them out of the drink was the crew of the USS Yorktown. So thats why youll find a NASA exhibit aboard a naval museum.
Well, thats about all the room Ive got for one post. Heres just one more image of the Hanger Deck as we started heading up toward the Fight Deck.
Ill save that and the rest of what is available here at Patriots Point for the next update.
Hopefully I wont have so many outside distractions to interfere with my pointless aspirations as a writer and Ill get that worked up just a bit sooner. Or maybe it would be better for everyone if I encountered more distractions.
Naaaaaaa
You aint gotta read this mess, but do gotta write it.
Next up: Busted Subs, Hollow Planes, Southeast Asia and the Cold War
A memorial in several parts.
This is hilarious!
I've heard of it.
