Beautiful Beaufort by the Sea

Yesterday we headed out for Beaufort, South Carolina.  We took the scenic Savannah highway and stopped at a rural pie shop on the way.  We bought a small homemade peach pie to add to our picnic lunch.  

We stopped at the beautiful Sheldon Church ruins a little ways outside of Beaufort.  The Sheldon church was built in the mid-1700's, burned by the British during the revolutionary war, rebuilt in the early 1800's and burnt again by the Union troops during the Civil War.  It was such a peaceful setting with all the big oak trees dripping with spanish moss. 

We enjoyed a quiet picnic lunch among all the quiet guests of Sheldon church.  Our homemade peach pie was yummy!

We arrived in Beaufort and checked in to the Beaufort Inn.  It is a beautiful bed and breakfast with big wrap-around porches.  After walking around the downtown area of Beaufort near the waterfront, we had afternoon tea on the front porch.  Definitely not hot tea - iced sweet tea.  I finally got to enjoy tea on the porch of a beautiful, southern home. Eric enjoyed napping on the porch.   

We had dinner at one of the restaurants in Waterfront park.  We met an artist having dinner at the same restaurant and he and Eric started talking.  One thing led to another and he signed a pen and ink drawing that he had done and gave it to us.  It is really good you can hardly tell that it is not a photo. 

restaurants at Waterfront Park

One of the big debates in packing for this trip was whether or not to bring our bikes.  We took Rex's excellent advice and brought them and have been so glad that we did.  Beaufort is made for biking.  the streets are lined with huge oak trees that keep the street shaded until about 11:00 am and there is not much traffic.  It also let us get a great up-close look at some of the beautiful homes in "The Point"area of Beaufort.  This morning we biked for 3-1/2 hours looking at all the homes.  We even biked to the National Cemetary here.  Here are some of the sites from our morning bike excursion.

The man at this house told me this tree was probably about 300 years old.

Boats on the Beaufort waterway

This was the house were they filmed the movies "The Big Chill" and "The Great Santini"

Saint Helen's churchyard.  The oldest grave was from 1724.  They even have a couple of British officers from the Revolutionary War buried here.

Saint Helena's church steeple.  The church was built in 1712 and is still in use.  They are celebrating their tricentenial this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some tea on the porch, Eric and I are headed out tonight to the Dockside Grill on Lady Island which is just across the Waterway.  We get to cross the big cantilevered bridge that swivels to allow the tall-masted sail boats through.