Colonial Dorchester, Drayton Hall, and Middleton Place - Colonial and Revolutionary War Road Trip Radio Report; 24-26 April 2026

Last Friday afternoon, I drove up to Charleston, SC to visit some Low Country Colonial and Revolutionary War historic sites. My first stop was Colonial Dorchester near Summerville before heading to the hotel in North Charleston. I spent Saturday morning at Drayton Hall and the afternoon at Middleton Place, both of which are on Ashley River Rd in Charleston. Some months back, I'd booked a behind-the-scenes tour of the work being done on Drayton Hall's Great Hall ceiling and that was the main reason for the road trip. While in the area, I learned that Middleton Place has a 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution exhibit, so I decided to drop and see it since Middleton Place was right down the road. I thoroughly enjoyed both the behind-the-scenes tour at Drayton Hall and the 250th Exhibit at Middleton Place. The trip was productive radio-wise as well; there were changes to Charleston area communications on the Palmetto 800 system since my last visit and I was able to better ID some Joint Base Charleston traffic on the USAF 57 system. Saturday also provided the opportunity to listen to a sizeable industrial fire in Berkeley County. I tried a POTA attempt from Colonial Dorchester on Friday, but all didn't go according to plan. Food-wise, I had excellent meals on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Drayton Hall in Charleston, SC - built in the Late 1740s

Travelling Around Southeast Georgia - Notes From a Drive to Brooklet and Glenville and Learning Some New Southeast Georgia History; 13 April 2026

Today I spent much of the first half of the day on the road. I had to go up to Brooklet (near Statesboro in Bulloch County) to pick up a part to fix a couch and then I took Mama by the Veterans Cemetery in Glenville to visit my Father's gravesite. On the way home, I drove through Fort Stewart to see what I could see and hear. This trip took me through Nevils to Daisy on the drive from Brooklet to Glenville on Brooklet-Denmark Rd, Nevils-Denmark Rd, and Nevils-Daisy Rd; it was the first time I've been through Nevils and I ended up learning a piece of southeast Georgia History during the drive.

Candler Peanut - Nevils at the intersection of Nevils-Groveland Rd and Nevils-Denmark Rd in Nevils, GA. If I hadn't known I was in Nevils, I might have thought I was in Plains, GA.

Parks on the Air Activation at a Historic Battlefield and a Visit to Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens - Overnight Jacksonville Road Trip Radio Report; 5/6 April 2026

When I first planned this road trip, I didn't realize that it was going to start on Easter Sunday... I left Savannah on Sunday morning and drove down to Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park for an Amateur Radio Parks on the Air (POTA) activation. Instead of taking I-95 down to I-10, I jumped off I-95 in Brunswick and took the scenic route via US-301/GA-23 through Folkston down to Macclenny, then over to the park in Sanderson. It took a bit longer than the interstates would have, but there was a lot less holiday traffic to deal with. I stayed overnight near Jacksonville IAP and visited Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens on Monday morning to see the new entrance and manatee habitat before heading back to Savannah. Sunday being Easter, there wasn't much MilCom (military communications) to to listen to due to the holiday, but public safety and railroad communications (CSX rail lines paralleled much of my route of travel from Folkston south and along US-90 and I-10) made up for it. Monday wasn't very active MilCom-wise either, probably a result of the overcast conditions that turned to rain later in the day. 

Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens' male Lion greeting visitors with a roar