New "Churchyards of Charleston" Book at the Printer!

I am excited to announce that I will soon be publishing a new book! It is titled "Stories from the Underground: The Churchyards of Charleston." 

Like my 2014 "In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston's Treasure of History, Mystery and Artistry," this new book is large format and full color. It is 8.5 by 11 inches in size and 228 pages. 

In it, I examine Charleston's rich, diverse and interesting history through the prism of its old churches (and one synagogue) and their burial grounds. 

Below is the book's dust jacket design: 

Printing my book will be the Charleston-area firm Palmetto Publishing. This will be my second book printed by this company. Last summer, I had Palmetto Publishing print additional copies of my "In the Arms of Angels" Magnolia Cemetery book. 

Please contact me if you are interested in acquiring my new "Churchyards of Charleston." My email is birdseyeviewspublications@gmail.com. I will post updates in the weeks ahead as the release date approaches. for more details on what the book is about, click here.  

Here is what is written on the back cover by three Charleston historians, authors and fellow taphophiles who have read the book. 

"Just when I thought I knew it all, Patrick Harwood’s 'Stories from the Underground' taught me so much more. Much good information for the seasoned taphophile as well as the 'newby' cemetery explorer.  --Pamela Durkin Gabriel, author and historian 

"Patrick Harwood is a born storyteller, and his tales of the dead confirm it. This book is not just a tour de force of Charleston’s churches, churchyards and cemeteries, but a tour through time as well, with stories of funerary history, customs and design. It’s hard to imagine a more enthusiastic or dedicated guide; and the lavish images are not only compelling – but may very well propel readers to visit these sites themselves. I know I will!  --Harlan Greene, Scholar in Residence and author, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston.

"Thank you to Patrick Harwood for gathering together, in one volume, Charleston’s valuable collection of burial grounds. 'Stories from the Underground' serves as an invitation to explore the surface world of funerary art, while helping to unearth countless stories of the souls who lie below. --Ruth M. Miller, Lowcountry historian, author and speaker

Exciting Barred Owl Encounters and Camera Captures

The start of June brought an amazing day of owl sightings at my house. A trio of Barred Owls spent much of the day and part of the next hanging around our front and back yards. I was able to take many photos and record videos as well. The most unusual part was when Alesia alerted me that an owl was in one of the bird baths on our back porch. I took almost a minute of video before it flew to a nearby perch. Check it out!  

Cool right? The water must have felt pretty cool to this young Barred Owl- I'm pretty sure this was a juvenile one. The things that children do! 

Here is more video I took earlier that day. 

I posted the bird bath Barred two days later (after posting the still shots to follow) on several Facebook sites (my neighborhood one, a South Carolina nature site and three or four other bird and nature sites). 

On the Carolina Bird Photo Sharing Facebook site it really took off. It has had more than 600 reactions and numerous comments and shares. 

Memorable Memorial Day Weekend at Myrtle Beach

June 12 Update- My Myrtle Beach photo that begins this post was a winner in today’s Post and Courier photography contest. The topic is “Summertime.”

It was fun to return to Myrtle Beach for the first time in many years. For the Memorial Day weekend, it made a nice getaway that was not too far away. 

We had an oceanfront room on the 15th floor at Marriott’s Residence Inn. We were there two nights…

…and Three days. Alesia and I spent most of the time on the beach. The weather was perfect! 

That's the hotel behind me. It has 18 floors. We were on the 15th, Room 1508 to be exact.

This is a really nice hotel! I would definitely recommend it. 

The water temperature was very comfortable for taking a dip. We brought our favorite beach chairs and I had a good book to read (Harlan Coben's "The Final Detail" to be exact). So life is good! 

Red-shouldered Hawk Montage

I was out on my driveway doing some repair work last week and what did I see? A flash of feathers that landed on my neighbor’s house across the street. The work could wait as I retrieved by camera and monopod. This is a Red-shouldered Hawk as evident by the small patch of red on the wing close to its neck and head. 

This is not the order I took the photographs but once I achieved some closeups and the hawk was still there, I did a sequence of wide to tight shots just for fun. 

Beach Season Has Begun!

 When May it be a good time to go to beach? It is the month of May and the time and weather have been right. Here is a collection of my photography from three recent visits to Sullivan’s Island. This included a Mother’s Day brunch at The Longboard restaurant, which was very good. 

In the background (above) is the iconic Sullivan's Island Lighthouse. 

Charleston Shines in the Spring

Last Sunday was a great day to walk around The Battery area in Charleston. After checking out the sea wall reconstruction work phase 1 and 2 that has been completed (see previous post about that), we walked around some into the nearby neighborhoods. Here are some of the things we saw. 

Charleston Low Battery Sea Wall a Success

Since learning through the news media that a major facelift was completed on part of the sea wall along Charleston’s Battery, I have been curious to see it for myself. 

See this link on the history of the historic Charleston Battery. It includes some big-picture aerial views of the waterfront structure that this post is about. 

So we went downtown last Sunday on a beautiful spring day. The work involved raising the wall along the harbor to better deter flooding. And the sidewalk was redone too. It is wider and smoother. 

My Music: Five All-Time Favorite Rock Bands!

In my SC State University Radio Production class I am asking the students to write a blog post and produce an audio recording of their five or 10 favorites. Favorite what you ask? The theme is music so the task is to share their favorite singers, bands, musicians, guitar players, rappers, etc. So to give the students a better idea what I'm looking for I am putting this together. 

Click here to listen to my audio production that includes bits of music from each group and what I like so much about each. I'm not ranking them, which would be very difficult, but giving you my five favs.

My Favorite Rock Bands: 

SILVERSUN PICKUPS

I credit my wife Alesia for exposing me to this excellent group from California. She listens to Sirius XM's Alt Nation a lot in her car. I began to hear songs I REALLY liked by a group called Silversun Pickups that I had never heard of before. I have since heard so many of this band's songs that I like that on my Amazon Music tunes I have 17 Silversun Pickups songs. They have many, many songs that are so catchy and well composed with great vocals, guitar, drum and bass jams. Alesia and I saw Silversun Pickups in March 2020 in Asheville just before the world shut down due to the Covid pandemic. See my blog post on that awesome show!. 

Return of the Air Expo at Joint Base Charleston!

It was neat to be back at the Charleston Air Force Base on April 10 for the 2020 Air Expo. 

This is the first such open house event here since 2018. Check out my post from four years ago. 

Here we are pictured in front of a fierce A-10 Thunderbolt, better known as the Warthog. 

In the wars in Iraq, the A-10 gained fame as a tank killer. Armaments include the seven-barrel Gatling gun (or air cannon) seen just above Alesia’s lovely head. 

Charleston AFB is home to the massive
C-17 Globemaster. 

Air Expo visitors got to see fly-bys of the military transport workhorse. 

Early in the show, a C-17 flew by accompanied by a World War II transport plane. The size difference is something! 

Navy Blue Angels- 12 Best Photos

 

It was at the Charleston Air Force Base but it was these U.S. Navy jets that stole the show at the 2022 Air Expo. The famed Blue Angels were the headliners at Joint Base Charleston’s first public air show since 2018.

We were there last Sunday on a beautiful spring day. I will do a separate post on the other attractions but this one will feature a dozen of my photos of the high flying Blue Angels in their fast and furious  F-18 Super Hornets! 

In this first photograph the six pilots in their yellow helmets are ready to go. Enjoy the show. We did!