Fort Sumter
One of the places I've always wanted to visit has been Fort Sumter. In fact, road-tripping to Charleston so I could visit the fort was the thing I wanted to do this summer more than anything. (Visiting Bennett Place, as I mentioned last week, was #2 on that same list.)
Last Wednesday, I drove back to Fredericksburg, and in the wee hours of Thursday, Caity and I bundled into her car and headed to South Carolina. We hit up Sumter, which was an amazing place to visit, and then spent the rest of the day enjoying the city, which, I must admit, I fell in love with.
"What is it about visiting Fort Sumter that moved you so much?" Caity asked after the visit.
As I explained to her, I didn't expect it to be a spiritually profound experience. Rather, I wanted to go because that is where the story began that I've been so fascinated with for the past 13+ years. My own connection to that story--when Steph fell in love with Stonewall Jackson--began on the fields of Manassas. But the story itself began at Fort Sumter.
(Well, there are all sorts of places we could identify as "starting points," but that's another discussion.)
So, I've wanted to visit Sumter so I could finally connect with the origins of this story I've been telling and interpreting and writing about and, in a way, living.
The visit was completely worth it. I felt connected. The story felt complete for me, particularly in light of my visit to Bennett Place the week before, where the largest surrender of the war took place. Alpha and Omega.
My own connection with the story will continue, but I have, at last, experienced the bookends of the story. There is much in between to continue to explore.
Last Wednesday, I drove back to Fredericksburg, and in the wee hours of Thursday, Caity and I bundled into her car and headed to South Carolina. We hit up Sumter, which was an amazing place to visit, and then spent the rest of the day enjoying the city, which, I must admit, I fell in love with.
"What is it about visiting Fort Sumter that moved you so much?" Caity asked after the visit.
As I explained to her, I didn't expect it to be a spiritually profound experience. Rather, I wanted to go because that is where the story began that I've been so fascinated with for the past 13+ years. My own connection to that story--when Steph fell in love with Stonewall Jackson--began on the fields of Manassas. But the story itself began at Fort Sumter.
(Well, there are all sorts of places we could identify as "starting points," but that's another discussion.)
So, I've wanted to visit Sumter so I could finally connect with the origins of this story I've been telling and interpreting and writing about and, in a way, living.
The visit was completely worth it. I felt connected. The story felt complete for me, particularly in light of my visit to Bennett Place the week before, where the largest surrender of the war took place. Alpha and Omega.
My own connection with the story will continue, but I have, at last, experienced the bookends of the story. There is much in between to continue to explore.