Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Conway and Georgetown

Yesterday, we decided to explore a bit of South Carolina and headed to Conway and Georgetown.  To me, both these towns epitomized what I thought the small southern town would be.  There is a certain charm in them that is hard to describe in words.

Conway, on the Waccamaw River, is a beautiful little town.  It was founded in the 1730s, and was originally called Kingston.  The river area is quite beautiful, although as it was breezy yesterday, also a bit cool.  Still, it is worth a walk around the historic area. 

 Conway, it seems, is also a mail depot for Santa Claus.  I didn't have time to write him a letter, but I though of Adrien, Lennox and Sydney (my grandchildren) when I saw this.
 
 This is the Presbyterian Church.  Although this building dates from the latter part of the 1800s, there has been a church on this site since the late 1700s.  The cemetary, on the side, had some confederate graves, and I took a picture or two.
 
 One of the Confederate graves.  It was nice to see that the grave was cleaned up and honoured.  I've seen a few other Confederate graves in my travels, and some of them were quite neglected.  No matter what you might think of the Civil War, it's nice to see that folks still honour their dead.
 
 Looking up the street from the river.  Imagine what this would have been like in horse and buggy days.  The houses on the left are from the 1800s. It would have been quite an imposing site, riding up the church, which is at the top of a very gentle hill.
 
Georgetown is the third oldest city in South Carolina.  It's an Winyah Bay, where three rivers, including the Waccamaw, meet.  It's been known for shipping rice (in fact, it has a rice museum), and logging.  The residential streets have beautiful live oaks, that reach over the street, creating a canopy of green, and some georgeous houses.  
 
 This is the Morgan House.  Mr. Morgan was the mayor in the early 1900s, and was instrumental in bringing water and sewer systems, electric lights, paved roads and sidewalks to the city, among other things. The side streets have several houses like this.  Beautiful!
 
 The most interesting residents of Georgetown that we met were these three.  I first I thought they were decoys, but they are the real thing.  The ducks were comfortably enjoying a bit of sunshine on the sidewalk, and would not move for any pedestrians, thereby forcing us to walk around them, while being scolded by one of the drakes for being too close to his mate.
 
 Isn't he a handsome fellow?  He seemed to enjoy posing for pictures, turning his head to get the best profile.
 
One of the stores we went into in Georgetown had Tilley Hats. The store had been carrying them for about a year, and the saleslady told us they were selling quite well.  I thought that was amusing - seeing a Canadian product in an American store, especially since the Tilley flagship store in Toronto is only a 30 minute drive from home.
 
Heading home, we decided to stop in at one of our favourite restaurants, the Bonefish Grill, for a bit to eat.  Some of our favourite dishes, Bang Bang Shrimp and Tuna Sushi.  Delicious, and a nice ending to a good day.







 
 

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