Ruth Miller Popped Off

This week during my FYE, our professor gave us the luxury of bringing in a guest speaker, Ruth Miller.  She is a tour guide and historian of Charleston and the lowcountry.  Also, she has written several books.

I personally thoroughly enjoyed her presentation.  I find history extremely fascinating, and getting to learn about all of the rich history of Charleston was very cool.  Many of the things she said I hadn't heard before, and she kept me intrigued the entire time.  

Mostly, I think I was so wowed because at the beginning she said "History is written by the winners", which is extremely true.  I thought it was amazing because even though she said that, Ms. Miller still managed to provide details about the south before the Civil War that I had never heard.  

Not only that, but it is always so pleasing to me to see people who are genuinely passionate about what they do.  I find it incredibly inspiring, and it brings me hope and motivation that I will find something that makes me feel the same.  I don't remember what she said exactly, but for a solid ten minutes she stood at the board and pointed out different designs in the headstone she had put up.  

Here's an picture of it ->

Overall, I thought her presentation was a great use of class time.  Ms. Miller is such a kind woman and speaking to her afterwards provided more insight on to both the history of Charleston and her life in general.  I would love to talk to her again sometime and learn more because I honestly didn't think there was enough time for me to learn all I could from someone with so much knowledge.  I'm very thankful for this wonderful opportunity, but I was also so wrapped up in what she was saying and therefore forgot to take notes.  I really enjoyed learning from her, though.

Graveyard Intro

This week in my FYE, my professor asked us to choose a church from a list he provided.  We walked around Charleston to see all of them in person, and my favorite was St. John's Lutheran Church.


St. John's is very close to campus, at 5 Clifford St, so I liked that about it as well as the architecture of the building.  It is absolutely beautiful and very old.

The church was founded in 1742 with the arrival of Dr. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, a German settler who was originally just passing through to Georgia.  He ended up coming back for three weeks and holding services for German families in the area.  

The original, wooden, building's first cornerstone was laid in 1759, but it was destroyed and the current building was built between 1814 and 1816.  The rectangular building with stucco brick was designed by a man named Frederick Wesner, and the doors were painted red due to a common Lutheran symbol for the blood of Christ.  The steeple, however, was not added until 1859 by a man named David Lopez.


Unfortunately, the gates were locked when I went to visit, but I could still see a good amount of the graveyard.  I would say it's pretty decently sized- not large, but also not very small.  Many of the markers were decorated; however I couldn't make out what the words said due to how faded they were.  







Overall the church is beautiful, and I'm excited to go inside sometime when it's open.

Hurricane Dorian

Last night, College of Charleston went very back and forth on whether or not to cancel school, but after the Governor of South Carolina issued a State of Emergency, the College decided to close its doors for the week.

A huge amount of students evacuated last night. It was so weird walking around with not a single person in sight, and if they were they had an overnight bag of sorts.  

I was originally just going to stay in Charleston and wait it out, but my Dad called and told me he was booking me a ticket on a train so here I am, 4 hours in to this trip with 4 more to go.

Luckily, my friend is with me due to our being from the same area, so I'm not alone but still incredibly bored. 
My stay in DC ended up being relatively short and just as boring as I imagined. I spent almost all of it on my couch, but I got to spend a good amount of time with my brother, thankfully.

Hope everyone evacuated safely!