Today we took a Walking History Tour of Charleston, South Carolina.

What a great, great time it was.

This town was established in 1680. That, I knew. But what I didn’t know was…. well…. WAY too much to list here. We walked around downtown for 3 hours and heard fact after fact after fact. And we didn’t even scratch the surface.

The photo tonight depicts the chandelier in St. Michael’s Church which was ordered from London in 1803.  They speculate that it weighs 2,000 pounds.  That’s a lot.

It is a grand and spectacular building. In this church…for example…. there are three stained glass windows made by Tiffany. I like to look at these windows.  They are beyond beautiful.

The organ, installed in 1768… (and since “expanded”) is massive and beautiful with 40 stops and 51 tracks.   Someday, I hope to hear it play.

The steeple is 186 feet in height; the weather vane is 7 ½ feet long. The entire steeple sank eight inches as a result of the earthquake in 1886. But it is still a foot taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.   They say of that tower in Italy would stand up straight, it might be taller someday.

The large, long double-pew in the center of the church, No. 43, originally known as “The Governor’s Pew,” is the one in which President George Washington worshiped on Sunday afternoon, May 8, 1791. General Robert E. Lee also worshiped in the pew some seventy years later. Prince Charles too. I like to stand in the pew.  It gives me goosebumps.

I could go on and on with the things we learned about St. Michael’s. We were only there a mere 15 minutes of the 3 hour tour. The three hour tour.   Yes.  All-in-all, it  was a jam-packed 180 minutes of Charleston.

My brain is incredibly tired tonight, as is the rest of me. I think it has information overload. But I like feeling this way.

Even though it is inundated with historical facts and snidbits… it is happy.

But….as Albert Einstein said…”Information is not knowledge.” On the other hand, Noah Webster says knowledge can be facts and information acquired by a person through learning.

So it comes down to this… I don’t know if I’m any smarter or not tonight.

I am thankful though. I always knew that Charleston was named after King Charles the Second of England. What I learned today, is that they almost named it after King Waze Ah of the British West Indies (which was a major through-Port for the English on their way here).

Then I would be living in Waze-ah-ton.  I am glad it is Charleston instead.  My home-away-from-home.