VACATION AND TRAVEL
“This is an aerial view of Fort Sumter in the middle of Charleston Harbor”
Sumter. One is in Charleston itself, and the other is in Mount Pleasant, that’s why I mentioned the hotels before continuing the boat story.
Anyway, I took the one in Charleston since I was already in the area touring. The dock is located at “Liberty Square’s Fort Sumter Visitor Center,” in Charleston. There is an adjacent parking garage next to the “Aquarium Wharf,” which is also another attraction you may want to visit having a parking garage for 2 dollars per hour. Over in Mount Pleasant, they have parking available for 5 dollars all day. There are many departure times depending on the time of the year you visit. The total time is about 2 hours and 15 minutes with one hour of that time to enjoy the fort, which by the way is deemed a National Park; this entire Island.
Anyway, if you decide to stay in Mount Pleasant like I did, you can drive or walk over to a great attraction, which is the nearby “Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum,” which is home to the, “USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, USS Laffey, USS Clamagore, The Vietnam Experience Exhibit, Medal of Honor Museum, and the Cold War Memorial.” This attraction is rated a 4.5 star out of 5 stars! If you do go to this attraction you will be there for more than a few hours with so much to see. For some people, this is an all-day attraction! The inside of the aircraft carrier for me was so amazing to see the vastness of the space and all the rooms everywhere.
If you do make Charleston or Mount Pleasant your place to stay at a hotel for a week-long stay for instance, then you may wish to consider a day trip to nearby Hilton Head Island which is a great place to visit only being 98 miles away, which is less than two hours. They have a seafood festival for 7 days starting on March 1st, and also, on March 15th they have the Saint Patrick’s Day parade. There will be seafood of course and live music and everything else that makes up a festival.
I enjoyed not only the fort, but the narration of the history of Historic Charleston. One amazing fact I learned on this boat ride was that Charleston’s nickname is called the “Holy City,” because it’s home to over 400 churches of many denominations. Everywhere you look you see church steeples all over the city.
“Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum,”
and the "Ravenel Bridge”