The Road to Camden . . . and Home Again

In my preceding blog, I introduced you to Camden House,

the wonderful Bed & Breakfast where Judy and I stayed on our recent visit to Camden, South Carolina.  I intentionally saved discussion of the many other sights we saw on our trip.  This review of what we did is not chronological, but will give you a pretty good idea of what we saw in a mere 30 hours 30 minutes.  Without rushing!

This bronze sculpture was in the Camden Public Library, which was only a couple of blocks from Camden House.  We visited it before dinner the day we arrived.  You can tell a lot about a town by the investment they make in their library.

It was particularly difficult to decide where to dine that night.  Some fine places were recommended, including Sam Kendall's and the Armory Steakhouse.  But a nice lady at a thrift shop told us her preference was "CHOP."  She explained that it was short for Camden House of Pizza.

Yep, that's where we ended up, and we were not disappointed.  And the lady who mentioned it to us hopped up from her table and greeted us at the door.  She said, "If you just stand here a while, somebody will get up and leave."  That's right, there was not an empty seat in the house!  That's quite a recommendation for ANY restaurant.  As it happened, the lady's group was finishing up, and we pushed a table for two away from their table for six.

Not only did CHOP feature authentic Italian AND Greek fare, the wall-to-wall Mediterranean-theme murals provided plenty of atmosphere.  We loved our meals. 

We did an after dinner walk as well as an after dinner drive around town.  At one of the many parks we stopped, this warning sign for litterbugs caught my eye.  Read the fine print.  I guess if the fine was five dollars more you might get the electric chair.

It was impressive to hear the hour tolled at dusk from this clock and bell tower in the heart of downtown.

Couldn't resist photographing these wasps, safely on the other side of the window in our B&B.

As South Carolina's most important inland town in colonial days, Camden was an obvious target of the British during the American revolution.  There are constant reminders of this fact all around town, including the cannon in this park.

This park was one of numerous pleasant places we discovered for walking.

In another park we found, I was thrilled that the pieces of this fallen tree had been sawed and left for children to play on.  I'm a big fan of imagination playgrounds.  I know there are risks of injury, but the same is true of commercial play equipment.  Give me the homemade variety any time!

I had read about the Battle of Camden before.  I knew the British had captured it after fierce fighting and heavy losses on both sides.  What I didn't know was that the Americans made two unsuccessful attempts to recapture the town in succeeding years.  The Battle of Hobkirk Hill took place over a wide area covering several long city blocks to the north and east of our B&B.

We walked several blocks, including Greene Street (for American General Nathaniel Greene-- George Washington's right hand man).  Below, a British flag flies beside the Stars and Stripes.

It is well worth contemplating what happened in this now quiet neighborhood 230 years ago.  Though the patriots were repelled here, the British would slowly suffer from a war of attrition here and later at Cowpens and King's Mountain.  The weakening of their forces resulted in their withdrawal to Yorktown, where a "perfect storm" surrounded them at Yorktown, Virginia, with Washington's army blocking escape by land and a French fleet successfully blockading their supply by sea.  It was the perseverance of the patriots at places like Camden that led to the ultimate defeat of the British.  It truly was their Viet Nam.

DeKalb Street is the street that crosses Broad Street (where our B&B was located).  The name has special significance to me, since I was born and raised in DeKalb County, Georgia.  Baron DeKalb, who died from many wounds in the first battle at Camden, was one of many idealistic European nobles who lent their skills and leadership to the cause of American freedom.  Unlike the mercenary Hessian soldiers who often failed the British when under fire,  DeKalb and others had caught a vision of what this new country could be, and they were willing to risk their lives beside us to help that vision become reality.

Judy and I are not "horse people," but I should note that Camden is something of a sister city to Southern Pines, NC on the equestrian circuit.  Judy grew up with the famed Stoneybrook Steeplechase virtually in her back yard.  Camden is often the next stop for the horses and riders.

I will not attempt to summarize the historical details in the following pictures, but you can read all about the facts of the battles of Camden and the men who made history here by clicking on any picture to enlarge it.

At the Camden Revolutionary War Park, there is a walking tour, either guided or unguided, and a nice gift shop.  I photographed the pillories, or stocks that were common in colonial times for public humiliation/punishment, and also some battlefield relics that were on display.

The cemetery below was in Cheraw, not Camden.  I was struck by the number of Confederate battle flags marking many graves.  When I checked on Wikipedia, I found that North and South Carolina are two of the thirteen states that still celebrate (or at least "recognize") Confederate Memorial Day or Confederate Heroes Day.  The date varies widely among those states.  I have not heard this day referred to since I was a school boy in Georgia.

Just an hour and a half from home, we stopped at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Preserve, where we had picnicked on our trip down.

This time, we took the time to take the 22 mile round-trip Wildlife Drive.  Knowing what we know about the somewhat sparsely populated sandhills, we weren't expecting to see herds of deer or a mother fox with her kits.

But what we DID see was some of the most beautiful scenery we had ever seen in the sandhills.  This was well worth the drive.

We spent a few quiet moments watching this crane patiently pursue his lunch.  He was undisturbed either by us or some nearby workmen repairing an observation platform.

Yes, we saw all this and more in just 30 hours and 30 minutes.

It was wonderful and refreshing trip.  Since we've been home, we've had even MORE fun, as we've resumed babysitting.  Some pictures of that will be coming up soon (but you probably knew that)!