Northerners aren’t so bad…

What a great group we had for this morning’s Civil War Walking Tour! Twelve curious souls joined me for a stroll through history, and the group asked so many great questions, which makes it so much fun for me.

First of all, almost every single person this morning was from the North! One Summerville native was there, but the rest hailed from New York and Boston. One of the first questions asked was about the confederate flags still seen around town. The gentleman wondered if waving a confederate flag was a reference to slavery and racism.

It was a great question. As I told him, I believe more of the confederate flag-waving today is a southern pride agenda. Good ole’ southern roots don’t equal racism. And I would venture to guess that many people who hang confederate flags don’t even know what it truly represents. True, during the Civil War, slavery existed.

The bottom line is, the South lost. Done.

Later, as we strolled down the streets of historic Charleston, I pointed out several structures like this:

These sharp metal points above the fencing were designed in case of a slave riot. As you can see, it could do some major damage to someone trying to invade. And if it didn’t stop them, it would slow them down enough to where the resident could retrieve his shotgun and take care of the intruder.

The kids on today’s tour thought these things were pretty cool, so I made sure to point out many that we passed during the walk.

All in all, I consider today to be a success. It was a bit warm, but these people were troopers and I hope they enjoyed this morning’s tour as much as I did!

See you out there.