The true landscape and culture of the Old South resides in Charleston, South Carolina's charming architecture and picturesque surroundings. The town's historic district boasts more than 70 pre-Revolutionary buildings, 136 late 18th century structures and hundreds of others built in the 1840s. But, there is more to Charleston than the hustle and bustle of downtown streets. Charleston's low country offers a quiet getaway amid Spanish oaks, blooming azaleas and camellias and unbroken woodland panoramas. Here, the region's finest plantations and gardens offer visitors a glimpse of early American life and the day-to-day activities of those who lived here.
Middleton Place
With a history stretching back three centuries, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens is one of South Carolina's most impressive public gardens as well as the oldest unrestored garden and the last large-scale Romantic Gardens in the country. In the middle stands the Drayton family home, built before the Revolutionary War and teeming with early American furnishings that bring plantation culture to life. Beyond the gardens lie 600 acres of wetlands, lakes, forests and marshes offering an extraordinary journey through nature and history including rice ponds, Native American sites, and a boardwalk stroll through cypress and tupelo gum trees that inhabit the black waters.
Slave cabins at Boone Hall Plantation
A landmark corridor of live oak trees draped in moss, greets visitors to Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens and America's most photographed plantation. Since the 17th century, Boone Hall was known for cotton and pecan production, but today the farm actively produces a variety of fruits and vegetables including strawberries, tomatoes and pumpkins. Visitors can get their hands dirty in the seasonal fields before perusing the local produce of Boone Hall Farms Market, which includes a full-service café and wine alley. Tours around the plantation's more than 700 acres include the historic relics and living quarters of Slave Street and the Gullah Theater's live educational performances and storytelling events.
Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens
Centuries-old camellias, a hillside of azaleas and summer's stash of kalmia, magnolias, crepe myrtles and roses populate America's oldest landscaped garden at Middleton Place. This plantation's rich history, including an attack by Union troops during the Civil War, is described throughout the house museum and stable yard. Guests of Middleton Place Inn can extend their stay in a secluded woodland setting of tall pines and live oak overlooking the Ashley River.
America's oldest preserved plantation house is Drayton Hall, built in 1738. The stunning Georgian-Palladian architecture endured two wars, an onslaught of hurricanes and earthquakes and seven generations in near original condition. Artifacts in the Drayton Hall Collections, including original furniture and art along with fanner baskets and slave tags, tell the stories of both wealth and slavery at this plantation. Likewise, the picturesque, 125-acre early-English landscape is a sprawling lawn defined by an allée of azaleas, a quaint reflecting pond, the banks of the Ashley River and one of the nation's oldest documented African-American cemeteries.
So come to Charleston for the sand and sea, the award-winning restaurants and the friendly atmosphere, but save time to savor the well-preserved culture and history beyond the city streets. Tour the antebellum homes, gardens and history of Charleston's sprawling plantations for a truly unforgettable southern experience.
