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USS Knox
(DE/FF 1052) 2009 Reunion ITINERARY
Charleston, South Carolina
June 18 – 20
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Welcome Reception at Hampton
Inn Historic District
5:00pm – 6:30pm
Join your shipmates as everyone arrives into
Charleston for a welcome reception on our first evening. Cocktails and light
hors d’ oeuvres will be available poolside at our host hotel, the Hampton Inn
Historic District. This will be a great opportunity to see old shipmates and
get our reunion weekend off to a fun start!
Printable Registration Form, click
here.
Evening Carriage Tour
6:30pm – 7:30pm
There’s no more charming a way to experience
Charleston than via horse drawn carriages. During the tour, you will be
experiencing 25 – 30 blocks of Charleston’s historic downtown district. You
will see houses, gardens, mansions, churches, and parks as you hear about the
different buildings, history, architecture, flora and people. Most importantly
you will become one with all that Charleston has to offer the visitor.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Historic Charleston and Plantations Tour
8:30am – 2:30pm
A private motor tour will take you around the
peninsula and share the history and stories that make Charleston the jewel of
the southeastern United States and "America's Best-kept Secret."
Through occupation, economic hardship, fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes,
Charleston has exhibited a remarkable resilience. History is found literally
around every corner, and the city is often called a living museum.
Following the motor tour of Charleston, we will venture out to one of the grand
southern plantations that sits along the Ashley River, Middleton Place.
Middleton Place
Middleton Place is a National Historic
Landmark and a carefully preserved 18th century plantation that has survived
revolution, civil war, earthquakes, and hurricanes.
It was the home of many generations of Middletons, beginning with Henry
Middleton, President of the First Continental Congress; his son Arthur, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence; his grandson Henry, Governor of
South Carolina and an American Minister to Russia; and his great-grandson
Williams, a signer of the Ordinance of Secession. Middleton Place encompasses
the Gardens, the House Museum, and the Plantation Stableyards; all three
components of this extraordinary plantation can be experienced.
The Gardens at Middleton Place, which Henry Middleton envisioned and began to create
in 1741, reflect the grand classic style that remained in vogue in Europe and
England into the early part of the 18th century. Following the
principles of André Le Nôtre, the superb master of architectural garden design
who laid out the gardens at the Palace of Versailles, great attention was paid
to woods and water. Rational order, geometry and balance; vistas, focal points
and surprises were all part of this garden design. A garden of this magnitude
was unlike any other in America at that time. In a sense, Henry Middleton was a
pioneer in American gardening.
During your visit to Middleton Place, your guests will enjoy the signature
Lowcountry Luncheon overlooking the greensward in the Pavilion.
Lunch Menu
Field Greens Salad with Middleton Vinaigrette
Okra Gumbo
Fried Chicken
Plantation Chicken Salad
Hickory Smoked Barbeque Pork
Collard Greens and Hoppin’ John
Corn Pudding and Sautéed Green Beans
Fresh Seasonal Whole Fruit and Pecan Pie
Freshly Baked Cornbread and Buttermilk Biscuits
Tea, Coffee, and Water
Charleston Harbor Dinner Cruise
6:15pm – 10:30pm
There’s no better way
to experience Charleston and her history than from the deck of a luxurious
yacht. The Spirit of
Carolina offers a unique dining experience with breathtaking views
of the Charleston harbor.
The Spirit of Carolina
features two enclosed climate controlled dining salons, open observation decks
and a full-service onboard galley. She is finely appointed with handmade bars,
brass fixtures, oriental carpets, ten-foot ceilings, spacious,
handicap-accessible restrooms and expansive bay windows.
Enjoy an unforgettable
three hour harbor tour as you savor a four course gourmet meal choosing one of
five entrees. All entrees are served with rice or potatoes, fresh seasonal
vegetables, rolls and butter, coffee and tea. Live entertainment will also be
featured during the cruise so your guests may enjoy themselves dancing the
night away.
Evening History and Mystery
Walking Tour*
8:30pm – 9:45pm
*Note: This tour is a walking
tour. The tour covers approximately a one mile radius over ninety minutes.
After dinner one evening, a History and Mystery tour
guide will meet your guests at their dining spot and take them on a tour
exploring the darker side of Charleston’s history!
Colonial Charleston during the early 18th Century was bright and
alive during the day. The city was known for its magnificent
architecture… fashionable shops… and fastidious manners. Under the murky
cover of night, however, a darker side could be found… lurking just beneath the
glossy veneer of this most cosmopolitan of towns.
Charleston… the acknowledged grand Dame of the New World, has seen her share of
prosperity and peril; of success and sadness. Its waterfront has
witnessed the gallows from which pirates’ lifeless bodies twisted in the
afternoon breeze; the Old Jail has been the residence of countless fiends… one
of which, Lavinia Fisher, who, before her execution, offered to the audience to
take a message to the Devil as she and he would soon be in communion. Why
did the otherwise charming Mrs. Fisher receive the ultimate sentence? She
and her inn-keeping husband made it a practice to rob their guests… murder
them… then bury their bodies.
Hear stories of Charleston’s shadowy past – some heart
wrenching; others gruesome – on an evening walk through this historic port
city.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Fort Sumter and Patriots
Point
8:45am – 3:15pm
Imagine the excitement! South Carolina had seceded
from the Union, yet Union forces still occupied strategic Fort Sumter at the
entrance of Charleston Harbor. The South demanded that Fort Sumter be vacated;
the North refused. Finally, on April 12th, 1861, from nearby Fort
Johnson, South Carolina troops of the Confederacy fired on the Fort – the start
of a two-day bombardment that resulted in the surrender of Fort Sumter by Union
troops
With the North’s withdrawal, the South held the Fort until it was finally
evacuated on February 17th, 1865. During that time the Fort
experienced one of the longest sieges in modern warfare – for almost two years
46,000 shells, estimated at over seven million pounds of metal, were fired at
the Fort.
Today, Fort Sumter is a National Monument, administered by the National Park
Service of the United States Department of the Interior. It is located on a
small man-made island and is accessible only by boat. On the Fort is an
excellent museum containing priceless artifacts; your personal City of
Charleston-licensed guides will remain with you to guide you around Fort
Sumter, explaining the history and artifacts.
Located
on historic Charleston Harbor, Patriots Point
is home to USS Yorktown (CV-10), the “Fighting Lady.” The first USS Yorktown
(CV-5) sank at the battle of Midway on June 7, 1942. Onboard the decks of
this famous World War II aircraft carrier, a momentous time in America’s
history is relived. The “Fighting Lady” contains all the evidence of her past;
one can see, touch, feel, and smell the past… where young Americans fought and
died to turn the fortunes of war in the Pacific.
Moored
next to her is USS Laffey (DD-724), a World War II destroyer. Laffey
survived the onslaught of Japanese kamikaze attacks while off Okinawa as Radar Picket Station #1 on April 16, 1945.
She became
known as “the ship that wouldn’t die.”
Also
moored alongside are the United States Coast Guard cutter Ingham (WHEC-35),
which fought in the convoy battles of the North Atlantic and sank a German
U-boat, and the diesel attack submarine USS Clamagore (SS-343).
Onboard
the Yorktown are dozens of displays devoted to maritime and naval
history, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s museum and headquarters,
and more than two dozen historic military aircraft are on exhibit.
Following
the tour of Patriots Point and the USS Yorktown, you will be escorted to
a private luncheon in the CPO Mess Galley aboard the ship.
Lunch
Menu:
Salad
Baked Herbed Chicken
Carolina Rice and Sautéed Vegetables
Chef’s Selection of Dessert
Rolls and Butter
Iced Water and Lemonade
Group Dinner at the Holiday
Inn Riverview
6:30pm – 9:00pm
Enjoy breathtaking panoramic views
from the top floor of the Holiday Inn Riverview. Our final group dinner this
evening will be held atop the only circular hotel in Charleston offering
endless scenes of the Ashley River and many bridges of Charleston. A full
buffet dinner will be available for all to enjoy and libations will be
available with a cash bar. This will be a perfect setting to end our wonderful
weekend in Charleston together!
Printable Registration Form, click
here. |
