Civil War, Revolutionary War, Civil War.

We are starting to see a pattern out here in our travels. History is thick, and it is everywhere. If we were to stop at every marker we would be dead in our tracks. Road signs, Memorials, battle fields, cemeteries, museums, statues, and other roadside attractions. Businesses even have names commemorating some event, or person. It being the 250th year only adds to this in a Patriotic fever of commercialism mixed with an altruistic sense of pride. Bunting is everywhere, on lots of porches, and lots of storefronts. Flags everywhere, though the 4th of July is long past. To our surprise we saw very few Confederate flags, that was a relief.

As we make our way up from Charleston heading to Asheville at the foot of the Blueridge Mountians, we leave the Low Country where “Swamp Fox” Francis Marion gave the British hell. We pass through places like Columbia, and Camden, the site of a famous Revolutionary War battle where the British kicked our asses, to Charlotte N. Carolina, where in 1799 a 14 year old kid found a 17 pound rock that his family used for years as a doorstop. They realized at some point it was almost solid gold, which set off America’s first gold rush.

From Charlotte we move up to Asheville, home of the Biltmore House, where Vanderbilt lived. Largest private home in the country, with 250 rooms set on 8000 acres. ( so take that Donald! )

Now we are in Appalachia Mountian country. We could head a bit west to the Smokies ( where Denise vacationed this year), but we decided to go right up the Blueridge Mountian Parkway past Boone ( yes that would be Daniel ) to a little town just south of Roanoke called Floyd.