National Park and Ft. Sumter

While in South Carolina we were able to visit the beautiful Congaree National Park. It is an "old growth" floodplain and it is one of the tallest broad-leaf forests in the world -- wow!!

We wandered through this beautiful

 place on a lovely boardwalk:

This mud is called Dorovan muck and is eight feet thick! 

All of those knobby things you see around the trees are called "knees". They come out of the roots of the tree--one purpose might be to provide extra support

during floods and high winds.

South Carolina is known as the Palmetto State. This is a dwarf palmetto. They thrive here because the ground is wet and sandy and the hurricanes that occur create a gap in the canopy so the sunlight reaches the forest floor.

Here are a few more pics just so you can see this amazing place!!

Our favorite sight of the day was the Pileated Woodpecker. Isn't it amazing?

I thought this sign was very funny, but also made me grateful that we weren't here in the summer!

Two other interesting things about the Congaree. In 1919 the sale of alcohol was prohibited and moonshiners and bootleggers found refuge in this forest to earn a living.

Many escaped slaves sought refuge in this forest because it was so dense it was difficult for slave owners to follow or find them.

Our last site today was Fort Sumter. We had to catch a ferry in Charleston to get to the Fort. 

It was still cold!

We'd never seen an aircraft carrier before:

This is where the Civil War began - Fort Sumter:

This is the flag that flew over Ft. Sumpter in 1861. The Confederates allowed Major Anderson to take it

 with him when they surrendered the fort.

The coolest part of the visit was Kent helping to retire the flag for the day: