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The Greer Heritage Museum - "We Make History Awesome" - is on Main Street, right next door to the police department.  Yo-Yo Ma created the Silkroad ensemble in 1998 to promote collaboration among multi-cultural musicians.  (Image Credit: https://www.silkroad.org/american-railroad)
We visit Greenville, South Carolina's outstanding Upcountry History Museum whenever we are in the area.  I am always amazed when I visit the Upcountry History Museum in Greenville, South Carolina.  If you showed up for a party and this guy was near the front door, you'd be pretty sure to have a good time!  If you have a vintage pickup truck, and you own a vintage market/antique store, parking the truck in front of your store where it can be seen from the busy road makes a lot of sense.  So I've mentioned that one of the hardest things to leave on the Monterey Peninsula was Gail Abeloe's Back Porch Fabrics. A couple of days ago I visited two shops on the All Carolinas Shop Hop. These shops got my "Gold Star of Desire."  So we were surprised to learn that the population of Charleston is only about 150,000. I had expected it to be roughly the size of San Francisco, which has a bit more than 800,000 residents. What I am sharing is a reflection of losing pictures from my phone, however, rather than a lack of subject matter!  Founded in 1670 and named to honor King Charles II, Charleston sits on the confluence of three rivers and the Atlantic Ocean. It has been very significant historically from its inception. As we were visiting just days after Hurricane Ian passed through we were not sure what we might see.  I know, the picture doesn't match the title, but I had to put one of Mark and me up top, since our first date was 38 years ago today. This one was a few years ago, in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens. Soon I'll do a post on how we met, or "Why We're Living This Life."  We had an unanticipated delight today, as we happened upon an extensive, and truly delightful, display of quilts on Hilton Head Island today. I was at a quilt shop on the mainland, in Bluffton, South Carolina, when I saw a very high quality postcard publicizing an exhibit by Art Quilters of the Low Country at the Coastal Discovery Museum. Art quilts are my favorite, so I looked up the Museum's web site when I got back to the truck. Oh! A lecture in 45 minutes? Let's go!!!  As Mark mentioned, we were in Camden, South Carolina yesterday. My day was divided between “shop-hopping” and antiquing. Over 80 quilt shops are participating in the All Carolinas Shop Hop this September and October, and I aim to get to about half of them. “Barn quilts” are very popular in North Carolina, but yesterday was the first I have seen a “door quilt:”  We are camped - though in the trailer it is more "glamp" than "camp - in Sesquicentennial State Park. Nice and quiet, surrounded by lots of tall trees. Cheri was on a mission today to see quilt shops and architectural salvage shops. She will have to fill you in on her day later. She dropped me off in a parking lot on the side of the road and drove away. I had my camera, and the parking lot was the Revolutionary War History Center of Camden, South Carolina. 107 acres of history; I was set for the day. Bonus points if you can tell me before looking at the picture below what these four men had in common. Arthur Middleton, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heywood, Jr. and Thomas Lynch, Jr.  I wish I had been able to get a picture of this ornate framed poster that didn't reflect the lighting, but it is still beautiful and representative of the many instruments at the Sigal Music Museum in Greenville, South Carolina.  I was standing in front of a musical instrument that was actually played by Mozart; it brought on a feeling of history that is hard to explain. If you are in Greenville, South Carolina, you can see this harpsichord, and a tremendous collection of other musical instruments.  Greenville, South Carolina has several small but truly impressive museums. Down the line I want to see the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library, the Center for Creative Arts, and I'm sure Mark will be interested in the two or three military history museums. Yesterday we made it back to the Upcountry History Museum and the Sigal Music Museum. The are right beside the Children's Museum and the architecturally-striking main library. Since we had been to the Upcountry History Museum before, we focused on the photos that student photographer Stephen Somerstein took of the Selma-to-Montgomery march that took place in 1965.  If having a large city park right next to the historical downtown appeals to you, Greer, South Carolina should be on your list to visit.  |
