Life on Paws and Wheels

Simba and I visited the Old Slave Mart at 6 Chalmers Street in Charleston, South Carolina , a surviving physical connection to one of the darkest chapters in Charleston and American history. Behind its distinctive arched entrance is a building believed to be the only known surviving structure in South Carolina that was actually used as a slave-auction gallery . The relatively small building is easy to pass while exploring Charleston's historic streets, but its appearance today doesn't convey the scale of what once surrounded it. During the years immediately preceding the Civil War, it formed part of Ryan's Mart , a much larger slave-trading complex containing an enclosed yard, jail, kitchen, infirmary, and other facilities used to confine enslaved people before their sale. Most of that complex disappeared long ago. The Chalmers Street auction gallery survived, leaving an extraordinarily important reminder of a system in which men, women, and children were bought and sold as...

Simba and I visited the Stede Bonnet Hanging Site in Charleston, South Carolina , the area where the infamous “Gentleman Pirate” met his end at the gallows more than 300 years ago. Today, a stone memorial inside White Point Garden commemorates Bonnet and the dozens of pirates executed in Charleston during an extraordinary crackdown on piracy in 1718. Stede Bonnet was anything but a typical pirate. He was a wealthy Barbados landowner with a wife, children, and seemingly comfortable life when he abruptly abandoned it all and became a pirate captain despite having little maritime experience. Less than two years later, after crossing paths with Blackbeard, accepting a pardon, returning to piracy, fighting a six-hour battle, escaping custody, and being captured again, Bonnet found himself standing beneath a Charleston gallows. His strange rise and spectacular fall make him one of the most fascinating characters from the Golden Age of Piracy . And Simba got to explore the place where his s...

Simba and I visited the Robert Smalls Memorial in Charleston, South Carolina , a tribute to one of the most extraordinary figures of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. His story is so remarkable that parts of it almost sound like something written for a movie. Born into slavery, Robert Smalls became an experienced sailor in Charleston Harbor. In 1862, he and other enslaved crewmen seized a Confederate steamship, picked up their families, navigated directly past heavily armed Confederate defenses, and delivered the vessel to the Union blockade. Smalls gained his freedom, served the Union during the Civil War, entered politics after the war, and ultimately served five terms in the United States House of Representatives . Visiting a memorial to Smalls near the Charleston waterfront is particularly meaningful because these were the same waters where he carried out his incredible escape. And Simba got to visit this important piece of Charleston history with me! 🐾 👶 Born Into Slavery i...