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| Horse and Buggy Tour of Beaufort SC © Katrena |
Learning about history can be awfully dry with a bunch of facts and figures or it can be exciting, fun, and quite memorable. When I told the kids I would like to learn more about the history of Beaufort, SC, they were a bit nonchalant. After they realized we were going on a horse and buggy tour of the Southern town in South Carolina's Low Country, they suddenly decided this might be one of my better ideas!
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| Learn about South Carolina History © Katrena |
We made reservations. The buggies leave at regularly scheduled times, and some of the time slots may fill up. During hot summer months, it might be best to schedule an early morning time if possible. Parking is available in the same lot where the tours leave...for a steep price. You can save money if you park on one of the nearby streets.
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| See Beautiful Southern Homes in Beaufort SC © Katrena |
They have bathroom facilities in the parking area as well. That is very helpful if you are going on a tour with small kids. If you have extra time, a fun playground is right by the bridge and another, larger one is nearby – we walked to that one but my youngest one got a bit weary on that walk. My kids enjoyed visiting the Chocolate Tree after the tour as well.
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| Learn History the Fun Way! © Katrena |
I discovered the Southern Rose Buggy Tour via the internet. I believe two different tour companies leave from the same area – Southern Rose has blue buggies and I believe Carolina Buggy Tours has red ones. Someone who was staying near us at Hunting Island Campground went on a buggy tour through the other tour company and said they also thoroughly enjoyed the tour and found it to be very informative.
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| SC Low Country History © Katrena |
I particularly like the web site for the Southern Rose Buggy Tour. Half of the fun is the expectation! My girls loved reading about their various horses and could not wait to see which horse would be pulling for our tour. Jake was the beautiful white steed who took us on the rolling history lesson.
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| See Homes Where Famous People Stayed in Beaufort SC © Katrena |
The company does seem to care for the horses well and checked them before and after the 50-minute ride. I was particularly impressed with some of the guys who were doing some construction work beside the road who stopped their power tools while we rode by. Hats off to those guys!
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| Learn About Rich Southern Heritage © Katrena |
I found it interesting that our tour guide said one of her parents was from Beaufort, SC while the other was from Beaufort, NC. The pronunciation of the SC town sounds like "beautiful" while the pronunciation for the NC town sounds like "bow tie." She began talking as we pulled off and continued to share the history of the beautiful town until we arrived back where we started. I was impressed with all of the various details she shared about the architecture, plants, famous people who had visited and lived in the area, older and more recent historical events, and much more.
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| Tour of Beautiful Southern Town Near Hilton Head © Katrena |
My daughters were ages 10, 8, and 4 at the time that we took this tour, and all of them thoroughly enjoyed it and loved having the opportunity to give Jake a treat at the end. I believe they might have even learned a bit about some of our Southern history. When you can experience history in memorable ways, it can be an amazing educational opportunity for folks of all ages!
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| Learn About Southern History © Katrena |
Those traveling with kids to Beaufort might also consider camping at
Hunting Island State Park, which is located about 30 minutes away. Find more of Katrena's travel articles at
Love 2 Travel With Kids and
Travel NC With Kids.
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| Southern Rose Buggy Tour © Katrena |
Visit the
Southern Rose Buggy Tour web site for current prices, times, information about their horses, reservations, and more. Readers might also be interested in reading Katrena's article about
horse therapy.
