Visiting Low Country

From Forest Lake, we moved onto The Oaks at Point South, a Thousand Trails Campground in South Carolina. This campground is situated in South Carolina’s Low Country, which to us meant there was a risk of flooding when it rains. Unfortunately it rained the first couple of days that we were here and luckily our site didn’t totally flood but there was quite a bit of water near where I parked my car. Luckily the water drained away fairly quickly once the sun came out. Fortunately, after the first 2 days, it has been sunny for the rest of our stay.

I had to look up why it was called Low Country. According to Wikipedia: “The Lowcountry (sometimes Low Country or just low country) is a geographic and cultural region along South Carolina's coast, including the Sea Islands. Once known for its slave-based agricultural wealth in rice and indigo, crops that flourished in the hot subtropical climate, the Lowcountry today is known for its historic cities and communities, natural environment, cultural heritage, and tourism industry. “

This area is definitely worth a visit. It is very pretty with the moss covered live oak trees lining the roadways, pristine waterways, and many marinas. Even though the campground is situated close to the interstate and has some highway noise, it is very wooded and peaceful. The best feature is the walking trail around a lake on the property. The dog and I highly enjoyed daily walks around the lake, enjoying the fall colors reflecting in the water. I hear there are alligators in the water but I didn’t see any. I did catch some turtles basking in the sun one afternoon. Many Thousand Trails members say this campground is just good for a quick stopover when traveling north or south on the East Coast. I have to disagree. We liked the campground and enjoyed our 2 week stay. I know I could have stayed longer and would not have been bored.

Another beautiful fall day spent at the campground

While here, we experienced the historic city of Beaufort and drove around some of the Sea Islands. Beaufort is an historic town located on the Beaufort River, filled with beautiful southern homes, shops, local art, and restaurants. We spent a few days in town, walking through the neighborhoods filled with southern mansions as well as along the waterfront and marina. I got a few pictures of the homes in the area and I am sure there is an interesting history to some of them. It was hard to learn that on our own; perhaps next time we visit we will take a horse and buggy tour and learn more about them. Here are a few pictures of the beautiful homes in Beaufort:

We parked near the marina on our visits into Beaufort and enjoyed walking along the waterfront.

We drove out to Parris Island one day and spent a few hours exploring the history museum on the base. The day we went turned out to be the 247th anniversary for the Marine Corps. There was a presentation happening at the parade grounds when we arrived but we decided to skip that and ended up having the museum to ourselves. I had read that you could easily see it all in a half hour or so. I guess we take longer than most because we spent a few hours there and still didn’t read everything. I found the history of the island and the military history really interesting so read as much as I could at the various exhibits. There were exhibits that covered the history of the US Marines as well as all wars from the Spanish, French and Indian wars up through present day. There were quite a few artifacts from the Revolutionary and Civil wars. If you are ever in the area, it is definitely worth a visit to this museum.

Our neighbor, Has, let me tag along one day when he headed to Port Royal to visit the marina. He was friends with the harbor master and wanted to go say hello. It was a pretty day for a drive and we had a nice visit with his friend as well as a delicious lunch at the marina. After lunch, we took a ride around the area and through the town of Habersham which was a very pretty planned community. I am glad I got to tag along and see a bit more of the area.

Since the campground is located in between Savannah and Charlestown, we had to go visit at least one of those cities. We spent a Sunday morning/afternoon touring the historic area in Savannah. What a beautiful city. I loved walking up Bull Street, through many historic squares, to Forsyth Park and then back past many historic homes. The architecture was fascinating. After a very leisurely lunch (a polite way of saying the service was way too slow!), we walked down to the Savannah river and admired the view before heading back to the campground.

Juliette Gordon Low’s Birthplace (Founder of the Girl Scouts)

One of the beautiful streets in Savannah’s historic district.

This building was beside the restaurant where we had lunch. I think I heard a tour guide mention that it had been a stable.

Another square; there are many in the historic district and we went through 6 of them. All that we saw had statues with tributes to patriots from the Revolutionary War.

We have highly enjoyed our stay in Low Country but our 2 weeks is coming to an end. We have one more day and will spend that time packing up the trailer to get back on the road. Next up - Florida.

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