For spring break I went on an Alternative Spring Break service trip to South Carolina. My group stayed in a beach house that was yards away from the ocean on Sullivan's Island. The views, architecture, and history are incredible! Here is a summary of what I did each day:
DAY ONE: MARCH 6, 2011
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Nic, Me, Jim, ReShawn, Sister Beth, Katrina and Melissa
at the airport waiting on our delayed flights |
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| Walkway in downtown Charleston |
Arriving in Charleston we were able to explore the beautiful city for a couple hours where I saw my first dolphin along the pier. That night after we unpacked our luggage we went for a midnight stroll on the beach looking at the stars and watching the lightning in the distance.
DAY TWO: MARCH 7, 2011
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| Just getting on the roof, not quite used to the slope yet |
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| Hammering nails like a pro! |
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| Night out |
Early the second morning we headed for Georgetown, South Carolina where we began to strip off Mrs Othelle Rue's roof. After tearing all the shingles and nails off we nailed down black tar paper to prevent leaks. University of Detroit Mercy alumni, Jeff, who is an architect in Greenville, South Carolina joined us in repairing the roof. That night we went out to dinner where the rest of the group pointed out that I could eat a lot, I only has six wings, a mahi mahi sandwich, pickles, fries, and cole slaw. What can I say? I had been working really hard all day!
DAY THREE: MARCH 8, 2011
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| Starfish and Sea Shells |
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| OCEAN! |
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| First Italian Gelato Ice Cream. Raspberry and Mango |
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| Charleston |
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| Jumping in front of the United States Customs House |
I started my morning off with a relaxing walk along the beach looking for star fish and sand dollars, we found a lot of broken ones but we were only interested in whole ones. We continued working on the roof of the house and finished the main portion of the roof leaving only the screened in porch and shed roofs left to do. That night Jeff took us around Charleston to get some ice cream and walk down the streets with historic 1700 homes. I was so intrigued that I completely forgot to take pictures of the stunning homes and atmosphere.
DAY FOUR: MARCH 9, 2011
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| Waiting for instructions |
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Using the nail gun to nail the shingles and
getting more comfortable on the roof! |
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| Lunch with Mrs. Othelle Rue |
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| Official construction workers |
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| Finished! Thanks to help and guidance from Shawn and Lee |
Our group finished the roof! Yay! It was a lot of hard work but it definitely paid off to help Mrs. Rue. In appreciation she made us tuna and noodles for lunch with her famous 'Million Dollar Cake'. She loved telling us all about her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, showing us pictures of all of them. That night everyone was exhausted and we went back to the beach house and watched Easy A.
DAY FIVE: MARCH 10, 2011
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| Morning stroll at the ocean :) |
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| Tree in front of the Hamilton Plantation |
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| Handmade bricks made by slaves |
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| Boone Plantation |
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| Slave quarters |
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| There was a giant hole in this tree that I was able to stand up in! |
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| Gates leading into the Boone Plantation |
The weather prevented us from starting to replace the floors in Mrs. Rue's house so we had the day off! We were able to sleep in and later in the day we decided to go to a plantation. The first plantation we went to, Hamilton Plantation, was closed so we just walked around the grounds for a while. The large tree in the top picture has an interesting story behind it. The wife of the owner of the house wanted the tree to be cut down because it was "blocking her view" but George Washington refused to allow them to cut it down so we are able to see it's beauty today. Next, we went to the Boone Plantation where we were just in time to grab a ride on the Trolly that brought us around the grounds of the plantation. Boone plantation was known for its bricks, pecan trees (which the majority of were destroyed in a hurricane), cotton, grapes and blueberries. The brickyard was known for making millions of bricks per year and over a million of those bricks are located in Fort Sumter. The house that is currently standing on the plantation is the fourth one to be built. The first one was burned down (which was common back in the day due to kitchen fires), the second was destroyed by a hurricane, and the third was rebuilt in 1935 because the house was 150 years old and was starting to fall apart. The inside of the house was amazing, unfortunately it was against the law to take pictures. The grand enterance had a cantilevered staircase from the third house. The architectural detail was wonderful! The Boone Plantation was in the movie The Notebook which we watched later that night in honor of our trip to the plantation.
