Mount Pleasant, Sullivan’s Island And Fort Moultrie All In One Day

Still in Charleston, SC, we searched around for other areas to explore.  Charleston, as you may or may not be aware, sits as a peninsula in the Charleston Harbor surrounded by various islands.

Sitting just on the other side of the Charleston Harbor is Mount Pleasant.  Which is considered to be a suburb of Charleston.  There are many interesting things to do while in Mount Pleasant.  We had a nice day to explore, so we set out to do a few of them.

First, in order to get to Mount Pleasant you have to cross the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.  The main span (the span between the two towers) is over 1500 feet and is the third longest among cable stayed bridges in the western hemisphere with it’s over all total length of 13,200 feet.  It’s a much improved bridge that replaced some older, out-dated bridges and it just had it’s grand opening in 2005.  So if you haven’t been to the Charleston area in a few years, this is a much improved view, I would imagine, than the old rusty bridges that graced this area before.

A great place to start our Mount Pleasant adventure is the visitor’s center.  Located in Memorial Waterfront Park, just under the new bridge.  Yup, the park is under the bridge.  Somehow this just works.  And as an added bonus, this is a great place to get some good shots of the new bridge.

David of course took this opportunity to get his quadcopter out and shoot some video.  You can see this video at the end of this post.

Once we left the visitor’s center and the park, we decided to start at the furthest point and work our way back.  So off to Sullivan’s Island and tour Fort Moultrie.

From the time of the earliest European settlements to the end of WWII, Fort Moultrie has guarded the harbors and shores of Charleston and the surrounding area.  It has a long history with many wars fought here.  In 1776, Fort Moultrie had the first American victory over the British Navy which galvanized the patriots’ cause for independence.

Fort Sumter can be seen from across the waterway.  Sitting on an island of it’s own, it’s only reachable by boat.  We chose not to visit this fort and just stay on the mainland.

Between the two forts, it is said that this, Fort Sumter, is “Where The American Civil War Began” with the first shots being ignited here.

Fort Moultrie is located right next to a very small park along the water’s edge.  So we drove over to this park and put up the quadcopter for some interesting shots.

I think this picture is funny because it looks like the quadcopter is going to be shot down with the cannons.  David’s video is below.

When we were done there, I saw that we were close to the “Old Village”.  On the National Registery, the Old Village has many colonial and antebellum period homes, shops and churches.  We drove right to Pitt Street which is in the heart of the Old Village.

On Pitt Street there is the Pitt Street Pharmacy.  It hasn’t been around as long as some of the older houses and churches in the area.  Opening in 1938 it is one of the few original soda fountain places still in existence today.

So an original soda fountain?  Well, the atmosphere was certainly original.  The food, a big FAIL.  What made matters worse was a couple doors down was a wonderful bakery that had fresh home-made sandwiches on fresh bread they just made that day and yummy smelling soups.  So do us all a favor.  If you find yourself in this area, go to the bakery down the road for lunch and just stop and take pictures of the pharmacy and soda fountain.

We walked this “Old Village” for a little bit but not much time needs to be spent here.  It’s basically just this one little street and some old historical houses.

Their are huge trees all over this area.  We came across this large tree that is blanketing this driveway.  Somehow I don’t think I’d feel comfortable parking my car or boat under this canopy.  Especially in a big wind storm.  Yikes!

Before we headed home we hit Shem Creek Park which is near Patriot’s Point and Naval Museum (which we didn’t go to).

Shem Creek Park boasts a boardwalk that spans over 2200 feet over the marsh.  You can sit and watch the shrimp boats do their thing and if you’re lucky, you can watch some dolphins come into the bay.

We were not so lucky.  No dolphins when we were there.

There’s also a few restaurants along the water for a nice lunch or dinner.  But we were totally full and satisfied from our microwavable burger and plastic cup chocolate malts. Oh well, live and learn, right?

All kidding aside, we had a lovely time wandering around Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island and exploring the Fort.

A nice day trip and a more laid back atmosphere from the hustle and bustle of the downtown area of Charleston.