M/V Nearly Perfect: April 8, 2015

Downtown Beaufort is a very quaint town right on the water next to the marina. Most everything is within walking distance. We started the day with breakfast and then spent several hours walking up and down the streets visiting the quaint little shops and looking at the old homes. We took a tour of the Gullah community in the afternoon. Even though we thought we signed up for a plantation tour, this tour was very interesting. The Gullah community was started by the newly freed slaves after the Civil War. Two missionary woman from the north started a school (Penn School) on St. Helena's Island for the newly freed slaves. The school is now a national monument. Many of the descendants from those original slaves have graduated from the Penn School and still live and own property on the island (we actually met one of the gentleman at the museum who was in the last graduating class). We drove down a tree lined lane leading up to an old plantation house. That lane of trees was used in a running scene in the Tom Hanks movie Forrest Gump.