Charleston SC and Manteo NC via Myrtle Beach

 May 15 - 22 2026

Rooftop Bar

I guess we are starting the Colonial History portion of the trip. Charleston South Carolina is a coastal town similar to Savannah in that it has a lot of very old houses in similar styles. We went to a nice rooftop restaurant for dinner before wandering the little downtown area. Beautiful day with a great view of the waterfront and the town. 

The big guns

We went to the Fort Sumter and Moultrie National Park. I was aware of Fort Sumter's role as the first battle of the civil war but had no idea about Fort Moultrie during the Revolutionary War. Apparently, It was a big deal and held out against the British Naval and Marine forces giving the Revolutionary Army an early win in 1776, even though it would fall later in 1780. 

15 stars and stripes on this flag.

I learned that the original plan for the flag was to add a star and a stripe for each new state. Luckily this was abandoned in favor of just adding stars. Could you imagine 50 stripes on the flag. It would look like a pinstripe suit!

The Beach

A cool tour of the fort and my first walk on an Atlantic beach. Did not go to the water but there were a lot of people doing beachy stuff. 

Beautiful grounds a the winery!

We only were there for a few nights and I was working mostly so did not really explore the city too much. Seemed nice though. We decided to just do an overnight to break up the driving at a Harvest Hosts at the Silver Coast Winery near Myrtle Beach. It was a very nice location on the grounds. They had a small amount of vines, mostly for decoration as their wine grapes were from north west North Carolina.

Tasting

They had a very reasonable tasing. $10 for four wines, and the bottle prices were mostly around $20. I am by no means a wine dude, but these were very good drinking wines. Harvest Hosts offer free overnights with the expectation that you will patronize the business. Easy peasey! I even bought one of the wines that I had never heard of a Red Calabash. apparently a local wine, that was particularly yummy.

Woodworking Demo.

The next day we continues to Manteo (pronounced Man EE O) North Carolina, otherwise known as Roanoke Island. Mom's good friend Georgia lived here at some point and they came through here on a trip a few years ago. It is a quaint little village with a super cute downtown and docks. We toured Roanoke, the site of the first English colony in the Americas, often referred to as the Lost Colony because all the inhabitants disappeared at some point when supplies from England were delayed for a few years. The most likely explanation is that they basically moved in with the native tribes although there is no definitive answer.

Elizabeth II

They had a replica of a time appropriate ship and re-creation of the village as well as re-enactments of skills from the time period. Was a basic lathe and a spokeshave bench which was pretty cool.

No ailerons, they actually warped the entire wing!

Also in the area was Kitty Hawk, where the Wright Brothers first achieved powered flight. Maybe the theme of the trip is Aviation and History. Anyway, as an aviation nerd, I was fascinated. We all know the basics of the story, bicycle makers blah blah, first flight blah blah... but the details were very interesting.

You can see the first three landing sites
clumped together and the last one way
off in the distance.

They realized that the equations for lift and drag that were accepted at the time were wrong. So they went about calculating the correct values and, through experimentation in a wind tunnel, which they built, calculated optimal wing shape. On the day they finally flew, they and hundreds of flights in a glider in which they mastered the art of controlled flight. The first flight was just 12 seconds but by the fourth, they were able to stay aloft and in control for almost a minute. Very inspiring.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

We also went to see an old lighthouse on the outer banks that was very lighthousey. A striped spire and a keepers house. The site was well maintained. I am always amazed at how structures like this were built without modern equipment. It did take them three tries, The first fell down, the second burned down, but this one, the third sayed up. The strongest lighthouse in the swamp. (Monty python ref)

I was finally able to dip my feet in the Atlantic for the first time. The water was cool but swimmable and very clear.

Yum!

Not much else to report from this little portion of the trip. Had some more shrimp. I really like the gulf shrimp, they are very mild compared to the pacific shrimp we get at home and they generally peel easier. Anyway, we make a lovely shrimp and goat cheese salad.

Next is Williamsburg and then off to DC, so more American History coming up.