Charleston - April 20

Today was our Plantation Tour. We were picked up by bus at 9:30 and along with 18 other Loopers were driven first to Drayton Hall. Drayton Hall is a National Historic Landmark and is the oldest preserved plantation house in America which is open to the public. It is “preserved”, not “restored”, so it has not been made to look like it did when it was first built in the 1700’s. There is no electricity and no indoor plumbing, even though 7 generations of Draytons have lived there, the last in 1974. A lot of the tour talked about the architectural style of the house. We much preferred the personal references, which talked about life during those times.

We were then driven to Middleton Place, about 4 miles away. Middleton Place is also a National Historic Landmark and was a self-sustaining rice plantation. It is also the site of America’s oldest formal landscaped Gardens, laid out in 1741. Prior to our garden tour we had lunch at their inn. Traditional southern food was served. Beth discovered she didn’t like collard greens and Darrell was smart enough not to try it! The corn pudding was very good, as was the pecan pie.

Then on to the garden tour. The garden was originally planned to be green gardens only, but eventually some blooms were planted to highlight and accent different areas. The various shades of greens were very beautiful. Streams were utilized and man made ponds had also been built. There were many different areas to see including the Reflection Pool, South Green Walk, Parterre, Terraces, The Butterfly Lakes, Octagonal Sunken Garden, the Secret Garden and many other areas.

There were a lot of very large trees called living oaks. One was estimated to be 1000 years old. From their limbs hang light green, airy, heavy cobweb looking plants. These are Spanish Moss, which are neither Spanish nor moss. They are air plants and use these trees to grow on.

There were Banana Shrubs, which smell like banana taffy and Tea Olive Bushes, which had a very light fragrance. There were Magnolia trees and Camellia bushes.

We were then able to go through the Middleton House. The original house and the 2 smaller homes that flanked the main house were burned after the Civil War. One of the smaller homes was rebuilt and the family used that when they returned. This home had been restored with almost all Middleton family furnishings and was interesting to see.