Frankly, my dear…

I know very little about Southern plantations.  What I do know was probably gleaned from a couple of viewings of Gone with the Wind some decades ago.  So, on a recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina, my wife and I decided to visit some real plantations.

Our first stop was at  Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, which was built in 1676.  If we were touring in Europe this would be considered a relatively new site, but for the United States this is actually quite old.  Two things immediately came as a surprise to me.  First, they did not grow cotton here, they grew tea!  Second, the plantation house did not look at all like what I had expected to see.  It was smaller and shorter, though it did have big columns and a great porch.  If you like porches, you won’t be disappointed with this one.

None of the rice fields have been maintained.  On the tram tour you get to see where some of the fields had been located but now they are either swamps with birds and alligators or overgrown thickets.  We knew this was not exactly the season for gardens so we could only imagine what acres of azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons, magnolias and other plants would look like in the spring.  It was an interesting enough place to tour and I would recommend that you visit, but not at this time of year. Since our trip to Charleston was associated with a family anniversary, we didn’t get to choose the time.  However, the huge live oaks with enormous spreading branches draped with Spanish Moss were spectacular.  If you prefer trees to flowers, maybe it would be OK to visit in early November.

After a late lunch we headed further down the road to Middleton Place.  This plantation is from the 1700’s, so it’s much newer.  Middleton Place was also a tea plantation.  (I have no idea if they grew cotton in this part of the country.  I’ll have to Google it some day.)  Also, the original main house and two flanking houses were ransacked and burned after the fall of Charleston in 1865.  The South Flanker was eventually rebuilt by the family.  So, this place was also a bit disappointing with respect to old Southern Plantation Houses.

The grounds at Middleton Place were very beautiful and the gardens were more formal.  Despite the time of the year, there were some flowers in bloom and gardeners were actively planting annuals in some of the gardens.  Also, compared to Magnolia Plantation, there were fewer swamps and much more of the land was accessible via paths.  There were also many farm buildings with animals that you could visit and learn from volunteers about the types of work that were done on this plantation.  If you only have the time or the interest to visit one plantation, I would recommend Middleton Place over Magnolia Plantation.

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