March 7, 2023

Beaufort is a small historic town known for its mansions and history; it is also known as the filming location of Forrest Gump.

We anchored and found a small public day use dock. As soon as the boat was secured to the dock, both kids spotted a playground and abandoned ship. Adjacent to the playground is a boardwalk lined with swinging benches. Their fun was cut short as we were hungry and needed to find lunch.

Blackstone’s Café is where we settled on for food. Upon entering, our eyes were met with a plethora of school pennants and flags. This started a scavenger hunt of searching for the University of WA pennant. Unfortunately I only found WSU, but then Tonia came by and announced that she found the University of WA pennant upstairs. Sure enough, there she was in all her glory! The food was also tasty and the service was wonderful. I am enjoying the south.

After lunch, we began our exploration of town with our next mission in finding the Chocolate Tree. The Chocolate Tree is where the chocolates Forrest gave to Jenny were purchased. We bought a few ourselves to enjoy.

With chocolaty-goodness in our hands (and stomachs), we continued our stroll, passing by the Arsenal, which was built in 1798 to house the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery (fifth oldest military unit in the US) who fought along with the Continental Army during the American Revolution. After the Civil War, the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery disbanded and later became the National Guard.

That evening, we enjoyed dinner and watched Forrest Gump in honor of visiting the filming locations between Savannah and Beaufort. We were even anchored near the bridge he ran across.

March 8, 2023

A Gold Looper told me about a Kazoo Factory in Beaufort that also let you make your own kazoo. A tour was most definitely in order. It explained the history of the Kazoo, the different types, and the way they were made. In the end, we all made our very own kazoo and even played some music together.

Our next major stop is Charleston. It’s 9 hour boat trip, so we are breaking it up into segments: driving a few hours today and finishing off the trip tomorrow. We picked the perfect anchorage for the night: Morgan Island, also known as Monkey Island.

In 1979, 1,400 rhesus monkeys were relocated from Puerto Rico to South Carolina where its population has flourished to 4,000. You cannot step foot onto the island, but the monkeys can be seen from the shoreline. Tomorrow we will see if we can spot any monkeys.