Tea Anyone?

 March 9, 2026

Did you know that there is a tea plantation in the U.S.? We visited Charleston Tea Garden to see the American grown tea and the process that turns leaves into the tea you buy. We mistimed our visit by a good month to see the equipment running though. Tea is harvested April to October. 

Plants are hand transplanted from seedlings grown in a greenhouse the the fields because of their delicate leaves. The leaves are harvested using a unique piece of equipment designed from parts of equipment used in cotton and tobacco harvesting. The plants can be harvested up to seven or eight times during a growing season. Full fields can contain over 20 thousand plants. It takes five pounds of fresh leaves to make one pound of tea. 

The tea plant, which is a member of the camellia family, loves the sandy soil and the hot, humid climate in the Charleston area. The same plant grown elsewhere would not taste the same. Hmm...we heard that with Vidalia Onions. 

Our tour guide recommended that we stop and see the Angel Oak tree on our way back to the mainland. We're glad he suggested it. Angel Oak is one massive tree. 

Despite the awful traffic on essentially the only road to the island, we were glad to see two unique things. We would, however, recommend going on a day when the processing plant is running. 

Where Are We Going Next?

The Fish Boat

March 7, 2026

That's what Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard called it - the fish boat. His requested the fish boat to help the Confederacy defend Charleston against the brutal blockade choking off supplies. The Hunley, a submarine, answered the call. However, after sinking the much larger U.S.S. Housatonic, the Hunley simply disappeared. 

The Hunley was found under 30 feet of silt in 1995 by NUMA. Yes, the National Underwater and Marine Agency is a real agency founded by Clive Cussler, the best-selling author. It took them over a decade to find the Hunley. Then the question was what do to next and just who owned the vessel. 

It took a few years, but the vessel was eventually raised and is being conserved. Her eight-man crew were buried in Charleston's Magnolia Cemetery.

The Friends of the Hunley operate the conservation site. It's open on weekends for tours. You can see the Hunley in a conserving solution. What caused the vessel to sink? Despite all the advances science has made, the solution to that question has yet to be determined. 

Where Are We Going Next?

One Savannah Day

March 5, 2026

We had decided to take a trolley tour of Savannah to get an overview of the city. We're glad we did. The beautiful squares looked to be a bit of a nightmare to navigate. Parking squeezed in tight spots, lots of people, and heavy vehicle traffic with a few construction and utility vehicles thrown in for good measure, spelled stress to us.

Our tour was in the afternoon so we spent a some time in the morning at the GA State Railroad Museum with a very enthusiastic, if not somewhat loud, guide. Savannah is a very pretty city and perhaps one day, we'll spend more time there. 

One of 16 operating round tables in US

Wooden "bricks" catch and filter oil

One of the beautiful squares

Where Are We Going Next?

Savannah National Wildlife Refuge

  March 4, 2026

We only had a couple of days in the Savannah area. We were using our Passport America discount, and the maximum stay was three nights at Savannah Lakes RV Resort. Unfortunately, we had acquired a chip in our windshield. Not wanting that chip to worsen into something that required an entire windshield replacement, part of our first full day was set aside for windshield repair.

We opted to visit the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge for other part of the day. They have a four-mile loop road through the refuge as well as a visitor center. Not in any real hurry, we spent around two hours making that loop. The refuge had its beginnings as rice paddies. The gates used to flood the rice fields were ideal for controlling the water levels in the now refuge. 

It's a birding favorite for sure. At times it was a little tricky as vehicles stopped to view wildlife on the one-way, one lane wide path. We were on the look out for alligators. We were not disappointed. With all the birdsong, it was a relaxing way to spend some time.

Where Are We Going Next?

Georgia State Vegetable

 March 3, 2026

On our way from Perry to Savannah, we noticed that about a 25 minute detour would take us to the Vidalia Onion Museum. We decided to kill some time on our drive and find out what makes the Vidalia Onion so special. It's the seed, soil, and growing season that makes the onion a Vidalia Onion.

Fields have to be registered and located only in a very limited county area. Adjacent counties may or may not grow a Vidalia onion. It depends on their soil, which is tested. 

Interestingly, the bulb transplants are almost entirely planted by hand. When ready for harvest, equipment will uproot them and turn them out on top of the soil. A couple of weeks later, hand harvesters go through the fields, clipping the stems and banding them in bunches. It's a very labor intensive process. 

April starts much of the harvest time and the Vidalia Onion Festival is held the last full weekend in April.

So of which agricultural product do you think, when you think of Georgia - peaches, pecans, peanuts, or Vidalia onions?

Smallest registered field (at the museum)

What makes a Vidalia

Dark counties can grow - Medium counties require soil testing

Fighting for the name after folks tried misleading the public

Old onion farming tools

Onion dome

 Where Are We Going Next?