Untold Story #14: Yemassee, SC

I was determined not to spend the night in a regular hotel/motel and started out looking at cabins in state parks around Savannah. The problem was that they had two-night minimums. Finally, I found and booked a train car in the KOA in Yemassee, SC. Then, I started researching what to see and do in the area.

After coming across some photos of the Old Sheldon Church Ruins, I knew I wanted to visit. I was especially excited knowing we'd arrive in the afternoon when the light is kind. Then, bonus!, I read about a letterboxing adventure at the ruins. (Cade and I used to do a fair amount of letterboxing, and I'd been wanting to introduce the little kids to it.)

This place is gorgeous. Truly, my photos don't do it justice. I regret not using my camera to take photos of the kids, here, because the scale is lost; these ruins are huge.

We looked really hard for that letterbox but never did find it. When we got to the KOA, we had another disappointment in that, evidently, there was a mysterious, strong chemical smell in the train car, and we weren't permitted to stay in it. On the up-side, there was a cabin available; I received a small refund; and the KOA gave us free firewood for our inconvenience.

It's a wonderfully pleasant thing to camp with Boy Scouts. Cade and Sam built our fire and cooked our dinner over it. (We'd been eating out of a cooler all day.) The next morning, I used the refund for gem mining, which is something I'd never said "yes" to, before. I'll probably never say yes to it again, either; what a racket! But the little kids were over the moon with their rocks and arrowheads and ready for our next adventure.