A church and a garden

These are actually from two different days, but unfortunately if I went strictly by days some days would have 20 pictures and others 3. For my posting sanity I decided to even things out a bit.


This is St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Charleston. We got there just as the sun was getting low in the sky, and striking the most wonderful tones from the stonework. Pardon if the colors are off. I've been trying to adjust the colors as I go to recapture the vivid tints I remember from that afternoon. Unfortunately I'm still rather new at all this.


I loved the dimple details in the stonework, and nice wrought iron fences get me every time.


Hmm, yeah I think I got carried away with the color values. I still love this close up. That church simply soared.


And a pretty shady side yard with the sun behind. We went at the perfect time. The days were warm without being too hot, and the nights never got so cool that we really even needed an extra blanket at night. I hope we can go back to Charleston again sometime.


Part of free tickets included entrance to the Magnolia Garden Plantation. It's rather expensive if you decide to stop by sometime. They do have lovely gardens even though very little was blooming at the time. The house is very nice if you like that sort of thing. Personally I've seen lots of historic houses over the years and probably wouldn't spend the extra money for a house tour ticket again. Apparently they have one of the most photographed bridges in America, which for some perverse reason I failed to photograph. This is a view off the famous bridge though. Not sure about that cross in the distance.


And this is part of what was once the first formal garden in South Carolina. Hard to think Charleston was once brand new and a few miles out was something of a wilderness where hardy young souls brought their brave wives out to grow rice and attempt assemble their scraps of civilization into a semblance of European elegance.


This is actually one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip. I don't know if that spanish moss fell or was placed, but I think it's one of the most charming pictures out of the lot.

Coming up next pictures from out sunset cruise. That will either be a really long post, or I'll break it up over a few days. I have so many favorite pictures from that group it will be hard to pick.