Highly-rated on Trip Advisor, Jon had arrived here, according to his website and his own admission, as a shipwrecked New York State Yankee. "A former Hollywood actor, Jon came ashore in a Coast Guard rescue helicopter in February 1992 and soon fell under the spell of Beaufort's natural beauty, her people, and her history." He turned out to be a passionate, poetic, informative, and colorful guide to this beautiful and storied city, showing us details we never would have noticed ourselves.
When we toured the churchyard of St. Helena's Episcopal Church, he pointed out the graves of young women and children and of confederate officers as if he had known them personally.
We found out why some of the ceilings we saw had been painted blue (to deceive the wasps and the mud daubers into thinking it was the sky so they would not build their nests there):
. . . And why some of them had been painted black (to keep away the "haints" which the African Americans brought with them):
Thanks to Jon, I now know what this means:
It's not a tabby cat, it's concrete reinforced with oyster shells, and judging by the condition of the hundred-year-old walls I saw, it far surpasses in durability and strength concrete reinforced with steel.
We had lunch and dinner at a wonderful local place called Plums, which featured fresh seafood, and in between those meals we drove out to Hunting Island and climbed the 167 steps in its lighthouse - the only lighthouse in South Carolina that you can climb.
We did a lot of walking - and a little running, and a little climbing - today!
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