Charleston, SC: Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie

With us being 2 hours from Charleston, SC, we just HAD to take the drive to see areas that were so important to American History! We spent one day driving South. When we were almost to the exit for Fort Sumter, we crossed a beautiful bridge :-)

"The Cooper River Bridge (above) also known as the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge is North America's longest cable stay span, and features eight lanes of north-south traffic, including a 

bicycle /pedestrian lane."

It was so cool to drive through the arches!

 Finally, we arrived at the Fort Sumter Visitors Center. 

It was such a beautiful day!

We enjoyed the museum at the Visitors Center and learned a lot. 

Since there is no escaping the ever-present homeschooling teacher ;-), the kids worked so hard on their Junior Ranger workbooks.

Within a couple of hours, Christopher, Emily, and Lydia had earned yet ANOTHER Junior Ranger badge! Woohoo! I am SO proud of them :-D

We left Fort Sumter and headed for Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, just a few miles away. Unfamiliar with the Fort, we were interested to learn that Fort Moultrie was an active military facility from 1776-1947 and was involved with 4 different wars/revolutions.

We all enjoyed exploring the Fort. It was fascinating!

 I don't know if the kids were supposed to climb on the cannons for pics, but we let them anyway ;-)

 Despite the long day, they continued to work hard on their schoolwork, the Fort Moultrie Junior Ranger workbooks :-)

Fort Moultrie provides a beautiful view of Fort Sumter!

By the end of our visit, the kids were presented with their 2nd Junior Ranger badges of the day!

Before we headed back, we decided to take advantage of being close to the beach at Sullivan's Island. Obviously, we didn't swim, but we had a blast looking for shells!

Jeremy, Emily, and Lydia, posing for the camera ;-)

The beach was simply gorgeous! 

Makes me even consider living near one again ;-)

Unfortunately, the Sullivan's Island Lighthouse was closed for tours. I've always wanted the kids to see inside of a lighthouse. I guess we'll have to wait until another time...

Overall, it was a busy yet very pleasant day :-D We learned a lot and explored a beautiful part of America that we had never seen before. We definitely look forward to visiting again!