Williamsburg to Charleston

Williamsburg to Charleston
457 miles (10 hours)

Goodbye, Virginia, Hello the Carolinas! We traveled down the historic Albemarle highway 17 opting for the scenic and quiet routes rather than the frenetic but shorter Interstate 75. Passed snow-white fields of cotton, ripe for picking, in 71F of sunshine. Despite an awful forecast it was dry most of the journey – the heavens opened that night with a cracking thunderstorm. We drove into Charleston along the Heritage corridor through miles of flat industrialized side of Charleston to stay a couple of nights at La Quinta.

The following day we drove into the old city and wandered around the “slave market” (where slaves sold goods, not where they themselves were sold!) The black ladies are still there, weaving and selling their sweetgrass baskets and other trinkets. Joining a walking tour is our favorite form of sightseeing, and we had an excellent and flexible guide who took us inside churches, around churchyard grave stones and into the Powder Magazine. This building is the only surviving building of the original walled city, and no wonder, with its 3-foot thick walls! It survived civil war, a hurricane and an earthquake, which between them took out all the other buildings.

Charleston homes have a unique architecture with a grand front door on the street leading to the “piazza” which is an open walkway down the side of the house to the real front door. As living rooms were generally upstairs, this meant the front door could be open for the breeze and the door on the street was for security. It looks really funny. The homes are still the original wood; the black cedar from the bogs was well-seasoned and hardened and lasts forever. Another tradition is the “Charleston green” gloss paint on the front doors and shutters, basically black with a spoonful of green. The homes were one big room wide and a couple of rooms deep. Then there was a compulsory 15-foot gap before the brick built kitchen to minimize fires. Once a fire department was established, most homes built a “hyphen room” to join the kitchen to the main house, and these can still be seen almost everywhere in old Charleston. Sometimes the old kitchens were made into separate houses so we often saw the houses numbers with a half added (70 then 70½). We had a wonderful time peeping into the old courtyard gardens with ancient shady trees, and enjoying the old streets. We enjoyed coffee in the old meeting house, walked along the promenade and sat on the swinging benches by the pineapple fountain.

Finally time to head home along the Ashley River Road,another 393 miles, bringing the total mileage to 5508, and we have enjoyed every one of them. Thanks to the blog aficionados, especially for the great comments and inspiration. Hope you enjoyed the tour too. Until the next time……..G

Around Williamsburg - Smithfield

We also enjoyed a trip south of the James River to Smithfield to visit various restored gardens along the way. We visited the old courthouse, and I was surprised to see Macclesfield, my hometown in England, was also recorded as an early settler’s town here. This county is the Isle of Wight, and most of the other names are familiar to us too. St Luke’s church is one of the oldest English churches in the USA, circa 1632, and the only surviving Gothic building with its typical Gothic buttresses, stepped gables, brick traceried windows and timber-trussed roof, just like an inverted ship’s hull of that time. The court of the Colony of Virginia was held here, before the courthouse was built. Above the pulpit was a sounding board, to echo the speaker’s voice out into the congregation, rather than up into the high rafters. The original hour-glass sat on the pulpit, no doubt for the vicar’s reference! There was a tiny early 1600s chamber organ with only 4 octaves of gold keys, the only surviving intact instrument of its kind in the world. The pipes were made to look like part of the painted scene which decorated the front and doors of the organ. Another strange custom here was the many family plots in the churchyard with gravestones showing birth dates only. Apparently these were “ready” for the intended, even those not yet dead!

Around Williamsburg - Eastern Shores

Another day we drove through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and tunnel (20 miles long and $17 toll) and up the Eastern shore to Chincoteague. We drove through many small villages, too small to even warrant walking around, but we enjoyed the drive immensely. It was harvest season and we saw the combine harvesters making short work of the fields of soy. Nearby the cotton and tomatoes were being tediously picked by hand.

Every shop we passed sold fireworks – fireworks and bakery, fireworks and sausages, fireworks and rotisserie. Should they really be in the same building??!!!

Chincoteague Island is known for its annual pony round up from the nearby uninhabited Assateague Island. When fires destroyed the town of Chincoteague, a volunteer firefighting force was set-up but there were no funds for equipment. So the enterprising crew rounded up some ponies, which inhabited the nearby island, and drove them to swim through the straights to Chincoteague where they were auctioned. This practice still continues today every July at a low tide, and is a world-famous event. We passed the local fire station, and behind it was a huge field of mares and foals, obviously held back from this year’s sale.

Around Colonial Williamsburg - Maymont, Richmond

We are settled in a lovely apartment at Powhaton Plantation, Williamsburg for 9 nights. There are so many places to visit from here, and the countryside is gorgeous. The area is very old, dating back to the first English settlers in the early 1600s. There is an old plantation house on-site with restored gardens and a lake which is very photogenic.

On our first trip we crossed the James River on a car ferry and drove to Richmond to visit the Mansion and Gardens of Maymont. Richmond is a very busy city, full of museums.Grand houses and statues line the wide avenues. Maymont is right in the city center but sheltered by the 100 acre parkland. The house was not a mansion by European standards but was built and furnished by railroad magnate James Dooley and his wife Sallie May. Having no children, the house was left to the city upon their deaths, and has remained exactly as it was in 1925. The gilded wall decor, tiffany stained glass windows and Swan-shaped bed were quite unique amidst the ornate furnishings, corner ceiling lights and beautiful fireplaces. Most memorable was the dressing table, made of 2 long twisted tusks from near extinct narwhales. Downstairs was a 1925 kitchen with all the accoutrements of hard domestic work in a Victorian home.

The park and outbuildings were lovely but we enjoyed the gardens the best. The Italian garden had a long arbor of wisteria, and a rose garden above a natural waterfall which cascaded down the rocky shelf. At the bottom was the most beautifully restored Japanese garden surrounding a long lake of koi carp, with typical arched bridges, pagodas, Japanese maples and stepping-stones. There was a fresh view every few steps and it was a joy to spend time there

Martinsburg to Williamsburg

(215 miles, 6 hours)
We booked into Knight’s Inn as a base for a couple of days. What a great chain! One of the cheapest and best equipped suites so far. Explored the lovely towns on the Washington Heritage Trail including Martinsburg, Shepherdstown, Harper’s Ferry and Charlestown. There were many charming towns with terraces of quaint shops with bay windows lining the high street – rather like Modbury in Devon. We drove through vineyards and farms with gentle rolling pastures. It was very peaceful and pretty as we passed large estate homes, often sporting the 5-pointed barn star. These were brought over by the German Amish farmers and pinned on the barns for prosperity and a plentiful harvest. Winchester had several large painted apples with scenes and historic characters on them which were quite special. We walked around St Stephens, which dates back to 1756 and saw the clapboard houses with ornate porches and shuttered windows. There was so much to see and do here that we did not have time for; the Shenandoah Valley National Park, Canaan Valley, the Grand Army Byway, the massive natural bridge of stone and the beautiful old towns full of antique shops. It would be worth a longer visit – next time.

Sunday started with an excellent brunch at the old Strasburg Hotel, which was full of Victorian furniture, paintings and china. Pouring over our maps in Starbucks we decided to abandon the Skyline Drive, as the trees have not changed color yet, and instead, with the assistance of a kind local, chose a route which meandered down little-known roads through almost-English countryside in 77F of sunshine. We enjoyed town names such as Culpepper, Mineral – predictably an early mining town - and the charmingly named Cuckoo.

The last stretch from Richmond to Williamsburg was along the Virginia Byway in the long shadows of the evening sunshine.

Rushford to Martinsburg

Rushford NY to Martinsburg, WV
(425 miles 9 hours)

Leaving the cottage with the top down and the heater on started the day well, but the start of the Grand Army of the Republic Highway coincided with the rain which was a shame. Temps dropped to 48F in the drizzle. The town of Towanda had huge grand houses lining the approach road with a very French architectural style.

We detoured off to French Azilum, a town created for the Parisian aristocrats escaping the French Revolution in 1793. The name originated from the word “asylum”. It was a grand idea doomed to a short life. The founders went bankrupt and the French immigrants dispersed to other towns, but it was interesting to see what remained (photo).

From there we continued through Pennsylvania’s ex-mining country. After Scranton we took the 81 South which had all the things we hate – a busy road, trucks galore, drizzle and slag heaps, mostly now covered in trees. History is clearly told here by the town’s names – Factoryville, Minersville and Mechanicsburg.

We crossed into Maryland, our 11th state so far, then down to Martinsburg, West Virginia (slogan ‘Wild and Wonderful’) which is only 50 miles from Washington DC, but that treat remains for another trip.

Rushford, NY State

Rushford, New York State
(95 miles, 2 hours)

Our travels take us South again over the US border and into New York State. We traveled through some old and quaint villages each with their own identity, to Rushford where our friends have a log cabin in the woods. The Amish built their home when they bought the land, which is high above the river valley, surrounded by peace and quiet in the woods. The autumn colors were beginning to show in the sugar maples with their bright yellow, orange and scarlet leaves. I saw a chipmunk for the first time, like a small striped squirrel. We visited some picturesque towns called Angelica, Olean and Friendship and had a lovely meal with salad bar at the local Allegany Grill. One town was built around a circular park and had 5 churches arranged around it. We saw an ancient Indian oil spring, (goodness knows what the Indians did with it), and fed a boiling fury of black catfish on a nearby lake. The following day we did a strenuous walk in the woods then back for Baileys to revive us. Baileys for breakfast was certainly a first for me! We also went down to the lake and lowered the motorboat into the lake for a spin around to see the lovely log cabins and the dam. It was a beautiful day and a lovely experience.

At Cuba Cheese we sampled cheeses and dips, and went to a farm shop to buy sweet corn. Everything was sold in bushels and pecks rather than by weight. All measures were based on the old English “hogshead” the owner proudly told us, a bushel being approx 2 quarts or 4 pecks. The shop sold pumpkins, gourds, all sorts of squash, apples and potatoes and all around stood old machines from around 1900, used for shucking corn or sorting grain. We chose a dozen full cobs, which had been picked that morning and took them home, shucked them (removed the greenery) and then boiled them. We ate them with baby back ribs and they were so crisp and sweet that no salt or butter was needed. It was a feast. This was accompanied by wine we had sampled and bought and then we played cards for hours. The new word of the evening was “discombobulated” which Helen assured us is a real word, and we laughed over Roger being mistakenly called Arthur. When asked for his initial, he said “R for Roger”, but this was interpreted as Arthur Roger, so Arthur stuck! It was a memorable evening of cards and good fun.

There were many firsts for us in Canada and Rushford including seeing a chipmunk, going to an ice hockey match ( and seeing the ice-smoothing machine), tasting home cooked ribs, shucking fresh sweet corn, visiting Canadian wineries, sampling ice wine, experiencing Niagara Falls, Baileys for breakfast, stink bugs, sooty black squirrels, riding a sit-on mower, riding a restored carousel, eating pulled pork rolls at church, tasting real maple syrup and seeing peach trees.