Remembering Williamsburg

Happy Saturday, everyone.  I guess I should say "Happy March" too, because I don't think I've posted since February.  I hope you're seeing some signs of spring in your part of the world.  We're seeing lots of daffodils and some tulip trees in bloom.     

      

Part Two of the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg

Welcome back to the Governor's Palace!  If you missed Part One of the post, you can read that here.        

       

The Richmond Reid Plantation

Happy Friday to you!  Do you have any plans for the weekend?  We'll be celebrating my dad's birthday at my parents' house on Sunday.  His birthday was July 3rd, but it's easier for everyone to get together on the weekend.   On Monday, Hal and I went to the town of Denton, North Carolina, to attend the 48th Annual Southeast Old Threshers' Reunion.       

The Beauty of Charleston

Just six hours away from our home in North Carolina, we can visit the city of Charleston, South Carolina, and it almost feels like being in another country.  I say this because the old historic part of Charleston has a very old-world look and feel to it.  We usually hear at least one foreign language spoken while we're there -- often French, sometimes German, Japanese, and the King's English, spoken with a British accent.  😉   

Checking In Again

Hi folks!  I've missed you and feel like I haven't been online in forever.  We have been sooo busy.  I just wanted to show you a few pictures of where we are at the moment; we'll be heading home tomorrow.  I've had a wonderful adventure, but I miss our bed and Mr. Duncan.  ;)

Historic Boone Hall Plantation

Hi folks!  I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day yesterday; I know I sure did.  We are so blessed to still have both of our moms with us, and I'm so thankful to be a mom myself.  :)

We just got home Friday evening from four days spent in Charleston, South Carolina.  What an amazing city -- full of elegance, grace, mystique, hospitality, history, and good food.  If you've never been, I encourage you to put that on your list of places to see.

While we were there, we made a side trip to Mt. Pleasant, where we toured Boone Hall Plantation.  I believe I went there as a child with my parents and sister, but I really didn't remember it at all.  We spent the afternoon there, and it was a fascinating visit.

Living With History

My husband and I took a Beginner Digital Photography class yesterday at our local community college.  I've taken pictures with a digital camera for about five years now, but it's a point and shoot camera.  I was very comfortable with the point and shoot (too comfortable in fact); I felt like I could take some pretty good pictures with it, but they were never going to be as good as the photos Mr. Forest Manor takes with his DSLR camera.  I mentioned recently that Mr. FM got a new, even better DSLR camera, so I've decided that now is the time for me to learn to use his older camera.

My first pictures won't win any photography awards, but they weren't disasters either.

Southport Cottages, Part Two

This is going to be a post of few words (I hope).  :)  Sharing some more pictures of Southport cottages.

Charleston Part Five, Doorways and Courtyard Gardens

Hi folks!  I'm still here, just can't seem to find much time to post (or visit) at the moment.  Life has been quite busy with our family, our home, and our Duncan.  ;)  When I first started my blog almost four and a half years ago, things just weren't as busy around here as they are now.  But -- I still look at all your blog posts almost daily, and I will still be visiting, it just might take me a little longer to get there.

Wow, it's really hot here now!!  It's not even the middle of May, and already temps. are in the 80's and very muggy.  I would love to have had a few more weeks in the 70-degree range, but we have to take what we can get.  It was about this time last year that my husband and I took a short trip to Charleston, South Carolina -- what a wonderful and unique city!!  Charleston is famous for its courtyard gardens, and we saw lots of pretty ones.  Those serene and shady gardens are beckoning me right now, so come along with me for a tour.

Southport Cottages

I can hardly believe it's Sunday night again -- another weekend has flown by.  I hope yours was a good one!  A few weeks ago I shared a cute cottage in Southport, N.C., for St. Patrick's Day.  Here are some more Southport cottages for you.

Southport, Part Two

Hi folks.  As promised, I'm showing you the rest of the houses we photographed in Southport, NC, this past weekend.  There are so many darling cottages in this town, but we were only able to take pictures of a handful.  You can see photos of more houses in yesterday's post Here.

 

Southport, North Carolina

Would you care to take a little tour of one of my favorite towns in the world?  Let's go for a walk in Southport, North Carolina, and let me show you some of the charming houses there.  These pictures were taken this past weekend, and the weather was gorgeous.  Before we see the houses though, here's a little information about the town itself.

Southport was founded in 1792 as Smithville.  It was originally named after Benjamin Smith, who was a colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and later became a governor of North Carolina.  The name was changed to Southport in 1887 in an effort to promote the town as a major shipping port.  Southport sits on the bank of the Cape Fear River just a few miles inland of the Atlantic Ocean, so it is rich in maritime history.  Fort Johnston, also located within Southport, was built by the British in 1748 to protect the Cape Fear River Region from pirates and privateers. 

Charleston Part Four, The Gardens at the Heyward-Washington House

I'm in love with American colonial gardens.  

Charleston, Part Two

Continuing with our tour of Charleston, I'm sharing the rest of the interior of the Heyward-Washington House.  I wanted to go ahead and do that before I get busy here with other things and too much time passes.  You can see the first part of the house Here.  In this post, I'm focusing on the rooms on the second floor of the house.

I'm so excited to show you the rooms on this floor; there were two bedrooms and two withdrawing (or as we are used to saying) drawing rooms.  The bedrooms were on the back of the house, and I'll share those first.

Charleston, South Carolina

I was so happy to be able to spend almost three full days in Charleston this past week.  You see, Charleston is the city where we spent our honeymoon 27 years ago today.  We were married on the 23rd, and we arrived in Charleston on the 24th of May, 1987.  At the time, we had said we'd try to return for our tenth anniversary, but as the saying goes, "Life happens;" so 27 years later, we finally made it back to Charleston.  It was a quick, but wonderful trip.

Mosaic Monday

I'm joining the other bloggers for Mosaic Monday, hosted by Mary at Little Red House.  My mosaic this week is a combination of pictures from Tulip Grove Plantation in Nashville, Tennessee.  My husband and I were there in April of last year to attend the wedding of his first cousin.  The wedding reception was held in this beautiful, old, antebellum home; the wedding ceremony was held in the nearby Hermitage Chapel.

Tulip Grove was built for Andrew Jackson Donelson, the nephew of President Andrew Jackson.  You can see more pictures of Tulip Grove HERE.  You can also read more about Tulip Grove and Andrew Jackson's Home, The Hermitage, at this website.

Thanks for visiting my blog; I always appreciate your comments, and I read every one of them.

Denise 

Old Salem, North Carolina

I had planned to save this post for a later time, but I decided to go ahead and publish it now, because it has some pretty summer flowers and gardens, and it is definitely still summer around here.

I'm trying to learn about photo composition, and I have a lot to learn.  So, I've been practicing.  I have learned that light, too much or too little of it, is crucial to good pictures.  And we all know that the quality of light is different at different times of day, as well as different times of year.

On Monday of this week, I went to Old Salem to take some more photos for a follow-up to a post I did a few weeks ago, which you can read about HERE.  I started taking pictures at about 10:30 a.m., and it was already pretty bright outside at that time.  I got some good pictures, but when I looked at them on the computer, I realized I wanted a softer light.  So, I went back in the evening with my husband and took a few more.

Then on Tuesday morning, DH had to be at work at 7:00 a.m., so I took the camera with me, and after dropping him off at the office, I went straight to Old Salem, and started photographing around 7:15 a.m.  I found the light to be much better, and the quality of the pictures to be better as well.

There's so much to photograph in this small, historic community.  There are colonial merchant's shops with wonderful, painted wooden signs.

"Little Williamsburg"

I'm celebrating Independence Day all this week -- at least on my blog.  Mr. Forest Manor had his out-patient surgery last week, and thankfully, he's doing well.  After I picked him up from work this afternoon, we drove to Old Salem so I could take some pictures while they still had their historic flags out for the Fourth of July.  I grew up in this area and have pretty much lived nearby all my life, and I never get tired of Old Salem.  I LOVE it there.  Years ago we read in a local newspaper or magazine (can't remember which) that Old Salem is like a "Little Williamsburg".  That was probably a tad ambitious :)  Old Salem is quite a bit smaller than Williamsburg, and they don't offer as many events; but it is quite old for this country, and I think it's charming.  You can read my second post about Old Salem HERE.

Old Salem was built in 1766 and features a living history museum that interprets the restored Moravian community. The Moravian church has its origins in ancient Bohemia and Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic.  To escape religious persecution, the Moravians came to America, where they settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Salem (now Winston-Salem), North Carolina.  Like Williamsburg, Old Salem does historical re-enactments, and the tour guides and interpreters all wear 18th century traditional Moravian costumes.


George Washington visited Salem in 1791 and slept at the Old Salem Tavern.  And this has nothing to do with Colonial America or July 4th; but... the first Krispy Kreme store opened in Old Salem in 1937;)  The doughnuts were made using potato flour, an old Moravian practice.  So that's it for facts in this post; let's look at some pictures.

Hanging in front of this shop is the Grand Union flag, commonly regarded as the first (unofficial) American flag.

Historic Wilmington, North Carolina

In my posts for the last few days, I've talked about being at the beach for our annual family summer vacation.  That family time at the beach has come to symbolize a big part of what the summer season means to me... and on that note, I'll be linking this post to Seasonal Sundays hosted by The Tablescaper.  I hope you'll stop by to see the interesting posts there!

Yesterday we drove to Wilmington to visit a photography shop and the Barnes & Noble Bookstore.  We usually go to Wilmington for a day, or a half-day, when we're down here; and happily for me, we almost always end up in the historic downtown waterfront section of the city.  It's a fun area, and it has the most interesting old homes.  Now you may not know this, but I Love Houses!!  I love big houses, small, cozy houses, old houses and new houses.  I like cottage style, and castles, bungalows, and manor houses, Federal style, Georgian style, Victorian, farmhouse, townhouse -- just about everything but contemporary.  Anyway, you get the idea.  I want to share some pictures of these wonderful old houses located on the waterfront in downtown Wilmington.  The thing that makes them so interesting is that they have so many charming architectural features, such as handsome doors,

windows and cupolas (look on top of this roof)

ornate wrought iron fences...

and gates.

There are secret courtyard gardens

and fountains.

There are porches...

and the most wonderful hydrangeas that bloom in multiple colors.

There's convenient shopping right around the corner...

even some beautiful dishes!

And last, but not least, an awesome home security system!!

That's right, if pirates should sail up the river with plans to pillage and plunder, boy are they in for a big surprise:-)

I thought we might retire here, but I haven't told Mr. Forest Manor;)  Hope you enjoyed the tour, and I'll leave you with the rest of the pictures.

The U.S. Battleship North Carolina

Aren't the columns on the front of this house enormous?!

This is a Confederate Jasmine vine growing below, and it smells heavenly in the early evening breeze.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great week!

Denise