[ml/nj]

There was a total solar eclipse visible to parts of the South Eastern United States in 1969—to the best of my knowledge—maybe it was 1970 or 1968—but I remember my motther—irrationally protective—fussed at me because I watched it without vision filters after it went total

I think the eclipse you are referring to was the same one as the one I saw on Nantucket on March 7, 1970. Here's a map of the path it took:

There are always a lot of warnings before an eclipse about the danger of looking directly at the sun during the eclipse. This is because almost everyone will be looking at a partial eclipse. Even those in the path of totality usually get about an hour before and after totality of waxing and waning partial eclipse. During the short period of totality though (and not a second before or a second after) looking directly at the sun is no more dangerous than looking at the full moon. I actually looked directly at the eclipse through an unfiltered telescope for about 30 seconds. Seeing the red-orange solar prominences was quite spectacular. Something like this:

This isn't my picture, and my recollection is that I saw more orange than appears in this picture.

ML/NJ

[Happy Rain]

That must have been it—I was living in Goose Creek, SC at the time—which is about halfway between Charleston and Summerville- almost smack dab on the redline.

One of those very intense moments of my youth—I was awestruck.