Category: History
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Carolina Wetlands, Part 6 (Ruins and Tombs)
South Carolina sure loved its old buildings whether lovingly maintained or reduced to rubble. In particularly her people revered historic churches with their requisite cemeteries filled with live oaks and draped in Spanish moss. Old churches and weathered cemeteries became a recurring theme on my journey. Or sometimes just the family cemeteries of long-lost plantations…
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Carolina Wetlands, Part 5 (The Swamp Fox)
So we finally get to Brigadier General Francis Marion, the so-called Swamp Fox. He was born on the family plantation sometime around 1732 although no definitive record exists, strangely enough. Then he spent much of his life there except for brief forays that included a stint in the French and Indian War. Nonetheless he was…
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Carolina Wetlands, Part 4 (This Means War)
I expected to run into a ton of Civil War history during my excursions. After all, the first shots of the conflict happened nearby at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. So it surprised me to see a lot less than I figured within the pocket I explored. There was some of course, but not much…
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Carolina Wetlands, Part 2 (All About the Water)
Water, water everywhere! Well what else would anyone expect? After all, the whole area was basically a swamp. They even called one big chunk of South Carolina the Lowcountry for its very specific lack of elevation and percolating water table. Liquid gurgled, flowed, pooled or crashed just about everywhere I stepped during the week. So…
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Highlands and More
Various Points in Scotland (January 2000) We used to be able to take spur of the moment trips before we had children. Thus, all the way back in 2000, one of the airlines offered an absurdly low fare for a last-minute trip to Glasgow, Scotland. I think it was something really crazy like $120. But…
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Neolithic Henge, Cairns and Standing Stones
Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, Scotland (January 2000) The Kilmartin Glen contained an impressive collection of neolithic sites. The richest cluster in the valley included Temple Wood Henge and the various Nether Largie artifacts. Conveniently they all sat within close proximity of each other (map). A circular structure set off from the surrounding landscape by an earthwork…
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Dunadd
Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, Scotland (January 2000) There are few places in Scotland with such an incredible collection of archaeological sites as Kilmartin Glen. There are hundreds of monuments, fortresses, cairns, standing stones and carvings between Lochgilphead and Kilmartin (map). They range from the prehistoric all the way to the early days of the original Scottish…
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Wintertime in Corolla, Part 2 (Not Water)
Sure, I enjoyed the sand and the waves during our brief hideaway on North Carolina’s Outer Banks (map). However I couldn’t spend the entire time just staring out the window or walking along the beach. We did some other things too. Everything seemed so weird though, partially because of the pandemic and partially because we…
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Monte Brasil
Terceira, The Azores (Açores), Portugal (March 2001) Monte Brasil is an odd appendage hanging off of Terceira’s south central coast (map). It forms a bay and a natural harbor with its teardrop shape. Additionally it deflects prevailing winds that come from the west and the southwest. Its heights allowed defensive positions that protected the land…
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Angra do Heroísmo Harbor
Terceira, The Azores (Açores), Portugal (March 2001) We drove west along Terceira’s southern coastal road. The scenery became increasingly impressive all along the way. Finally we turned a corner and noticed a spit of land jutting outward from the island across the pastoral landscape. This marked Monte Brasil, the volcanic caldera at Angra do Heroísmo…