Still dressed for Halloween

McClellanville, SC   

Someone is wearing his Halloween costume too close to Thanksgiving. Isn't there an etiquette rule covering this? No white after Labor Day, no fangs in November. 

For Steve

McClellanville, SC   

You know I have the greatest collection of sidewalk inscriptions but this was a first. I slipped away from my outdoor luncheon table, leaving my companions to chat while I took a picture of the poem in the pavement that caught my eye. It turns out I was eating lunch with the poet William P. Baldwin who had written and inscribed the poem in honor of the gentleman who had laid the patio tile before passing away. Sometimes all the pieces come together.

Backtrack here to see more of my collection of concrete thoughts.

Paddling with the poet

Paddling Honey Hill, McClellanville, SC   

I had a last minute invitation Saturday night offering me a chance to join a kayak ride this morning and luckily I was able to accept. My friend English and I joined author and poet William P. Baldwin at his home in the village of McClellanville. He had just completed writing his morning poem before helping us loading our kayaks into his truck.

We put the kayaks in at Honey Hill. The colors were so beautiful I aimed my little pocket camera at the reflections as much as my surroundings. We did see birds, bullfrogs and a few gators. We paddled in perfect peace winding through the low branches and around cypress logs capping the morning off sitting outside in the village listening to local stories over sandwiches at Boats N Hoagies. I felt very fortunate.

Now, must we do this work week business in the morning?

Posts to pillars, pillars to posts

McClellanville, SC   

These aren't your usual white porch pillars. It took me a second glance to realize they were bare unpainted tree trunks. Well done McClellanville!

Church Photos in Lieu of Attendance - McClellanville, SC

McClellanville United Methodist Church

Not everyone goes to church on a Thursday afternoon but tag along with me as we admire the churches of McClellanville, SC. We had an official escort after meeting the new Methodist pastor Reverend Tim Saucy who had the keys to let us snoop around after enjoying a bowl of crab chowder at TW Graham & Co. restaurant.

We started with one of his new churches, the historic McClellanville United Methodist Church in the center of the little coastal village. A black cat welcomed us, the lady doing the cleaning knew the church history and the hurricane Hugo high water mark plaque on the wall was terrifying.

The children of McClellanville have had free use of all the churches for Vacation Bible School week so we also walked over to visit the beautiful Episcopal Chapel of Ease.

Our final stop was down Highway 45 to the tiny little Wrens Chapel another Methodist church. I believe my immediate family would fill it up. It was built in 1865 to replace an even older church burnt during the war between the states.

Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance - Brick Church at Wambaw

Brick Church at Wambaw, St. James Santee Parish

The chapel is set in a peaceful pine tree forest. The last time I was there was in the evening with all the windows open, listening to the talented gentlemen from the Charlestones group sing to me. I had reminded myself then to come back in the daylight for pictures and was grateful for gentle light yesterday. It is a tricky spot to photograph in bright glaring sun. The church was built in 1768 and you feel immersed in history on the property.

About the Brick Church at WambawAlthough Wambaw Church stands alone on the old King’s Highway among the pines and oaks of the forest, it was once the center of a busy and prosperous community.  North and south along the Santee River were rice plantations whose Carolina rice became famous all over the world and the prosperity of the planters is reflected in the beauty and proportions of Wambaw Church.  The body of the church was built of brick imported from England, but the columns of   the portico were constructed of local wedge-shaped bricks.  The pews were made of hand-pegged cypress, the flagstone floor has withstood the  ravages of two wars and the vaulted ceiling still retains the original plaster work. 

Trying to stay ahead

McClellanville, SC   

I figured if they were going to have something like this on their property they wouldn't mind me taking a picture of it. Hello there! 

What do you want on your tombstone?

She was the sunshine of our home

She took us to church

She looked well to the ways of her household

Home is the sailor, home from the sea and the hunter home from the hill

Beautiful, daring, exuberant and compassionate. Heaven has many riches.

See the tree, dear?

Deer Head Oak, McClellanville, S.C.

See the deer? Nope. Neither do I. It is a magnificent oak tree but it is called Deer Head Oak Tree and although I squinted, stared and circled the tree, I can't see it.

The Deerhead Oak is both larger in circumference, 30.6 feet, and height, 67 feet, than the famed Angel Oak on Johns Island, SC estimated by some to be more than 1,500 years old and thought to be the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi River. Of course, it is hard to estimate the age of these ancient trees, which predate the discovery of America by the Europeans, because boring samples are not reliable due to a tendency for the live oaks heart wood to rot.
It takes some creativity to see the deer head, with its knobby eyes and nose and long antler branches, but no matter if you can't. The value in the tree comes not from its likeness to an animal, but from its beauty and history.

A giant oak stands in the town,
Its known as the Deer Head Tree.
Surely the oldest living thing
Within our community.
For centuries rooted in place,
Watching the seasons pass.
No telling just how old it is,
Or how long yet it may last.
I sometimes wonder if this old tree
Had senses and wit ad tongue,
What stories it might tell us,
Of events since it was young.
~By James O. McClellan

They are correct. If it is 1,500 years old it may have looked like a deer, five hundred years ago. It is a grand dear tree. 

Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance - St. James Santee Episcopal

St. James Santee Episcopal, Chapel of Ease, McClellanville, S.C.

It's been awhile since I've added to the Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance series but I have a lovely one for you today. This is the St. James Santee Episcopal Chapel of Ease in McClellanville, S.C.  I asked about the chapel location at the museum and was told the door would be open for my visit.

St. James Santee Episcopal Church: The church framework of South Carolina longleaf pine and cypress was handcrafted the "old way," mortised and tenoned together, and the black cypress shingles, which cover the roof and exterior sidewalls, were shaped with handsaws. The designs of the interior furnishings were the creations of Lucas, who drew them on longleaf pine boards for rendering with keyhole saws. His final touch was the installation of the chan­deliers. He died in 1914.

I hope everyone has had a good weekend. As usual I am doing all my chores in the last few hours of the weekend. I can do it. I can.

McClellanville, S.C.

McClellanville, S.C.

An hour up the coast McClellanville is a sweet oak tree shaded marsh front village. I loved it. I paid my $3 and walked through the museum, checked out the few artsy shops on Pinckney St., the Dear Head Oak tree, peeked in the Chapel of Ease and walked through the cemetery. More information here. I definitely need to marry someone in McClellanville and live happily every after, doncha think?