It's rare for me to have a Labor Day off from work, so this year I decided to go to the Salzburger Festival in Ebeneezer (between Rincon and Springfield in Effingham County, GA) and from there go up GA-119 to US-321 and travel up to Columbia, SC to visit the Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens. As Labor Day dawned, I didn't know if I would end up going to the Festival because the weather forecast called for rain throughout the morning; instead it turned out to be a pleasant morning and early afternoon. Tuesday was a pleasant day in Columbia; the morning wasn't too hot and I enjoyed my visit to the Zoo. Normally, I start these road trip reports with the radio information and then move on to where and what I visited during the trip, but this time I'm going to start with the Salzburger Festival because of how much I enjoyed it, what I learned, and the effect it had on me. The radio information comes afterward followed by Zoo photos and road trip food.
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| Jerusalem Lutheran Church; established in 1734 |
I've long known that there were Salzburgers among my ancestors on my Mother's side of the family, so this year I decided to go to the Georgia Salzburger Festival and see what it was about. It turned out to be a day that was more than I expected. I arrived just after the festival started for the day and walked around the exhibits and market, The first things to catch my attention were Jerusalem Lutheran Church and the Museum; the Jerusalem Lutheran Church was established in 1734 and the current church building, made of brick with walls almost two feet thick, was erected between 1767-1769. Other buildings on the site include the Fail House and kitchen, believed to have been built between 1755-1850 from pine and cedar boards from a mill located on Ebeneezer Creek and the Parsonage built in 1836. The Museum, Fail House, kitchen, and Parsonage also contain Salzburger artifacts and replicas. Also on site for the festival were reenactors portraying various aspects of Salzburger, Colonial, and Revolutionary life.
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| Jerusalem Lutheran Church; established in 1734, the current sanctuary was built 1767-1769 |
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| Interior of Jerusalem Lutheran Church |
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| The Georgia Salzburger Society Museum |
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| Flags in front of the Salzburger Festival; left to right, German, Austrian, United States, Salzburger, and United Kingdom |
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| Statue of Johann Martin Boltzius, senior minister to the Georgia Salzburgers from 1735-1765 |
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| The Fail House at the Georgia Salzburger Society Museum |
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| The Salzburger Kitchen at the Georgia Salzburger Society Museum |
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| The Parsonage at the Georgia Salzburger Society Museum |
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| Revolutionary War reenactors' cannons set up overlooking the Savannah River during the Salzburger Festival |
Walking through the museum, seeing the exhibits about the experiences of the Salzburgers after the Reformation and the reasons why they came to Georgia was thought provoking and impactful. I studied the Reformation in high school and college History courses and have read about it since - I already knew about the conflict and religious persecution born of the Reformation, but my experience at the Festival made it personal. I realized that I am here today because some of my ancestors were moved to immigrate to the Colonies because of religious persecution in Austria and Germany. It certainly changed how I view and think about the Reformation and what its impact was on the Holy Roman Empire - not just on Emperor, Princes, and leadership, but on the average everyday person.
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| A Lutheran Translation of the Bible in German from 1701 in the Georgia Salzburger Society Museum |
One of the last exhibits I visited was a group of charts showing the dates and ships that the Georgia Salzburgers arrived on. From the genealogical research I've done so far, I knew that some of my ancestors were Zittrauers and Seckingers. Looking at the charts, I discovered that one of my ancestors, Paulus Zittrauer, was on the second Salzburger transport to come to Georgia, the Prince of Wales, which arrived in Savannah on 30 December 1734. That means he was an early Georgia colonist; the first colonists arrived in Georgia in February 1733, so Paulus arrived when Georgia wasn't even two years old. I didn't expect what I found next; my ancestor Matthias Seckinger, arrived later - on 2 October 1749 aboard the Charles Town Galley as part of a group of indentured servants the Georgia Trustees sent to the Salzburgers. Once again, indentured servitude is something I've studied and read about in the past, but it never occurred to me that any of my ancestors were indentured servants. Learning that my ancestor was an indentured servant is thought provoking; what must he have been experiencing at home in Germany to push him to bind himself to another man for passage to Georgia?
Another highlight of the Festival was the Heritage Day Program at Jerusalem Lutheran Church. The program consisted of a service including several hymns, "The Exile Hymn" among them, prayers, and a brief homily by Pastor Rick Johnson followed by a presentations by Georgia Salzburger Society Vice President Josh Zeigler and President Erika Bragg and a talk by Wright Mitchell (President and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation) about his new book "Georgia's First Elected Governor, John Adam Treutlen and The American Revolution." It's a biography of John Adam Treutlen, a German who came to Georgia as an indentured servant to the Salzburgers and progressed through Colonial Georgia society, eventually elected Governor and became a Revolutionary who was killed by Loyalists in South Carolina. I bought a copy of the book, got it autographed, and plan on reading it very soon; Treutlen sounds like a historical figure with a fascinating story.
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| Pastor Rick Johnson, Georgia Salzburger Society Chaplain |
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| Erika Bragg, Georgia Salzburger Society President |
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| Josh Zeigler, Georgia Salzburger Society Vice President |
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| Wright Mitchell, President and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and author of "Georgia's First Elected Governor, John Adam Treutlen and The American Revolution." |
After a picnic lunch out of the back of the car, I left Ebeneezer on a drive up to Columbia, SC via GA-119 and US-321. A drive of over two hours, it gave me plenty of time to contemplate what I'd seen and learned at the Festival. I am so glad that I went; I wish I'd done so years ago. With the genealogy established, one of my next steps will be to join and support the Georgia Salzburgers Society. There is one, maybe two more branches of the family tree that could be Salzburgers, so I'm also going to keep working on that and see where things lead me.
Amateur Radio/GMRS
Since Monday was Labor Day, I didn't know what to expect from the Amateur Radio and GMRS repeaters on my route of travel. It turned out that from around Orangeburg north toward Columbia, there was a good bit of activity on both Amateur Radio and GMRS throughout the holiday afternoon. On Tuesday afternoon, there wasn't as much activity.
146.6250- (DCS 315) - Little Mountain
146.6700- (PL 156.7) - St. Matthews
146.8800- (PL 123.0) - Orangeburg (SCHearts)
147.0000+ (PL 123.0) - Lexington
440.5875+ (DMR CC1) - Orangeburg (PRN)
440.6125+ (DMR CC1) - Columbia Downtown/Capitol (PRN)
440.6875+ (DMR CC1) - Barnwell (PRN)
441.7500 (PL 123.0) - Orangeburg (SCHearts)
442.8125+ (DMR CC3) - Savannah (SE CBridge)
442.8750+ (DCS 315) - Columbia
443.6500+ (DCS 315) - Blythewood
443.8750+ (DCS 315) - Little Mountain
462.6000+ (PL 156.7) - GMRS Vance
462.6250+ (PL 156.7) - GMRS St Matthews
462.6750+ (PL 141.3) - GMRS Hopkins
462.7250+ (DCS 723) - GMRS Columbia
Once again, there was no portable HF or Parks on the Air activity on this road trip because it still just too hot. It won't be long before Autumn cools things down and I'll be doing portable HF and POTA operations, so I stopped by Battle of Rivers Bridge State Historic Site in Ehrhardt, SC (not too far away from US-321) to scout it out for an Autumn or Winter activation. There are several areas with picnic tables in the shade and room to set up the antenna, so look for an activation from there later this year.
MilCom/Aviation
Due to the Labor Day holiday, there was little to hear in the way of military communications on Monday, but commercial and general aviation provided plenty to listen to in the Savannah area, the Columbia area, and in-between. I didn't hear a lot of military activity on the drive back to Savannah on Tuesday afternoon, but starting around Estill, SC on US-321 I started to hear some of the 4th FW F-15Es that are still working out of Savannah-Hilton Head IAP for the Summer. In addition to the F-15Es, I also heard a couple of SC ANG F-16s, a Charleston C-17 conducting aerial refueling with a MacDill AFB KC-135, and some communications from Fort Jackson from it's US Army TRS sites. There were also some Gulfstream test flights up from the factory and service center in Savannah.
Hunter AAF/Wright AAF/Fort Stewart
US Army ACE LMR
TG 20500 - FS/HAAF FD/EMS Dispatch
TG 20513 - FS/HAAF EMS Dispatch
TG 20566 - FS/HAAF Range Control Live Fire
TG 20705 - FS/HAAF Range Control 20705
Savannah-Hilton Head IAP & Savannah CRTC/ADC
125.975/257.800 - Savannah-Hilton Head IAP Tower
120.400/353.775/125.300/371.875/118.400/307.225/134.875 - Savannah TRACON
GULFTEST ## (Gulfstream Test Flights)
4th FW F-15Es (Missed callsigns while driving)
123.350 - Gulfstream Test Ops
253.200 - CRTC/ADC Ops; 4th FW Ops
233.200 - CRTC/ADC; 4th FW Air-to-Air
234.200 - CRTC/ADC; 4th FW Air-to-Air
242.600 - CRTC/ADC; 4th FW Air-to-Air
SEGARRN GA ANG/Aviation TGs
TG 415 - 165th AW FD 1
MCAS Beaufort
125.125 - Beaufort App/Dep
Joint Base Lindsey Graham/Charleston IAP
120.700 - Charleston TRACON
134.100/349.400 - JB Charleston "PALMETTO Ops"
PRIME ## (C-17A, 317th AW)
BOLT ## (KC-135R, 6th AMW/927th ARW); Aerial Refueling with PRIME
Columbia Metropolitan/McEntire JNGB/Shaw AFB/Fort Jackson
119.500/257.800 - Columbia Metropolitan Tower
124.150/133.400/285.600/338.200 - Columbia TRACON
253.500 - McEntire JNGB Tower
STALK ## (F-16CM, 169th FW/157th FS)
US Army TRS (Fort Jackson sites)
TG 555 - Fort Jackson Fire Control; enc
TG 655 - Fort Jackson Unknown
TG 737 - Fort Jackson Range Control
TG 756 - Fort Jackson Wildlife/Forestry; enc
TG 780 - Fort Jackson Buses/Transportation
TG 784 - Fort Jackson Motor Pool
TG 790 - B/1-61 IN
Ranges/MOAs/Operating Areas
228.400 - Townsend Range Control/Coastal MOA
252.900 - Townsend Range/Coastal MOA
350.300 - Gamecock MOA
120.950 - SEALORD North Primary
284.500 - SEALORD North Primary
316.300 - NORAD Discrete (Used in SEALORD's airspace)
Miscellaneous MilCom
327.600 - AR-207 Primary
Jacksonville ARTCC
124.075 - Summerville High
124.700/269.550 - Columbia Low
126.125/285.650 - Statesboro High
127.875 - Aiken High
132.425 - Hunter Ultra High
132.925/363.200 - Allendale/Savannah Low
133.450/306.300 - Florence Low
133.625 - Georgetown High
134.375 - Charleston Low
134.975 - Ridgeway Ultra High
Atlanta ARTCC
123.950 - Sinca Low
126.425 - Dublin High
128.100 - Augusta Low
Public Safety
As always on Savannah to Columbia Road Trips, there is no shortage of public safety communications to listen to, and with Monday being Labor Day, things were even more active than normal. Most of what I heard was on the SEGARRN system around Savannah and the Palmetto 800 system in South Carolina, although there are a few agencies still using conventional frequencies and Fairfield County is using FleetTalk Carolinas NXDN system. Listening to Columbia/Richland County and Lexington County on Palmetto 800 never lets me forget why I use US-321 to travel between Savannah and Columbia instead of the Interstates.
154.3700 (PL 162.2) - Bamberg County FD Dispatch
155.2350 (PL 94.8) - Bamberg County EMS Dispatch
154.4000 (PL 118.8) - Barnwell County FD Dispatch
159.2700 (PL 203.5) - SCFC Piedmont Ops
159.4275 (DCS 243) - SCFC Liberty Hill (Kershaw County)
SEGARRN
TG 5090 - Bryan County North Fire Dispatch
TG 5093 - Bryan County South Fire Dispatch
TG 2305 - Chatham County Fire Dispatch
TG 223 - Chatham County Fire Admin
TG 2311 - Chatham County Fireground 1
TG 2313 - Chatham County Fireground 2
TG 2315 - Chatham County Fireground 3
TG 2359 - Chatham County Fireground 4
TG 859 - Port Wentworth FD Paging (Chatham County)
TG 860 - Thunderbolt FD Paging (Chatham County)
TG 325 - Tybee Island FD (Chatham County)
TG 329 - Tybee Island Lifeguards (Chatham County)
TG 257 - Chatham Emergency Services Medic 1
TG 259 - Chatham Emergency Services Medic 2
TG 1541 - Effingham County Fire Dispatch
TG 1663 - Effingham County Incident 4
TG 1665 - Effingham County Incident 5
TG 12806 - Liberty County Fire Dispatch
Palmetto 800
TG 20565 - Aiken County EMS Ch 1 Dispatch
TG 704 - Beaufort County Fire Dispatch 1
TG 706 - Beaufort County Fire Dispatch 2
TG 550 - Hilton Head F/R Dispatch (Beaufort Co)
TG 552 - Hilton Head F/R Tac 1 (Beaufort Co)
TG 22528 - Calhoun County FD Dispatch
TG 22530 - Calhoun County FD Ops 1
TG 22565 - Calhoun County EMS Dispatch
TG 32065 - Hampton County FD
TG 6541 - Jasper County FD Dispatch
TG 6542 - Jasper County FD Tac 1
TG 6543 - Jasper County FD Tac 2
TG 23541 - Kershaw County FD Dispatch
TG 23545 - Kershaw County FD Ops 1
TG 24542 - Lexington County FS Dispatch
TG 24531 - Lexington County FS Ops 1
TG 24532 - Lexington County FS Ops 2
TG 24536 - Lexington County FS Ops 6
TG 24543 - Lexington County FS Admin
TG 24566 - Lexington County EMS Dispatch
TG 25053 - Orangeburg County FD Dispatch
TG 25068 - Orangeburg County EMS Dispatch
TG 25552 - Columbia FD Dispatch (Richland Co)
TG 25553 - Columbia FD Ops 1 (Richland Co)
TG 25556 - Columbia FD Ops 4 (Richland Co)
TG 25557 - Columbia FD Ops 5 (Richland Co)
TG 24665 - Columbia Airport FD (Richland Co)
TG 25565 - Richland County EMS 1 Dispatch
TG 25566 - Richland County EMS 2 Med
TG 25567 - Richland County EMS 3 Talk
TG 26101 - Sumter County FD 1
TG 26151 - Sumter County EMS Dispatch; enc
TG 20011 - SC Mutual Aid 1
TG 28609 - SC LifeNet
TG 28101 - SC EMD Call
TG 27873 - SC Army National Guard Roam
TG 51704 - Med-Trans SC
TG 51781 - MeduCare Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital (Charleston)
FleetTalk Carolinas
TG 451 - Fairfield County FD
TG 453 - Fairfield County EMS Dispatch
Marine/Port/Railroad
I didn't hear a lot from the Marine VHF frequencies used on the Savannah River by ships coming from and going to Georgia Ports on Monday or Tuesday and the railroads weren't all that busy on Monday (no surprise given it was Labor Day), but the railroads were very active on Tuesday afternoon as I drove back to Savannah. I heard and saw several trains on the CSX Columbia Subdivision that runs parallel to parts of US-321 as well as trains on the CSX Augusta, Charleston, CN&L, and Savannah Subdivisions along with Norfolk Southern communications in Columbia and Savannah. Something worth noting for railfans - CSX's CN&L Subdivision runs next to Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens; the pedestrian bridge from the parking lot to the zoo crosses over the tracks.
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| The CSX CN&L Subdivision is next to Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens in Columbia, SC; the pedestrian bridge from the parking lot to the Zoo goes right over its tracks |
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| A CSX train of Autoracks heading southbound on the CSX Columbia Subdivision parallel to US-321 south of Fairfax, SC |
CSX
160.3200 - AAR 14, CSX Savannah & Jesup Subdivision Dispatch
160.4100 - AAR 20, CSX Columbia Subdivision Dispatch
161.3700 - AAR 84, CSX Charleston Subdivision Dispatch
161.5200 - AAR 94; CSX Augusta Subdivision Dispatch
160.5900 - AAR 32, CSX Road, Savannah, Jesup, Charleston, & Augusta Subdivisions
161.1000 - AAR 66, CSX Road, Columbia & CN&L Subdivisions
160.4850 - AAR 25, CSX Southover Yard - Savannah
160.4400 - AAR 22, CSX Intermodal Yard - Georgia Ports
Norfolk Southern
160.9350 - AAR 55, Norfolk Southern Road/Dispatch - Savannah
161.0100 - AAR 60, Norfolk Southern Transportation - Savannah
160.6050 - AAR-33, Norfolk Southern Road - Columbia
Genesee & Wyoming
160.6200 - AAR 34, Savannah Port Terminal Railway
Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens
After spending the night in Columbia, I visited Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens before traveling back to Savannah. I was disappointed that the Tiger and Gorillas weren't out while I was there, but I got some nice photos of some of the other animals, including their new male Lions. I also got more practice taking photos of the Sea Lions; slowly but surely I'm getting better at tracking them underwater and catching them as they surface. Getting to see both Koalas that were out awake at one time was a bonus!
If you're a radio geek like me, you might want to listen to the Zoo while you visit; Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens uses a NXDN 4800 TRS. I always enjoy listening to the Zoo Keepers on TG 35152; sometimes when animals aren't out on exhibit yet, you can hear when the keepers are ready to let them out.
Riverbanks Zoo & Gardens NXDN TRS
TG 35152 - Zoo Keepers
TG 35153 - Maintenance
TG 35154 - Gardens?
TG 35155 - Saluda Skyride
TG 35157 - Attractions?
TG 35159 - Housekeeping/Groundskeeping
TG 35161 - Food Service
Food
No good road trip is complete without good food. On this trip, I stopped for Mexican at Pedro's Mexican Restaurant in Swansea, SC on my way to Columbia on Monday. Whenever I stop at Pedro's, the food is always delicious, the service is always friendly, and you get a great meal for the price. On this visit, I had the Burro de la Roqueta (pork and chicken cooked in beer and served in tortillas) and it was terrific. After visiting the Zoo on Tuesday, I made my traditional stop at East Bay Deli in West Columbia for a Greek Salad before driving back to Savannah. Regardless of whether you're in Columbia or Charleston, an East Bay Deli is always a great stop for wonderful food and friendly service.
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| Burro de la Roqueta from Pedro's Mexican Restaurant in Swansea |
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| Greek Salad with Gyro Meat from East Bay Deli in West Columbia |
My next road trip will be at the end of October. I haven't been to a Hamfest in years, so I've decided to take some leave and go to the Stone Mountain Hamfest on 30/31 October. I'm probably going to visit the Kettle Creek Battlefield on the way up and see some of the sights at Stone Mountain Park while I'm in the area.
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