Kellee Tracker: Charleston, Day 4

We attended church at a local ward before visiting two more historic plantations known for their gardens.

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens is known for its gardens in the Romantic style, which were designed in the 1840s and tries to look natural. They preserved four of their former slave quarters, each in different eras, to tell the story of those who lived there over the generations and gave a great tour telling their stories. Another highlight was their wetlands area with short trails that allowed us to (safely) see cranes, turtles, and alligators sunning in the middle of a pond!

The preserved slave quarters.

A gorgeous oak tree on the grounds.

The iconic pedestrian bridge

The alligator sunning on the wooden ramp in the pond was joined by a few turtles.

Our last stop was up the road at Middleton Gardens. In contrast to Magnolia Plantation, Middleton’s Gardens were in the English style with trimmed hedges, straight lines, and symmetrical gardens. Their azalea hedges were stunning in the afternoon sun, and the gardens were massive with plenty of areas to explore. The family played an important role in US History, including a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, a descendant also signed a famous document–the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession. It’s for this reason that Union troops explicitly targeted the house just before the end of the Civil War as part of their destruction along the Ashley River, aided by newly-freed slaves. Fire gutted the house and the remaining walls collapsed in an earthquake in 1886, so the front steps are intact with piles of bricks to either side creating a powerful image and quite a contrast with the surrounding manicured gardens. As with the other estates, some slave quarters were preserved or restored, and here it was a bit more living history of making baskets and barrels, etc., as well as a demonstration rice area along the river.