The great thing about traveling is that every day is unique.
No matter how similar their beginnings, each one (s)tumbles along its own divergent path. Our new friends, Pete and Amber, told us about a food truck festival at the Old Sheldon Church in Beaufort, SC. It is the most photographed historical structure in the town; and rightly so. A majestic structure built in the mid-1700's , burnt by the British in the War for Independence and later (as town-folk like to retell it) burned by Sherman during the Civil War (although most local historians say it was the town-folk who ransacked the church looking for building material after Sherman destroyed many of the dwelling in this area).
Here's some information about it's history that I found online:
"History claims Prince William’s was burned by the British in 1779 during the Revolutionary War. In 1826 it was rebuilt and legend says it was later burned again by William Tecumseh Sherman in 1865, during his fire-wielding march through the south.
However, written letters dating back to 1866 that have turned up recently may say otherwise. On February 3, 1866, Beaufort’s Milton Leverett wrote that, “Sheldon Church not burned, just torn up in the inside, but can be repaired.” The inside of the church was apparently gutted to reuse materials in rebuilding area homes that were burnt by Sherman’s army, and the actual church itself was not burned a second time."
We stopped by the It's Only Fair food truck (mentioned in yesterday's post) and feasted on a delicious shrimp salad sandwich. As we were chatting with the owners Pete and Amber, they mentioned there was a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home on the outskirts of town. Once every two years, the owner (Hollywood producer Joel Silver) opens the house to the public but tickets have been sold out for over a year.
After saying good bye, we decided to drive by the famed house hoping to get a glimpse of the exterior. Unfortunately, the home sets back pretty far from the road and all we could see was the registration table, dozens of badged-tourists mulling about and lots of security.
When we reached the end of the road we decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask if "by.. some.. possible.. chance" there had been some cancellations. So I made a u-turn on this narrow country road and dropped Lorraine off at the entrance. As I pulled into a parking spot, Lorraine runs up and said, "They have two available tickets!" Yippee! We got to tour the Auldbrass Plantation. FLW began construction on the house in 1940, paused construction during the war, and then died before it was ever completed. Joel Silver has obtained the original blueprints and is laboring to complete the project. If you're interested in reading the hit-and-miss history of this plantation, please click here.
