Andersonville Georgia USA by Peggy Sheppard

We visited Andersonville a few years ago while driving through Georgia, so I was pretty excited about finding this nice little book on the old Civil War prison recently!

"Andersonville Georgia USA" by Peggy Sheppard is well under 100 pages, and is a very quick read, but I thought it was a nice, basic intro to the prison and how it influenced the town.  I am guessing the book sold well too, as my copy is a 15th printing, 2001 version.

Anyway, author Peggy Sheppard gives a small section to all of the major names associated with Andersonville.  She devotes a good section to the debate over Henry Wirz and his responsibility for the living conditions there.  She also covers the monument placed in his honor.  Clara Barton, and her observations at Andersonville are also covered.  There is an interesting chapter on clergy at the prison too!

Later events in the area, after the Civil War, come up in the book.  I was very interested in a story about a man who leaves a very generous donation to an Andersonville Church- after one visit!

This is a nice little volume that covers the basics of Andersonville.

Field and Stream North Charleston, South Carolina

While we were exploring North Charleston South Carolina, we stumbled into the Field and Stream store!

They had a huge selection of hunting, fishing and camping items.  They also had some very elaborate taxidermy displayed!

Charleston RiverDogs- Charleston South Carolina

The Charleston RiverDogs weren't playing while we were in town.  We still stopped by their park, hoping to patronize their gift shop, and maybe peak at their field.  Unlike most minor league parks, they were not open to sell stuff on the non-game day we went by.  We did get a couple of pictures though.

M. Judson Booksellers Greenville SC

On our trip through Greenville, we were lucky enough to find this GREAT little bookstore/bakery place.  I just checked, and they are two separate businesses, but I like them together.  The marriage works.  Both businesses are inside of a gorgeous building- see my top photo.

The bookstore part is M. Judson Booksellers.  First off, check out that logo.  You have a bird reading a book.  When I see a logo like that, I instantly want to see what they are selling.  AND, I want to buy a shirt or something with the logo on it.  THAT really conveys some interesting literary imagery.


Also, after getting back home, I googled around and found out that the place takes its name from Mary Camilla Judson, a very tough local lady associated with the women's college in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  She was WAY ahead of her time and very progressive.

Anyway, we stopped by here to check things out and take a break from walking around the great downtown area of Greenville.

We stepped in, and on the right once you go in, is the separate business, The Chocolate Moose Bakery and Café.  A very nice young lady helped us make a selection.  I had a sea salt chocolate chip cookie, and my wife actually had moose.  We had shared a coffee too (our bill was a VERY reasonable $8).  I had a fun chat with the young lady about collecting coffee sleeves (I am a bit of a packrat at times).  She also picked up coffee sleeves from her travels.

We sat and enjoyed our snacks for a bit, and then we looked around the bookstore part for some time.  They had a great regional section, and some other interesting books.  I ended up finding some very nice local postcards here too.

The check out counter area of the bookstore is one of the coolest things I have noticed in a bookstore in some time.  It looks like books have been stacked up to make this area!  Its hard to describe, but check out my photo at the bottom!

Museum and Library of Confederate History in Greenville, South Carolina

While in Greenville, South Carolina, we wanted to swing by the Museum and Library of Confederate History!

We ended up spending a good amount of time here, as there is a lot to see!  The museum has several rooms of items from the Civil War, and, as the name of the museum suggests, they are very pro-Confederate.  All of the relics here are from the states that seceded.

This museum, located in a residential area in Greenville, has several rooms packed with impressive items.  Weapons, uniforms and photos are everywhere.  There is also a research room where you can look up your last name and see if any of your people fought for the South.  I've checked before, but I still flipped through the books.  All of my people wore blue.

The museum has a very hands on feel, which is rare for a museum with so many impressive relics.  Sure, no one offered to let me swing John Hunt Morgan's sword around, but they did let me handle a couple of guns from the Civil War which was very thrilling!


Our tour through the museum was pretty much self guided, but there were several volunteers there happy to talk about anything on display when asked.  With the staff's knowledge, and the library area, there were many sources of information to help a visitor find out more about the Civil War in their area, and even their personal history relating to the conflict.

One guide told us about the black mourning clothes worn by widows...  and how the dye may contain poison!

I really enjoyed looking at the museum's collection of Confederate notes (money!).  This is something very fascinating to me....  money that once had value- then was worthless, but is now valued as a collectible.  Luckily, the museum actually sells some affordable examples in their gift shop!

I really enjoyed my visit to this museum in South Carolina.  There are some great items to see. 

Mast General Store- Greenville SC

Right across from Tupelo Honey in Greenville we found a Mast General Store!  This was our first time getting to visit one!

They had an impressive selection of outdoor gear, candy, local novelties, retro toys, etc.  I found a couple of Shoeless Joe Jackson Postcards, and we bought some cute small gifts for some friends.....

Tupelo Honey- Greenville South Carolina

We were able to stop by Tupelo Honey in Johnson City Tennessee some time ago.  When we saw that there was one in Greenville South Carolina, we knew we had to stop there too!

This is such a nice small southern chain.  I would love for a Tupelo Honey to make it's way to the Lexington Kentucky area.

We each had a very nice lunch here when we stopped by.  They start ya out with nice biscuits with honey or jam for them.  Mine got honey.

I had a soup, salad, sandwich deal that was just perfect.

Greenville Drive in Greenville South Carolina

Where does the time go?  EIGHT years ago, we stopped in Greenville, and we were able to catch a Greenville Drive game (here is where I mentioned that on my old baseball blog, and here is where I mention visiting another minor league ballpark in the area).

Obviously, this is a great baseball town.  We stopped by their team shop on our recent roadtrip (the team wasn't in town while we were there).

There was a very sweet lady running the place.  She said she has been with them for several years.  I told her a job in minor league baseball sounds like a dream job, and she said that it was.

I picked up a lapel pin and a few other small items while I was here.  They had a small Lego style figure of their mascot that I could not pass up (I LOVE that minor league teams are selling these).

Anyway, I know we just stopped briefly here, and I didn't even get a good look at the field on this visit, but I like this organization, and I wanted to mention them.

South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee trip

We recently completed another nice trip around the great states of Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina! 

We still have a fist full of states we need to visit, and some other big trip ideas we want to think about....  and another trip through parts of the south really wasn't big on our list until after we did some brain storming.  I am always itching to get back to New England.  Texas has been fun, and there will ALWAYS be places in that great state to discover.  Driving around a Great lake is always fun.  I would love to go through South Dakota again...

But we both kept talking about Savannah.  We've been there twice before this trip, and we loved it, and, for some reason, getting back there just appealed a lot to both of us right now.  After some discussion, a trip with Savannah involved became our goal!

Planning a driving trip like this can get complicated, but it can be VERY fun too!  What other cities can we visit along the way?  I really wanted to fit Spartanburg in, and maybe Cowpens National Battlefield, but we decided to pass on those stops in favor of more time in Greenville....  though we went back and forth on this up until the day before we left.

Also, where to stay becomes a fun, but at times stressful debate.  Staying somewhere close to the things we want to see is important.  Being economical too is something to factor in.  Also, we have started to develop a fondness for B&Bs and historic inns recently.  They are sometimes (but NOT ALWAYS) pricier than some of the hotels we consider.  If we are going to stay somewhere nice like a B&B, I want to make sure we will have time to enjoy spending quality time there.  For example, I don't want to pay to stay in a nice bed and breakfast if it is in an area where we will likely be out until late in the evening, and we will be leaving early the next morning; we won't have any time to appreciate what the place has to offer.

More on this later, but we passed on a traditional hotel for a very nice stay at Bloomsbury Inn in Camden South Carolina.  We planned our days in the area to where we could see some of the parks and museums in the area, but we would still have plenty of time to enjoy Bloomsbury's hospitality.  It was a bit more to stay they, but it fit in so well with our trip (it is beautiful and historic) and the experience was priceless.

History, especially the Civil War became our theme, and this ended up being a very fun, and relaxing trip!

Cincinnati Zoo in Cincinnati Ohio

Here are a few photos we took while at the Cincinnati Zoo recently.....