Low Country Oyster Fest 2011

  Yesterday, we joined the masses at the World's Biggest Oyster Roast on 350-year-old Boone Hall Plantation near Charleston.  The oysters were steamed then passes out in 5 lb buckets to over 13,000 people.  At three persons per bucket and 25 oysters per bucket, that averages 8 oysters per person bringing the total to 108,000 oysters.  Each oyster was shucked into two pieces, so when the event ended, the grounds were littered with 216,000 oyster shell shards.  I hope they grind them up to make park benches. 

After shucking our fill of oysters, Chris and I took advantage of the opportunity to explore the grounds of the plantation.  We walked the gardens of the Greek Revival-style mansion that stands imperially at the end of the famous oak-lined entrance; we looked inside the rows of slave quarters that now serve as a museum about slave life; and we wandered down to the old dock on the grassy waterway from which the planter would transport his goods to the Charleston market.  Then we went home with bellies too full for a whole dinner.