Charleston

From Williamsburg we drove to Charleston - again nothing to see except trees, trees and more trees. I didn't think I ever would complain about seeing too many trees but the truth is the Eastern Seaboard is flat as a pancake and pretty empty - except for trees. We are too early for the fall foliage color change. That will no doubt be quite spectacular. Now it is boring. But then came Charleston and there is nothing boring about it! Charleston, unlike Richmond was not burned during the civil war and thus has a significant number of antebellum houses. Additionally, the town stagnated after the war and when attempts were made at "urban renewal" in the 1960's there was sufficient support for the presevationist cause to prevent the wholesale razing of the historic core of the city. The architecture is very different from Charlottesville or Williamsburg, although the towns were founded at about the same time. While Williamsburg emulated England in its buildings, Charleston shows the influence of Barbados, where most of the original settlers had originally attempted to find their fortunes. Below two Charelston mansions with the wide porches (piazzas) prevalent in the South.

The powder magazin, the earliest surviving building.

Unfortunately, we only had one day to spend in Charleston and so we took a tour that covered the city itself including the Citadel - South Carolina's military college -founded in 1842 (See picture below)

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Most of the day, however, we spent at Magnolia Plantation. The plantation has been owned by the Drayton family since 1676.

The original house was burned at the end of the "war between the states". Afterwards, the family was impoverished and had to sell most of the acreage of the plantation. At that time the John Drayton had a hunting cottage he owned disassembled and floated down the river to be placed on the remaining foundation of the old house. His daughter, at a later time added on to the living quarters and once again, Magnolia became an impressive Southern mansion.

We went on an extended tour of the house and the grounds. Below the dining room.

Magnolia is famous for its extensive gardens and grounds. The gardens were, of course, not in season - September is too hot for most flowers and it is too early for fall color. However, the woods and lakes are also impressive, the bridge below is considered a choice spot for wedding pictures.

Below one of the restored slave cabins. I doubt they ever looked this clean and pretty in the day.

On the tour we saw plenty of domestic and not so domestic wildlife:

Above a baby alligator (about a year old) and below some of the other critters that roam the grounds. Unfortunately, the peacock was taking his siesta and did not show off his plumage.

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