A Day Trip for post # 700

     Cindy likes to save some vacation time in the Fall to do nothing major...just a little something each day in South Carolina. Except for transits on I-95, neither of us have spent much time away from the coast. I did have a few trips to/from Ninety Six as a volunteer driver for a cancer patient undergoing a clinical trial at MUSC in Charleston a few years ago.

     Cindy had read about a site on the National Register of Historic Places commemorating the Revolutionary Battle of Eutaw Springs. Concord/Lexington it's not, but it was the last major battle in the Carolinas just six weeks before Yorktown. In early 1781, MG N. Greene was attacking the fortified, British-held, village of Ninety Six. As British reinforcements, under Col. A. Stewart, approached Ninety Six, Greene headed north into North Carolina. When the reinforcements withdrew toward Charleston, Greene returned and encountered Stewart's near Eutaw Springs. On 8 Sept. there was a pitched battle with musket and bayonet between equally matched foes of about 2,000 men each. Gen Francis Marion commanded the infantry forces for the Continental Army. Although the British won the day, they still were forced to withdraw to Charleston having lost a quarter of their force. The British "Southern Strategy" was in ruins and they were confined to three weakened strongholds: Wilmington, Charleston and Savannah. On 19 Oct. was the decisive victory at Yorktown.

     We wandered around the place on the southern shore of Lake Marion and absorbed an assault of voracious swarms of mosquitoes. I can truly say that I left some blood on that battlefield. Having now "Been there...done that", we drove to Holly Hill, the home of Yankee left fielder Brett Gardner and Sweatmans Bar-b-que.

     You should notice a few things in the pictures above. The place has been open for nearly forty years while only being open two days per week. It is an old, metal roofed home with some repairs needed..except that the repairs would undo the ambiance. The picture is taken across the hood of my '86 Corvette. The perceptive reader will note that I took the picture from the passenger side. They serve buffet style with no doggie bags allowed. It is $12.00 for one pass through the line and $15.00 for all you can eat. As you'll see below, it's a paper plate/plastic fork sort of place.

     Again, a perceptive reader will notice the absence of tomato based sauce. Here the barbecue sauce is mustard based. Both camps have their fierce aficionados. This was very good, but I still prefer Tim and Kansas City. When we told the hostess where we were from, she said that she had customers that made the hour+ drive up from Mt. Pleasant every weekend. Tourism literature affirms that this is one of the best places to find the authentic Carolina Barbecue.
     As you saw in the title, this is the 700th time I have posted to this blog. It has covered an eclectic set of adventures, large and small. To those of you readers who have followed through most of it, I offer my thanks and appreciation.