World United States South Carolina Charleston

Spring on the Outer Banks

Down On The Old Plantation Apr 9, 2012

OAK PLANTATION RV PARK CHARLESTON,SC 4/9/2012

Another beautiful morning....nice mild temperatures...just about perfect. My morning was spent doing the journal, making a reservation for our next stop and taking a walk. We then dicussed what to do today, and after a little research on the internet, decided to visit Middleton Plantation. We had gone there with Edie's nephew and his wife in the fall of '09 when we were here, but only saw a small portion of it and had lunch there.

So after lunch here , we drove there, a trip of about 11 miles. Stopped at the visitor center and got an orientation on what there is to see and do, and decided on a horse drawn carriage tour, guided tour thru the museum house and a stroll thru part of the gardens.

Middleton is on the historic register, due to the fact that the original owner was a member of and 2nd president of the continental congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 4 or 5 generations later the owner was a signer of the South Carolina Articles of Cessation.

The tour guide was a very good narrator and gave us a lot of history during the drive. It is located on the Ashley river and the land had lots of Cypress swamps, which were converted to rice fields. Using slaves for labor the Middletons became extremely wealthy at rice farming. The description of how that worked was very interesting.

Of course the bubble burst during and after the war between the states. Union troops destroyed the main house and two flanker buildings. The house in the picture above is the south flanker, which before the war contained the laundry facilities and upstairs accomodations for visitors. It was the only one of the three buildings that was repairable and stands today being used as a museum of living quarters, with many Middleton family items in it.

The formal gardens are said to be the oldest in this country, dating from the 1700's. You could spend an entire day on the plantation without seeing it all, I'm sure. We thoroughly enjoyed the visiting there today.

We checked out a gas station down the street where we will refuel the rig in the morning. Gas prices are about 20 cents less here than back home, so I did not fill up before leaving there. We are heading north to a stop at Selma, NC which is a little more than half way to the Outer Banks. We have stayed there before. It's the home town of Ava Gardner and has a museum of her life and lots of other attractions in the area. We are planning to spend two nights there before going to the coast.

Our time in Charleston has been restful and enjoyable, and thankfully it appears that my cold is waning. I'm feeling much better today and Edie is doing OK too. Neither one of us is as spry as we were 7 years ago when this all started, but we have covered a lot of territory and had lots of fun. We are both thankful for that....And we're not done yet.

So ends our stay in Charleston for this time.