Sullivan's Island, SC: July 17th-19th, 2013 - The Castle and the Family Reunion

I met my great uncle on my mother's side two years ago, just before his ninetieth birthday.  Well, I'm sure I met him before that, but I was small and don't remember.

With the patriarch of the family turning this momentous age, that side of the family suddenly whipped itself into a reunion frenzy, putting together a birthday party where all five children, plus their spouses and children, plus my mother and her brother, plus their spouses and children, plus a few friends and neighbors for good measure, all gathered in Greensboro, NC, to wish him well.  I remember seeing a picture of him at age 14 driving a car with the caption "Me and my "T", winter '34", and I remember him talking about it.  I wondered and wonder still what it's like to have a 75 year old memory.

Well, ol' Uncle Dargan kept on having birthdays, and I guess his kids just kept gathering every year around that time out of habit.  I've seen them more in the last 2 and a half years than in the rest of my life combined.

This year, the gathering was at his eldest daughter's house in Sullivan's Island, SC.  The rest of the family had made it up earlier in the week, and we were coming down just for the last couple of days.

Now, with so many guests, Linny (the daughter) couldn't possibly accommodate everyone in her house.  I'm sure we could have stayed in a hotel, but we were given a somewhat different alternative.

We stayed in the castle next door.

I could dance around the issue for a few more paragraphs and string you along, but I'll just go ahead and explain this, because I was confused as to why we had a castle, too, and it took a hot minute for it to be explained to me.  Some eccentric millionaire bought the old Episcopal Church that stood on this spot, which was just coincidentally next door to Linny's house, and had it remodeled based on some medieval Scottish castle he was apparently a big fan of.  It was a modern living area, for sure, it was a real house with plenty of fridges and stoves and things you'd expect - it just happened to be a castle.  Cause that's what the guy wanted.

He had heard we were putting together a family reunion, and since he was going to be out of town anyway, offered his place up for us to stay in.

Some more exterior shots.

And some interior ones.

An overhead shot of the main room, sort of the kitchen/living room combined:

It was a really impressive place, to be honest.  The thing was, though, that the owner - who we never actually met, by the way - had apparently gotten tired of it, and had put it on the market.  But it's like - this is his custom-built castle house.  Who else is going to want to buy it?

I found a crown laying around the above room - no joke -and wore it pretty much at all times.  If this was a castle, it needed a king, and if it needed a king, it was going to be me, dammit.

Of course I have photo proof:

The family reunion happened, and it was great.  We also hit the beach and took my aunt out for a birthday dinner.  I don't have any photos or any particularly interesting stories from any of that, though.  And really - after seeing the castle, what else would you want to read about?