The Pink House (Tavern), Charleston, South Carolina. August 2008. The distinctive little pink building at 17 Chalmers Street is said to be the oldest standing tavern building in the South. Built within the walled city of Charles Towne in the mid 1690s by John Breton, this oldest stone house in the city was constructed of 'Bermuda stone'. The West Indian coral stone had a natural pink cast, so the building was known as the Pink House from the beginning. Tradition holds that the Bermuda stone was brought in ships as ballast, as the cobblestones on Chalmers Street were, but it is more likely that it was cut in Bermuda and imported as a building material. The stone is soft enough to be cut into blocks and then when exposed to weather, it gradually hardens and becomes stronger. Its elasticity was proved in the great earthquake on 1886 when nearby brick structures suffered damage. The tiled roof is original terra cotta tile of an ancient vintage. The curved shape of the tiles was said to be formed over the workmen's thighs. The Pink House also was one of the few buildings in Charleston to survive 1989's Hurricane Hugo virutally unscathed. In the building's early days, as a 'groggerie' and coffee house for sailors visiting the port from all over the world, this area was a red light district called Mulatto Alley and the street was lined with many small houses, most of which were bordellos. The Pink House was not a fashionable bistro for Charleston gentry, but rather a simple tavern, where the seamen found their 'three Ws'......whiskey, wenches, and wittles. Around 1800 the area was cleaned up after many citizens petitioned the City Council. Thomas Elfe, the famous furniture maker, wrote a letter complaining about the noisy parties at night. The Pink House is architecturally Charleston's most unique building. The fact that it had only one room on each of three floors has been featured to tourists for many years. The low ceilings and narrow staircase are not typical of Charleston. The first and second floors each have one square (13 feet by 13 feet) room with an oversize fireplace. The third floor is a garret of the same size, but the walls slant in, following the lines of the gambrel roof, which is one of the few gambrel roofs in the city. The huge fireplaces which were used for heating, but also for cooking, are unusual, since most Charleston houses had separate kitchen buildings in the rear. No evidence of an outdoor kitchen dependency has been found near the Pink House. The Pink House is now an art gallery. History taken from pinkhousegallery.tripod.com

I promised my friend Dave that I would be ready to hike up Mount Whitney in the summer so because I couldn’t make his preparation hike, I had to make one of my own. Tahoe became my destination, so armed only with a description of Velma Lakes, I planned a overnight hike there that would still give Caitlin a chance to see some of the waterfalls she loves. I brought Sean along for transport, multi-day hiking experience, and a bear bag and cooking utensils as I had none of those. Because we were running behind, we didn’t reach Velma Lakes until the second day, but it was worth it—I had no idea Tahoe was still so snowy in the summer. We only met a couple people the whole day, though it was easy to get lost because the paths weren’t well traveled. I loved the remote that came with my old Olympus. That and a cheap tripod made simple shots like this possible. It was a noisy bugger but standards were different then. :-) Hmm viewing at 100% shows a serious error with the sunlight filter. Also, I should have neatimaged this thing first. ( Olympus C2500L ) ?5.6, 1/800sec, iso 250, 9.2mm (36mm), remote Nik CEP (pro contrast, sunlight)