Plantations in Charleston, SC

Magnolia Plantation House
Stutting Peacocks

Slave Cabins with Resident Slave

Well Hello Raccoon

Tea Plants

Angel Oak Dwarfs Us

One of the first Charleston tours we did was to the Magnolia Plantation which was established in 1676 and is the oldest public garden in the USA. The gardens are magnificent and a delight to visit in any season of the year. According to their advertising, you can enjoy the azaleas in spring, the hydrangeas in summer, the camellias in fall and winter among many other plants. The original plantation used slaves, although they were very well cared for and were even taught to read & write, which was against the law for the times. We had a lovely day for our visit, and enjoyed watching the resident peacocks display their finery (note there are two peacocks in the photo) for their female companions. We took a boat ride in the plantation's private waterway, and saw numerous alligators and water birds. A delightful day. On the way back to our campground, we noticed the pictured raccoon up in a tree. He felt safe up in his tree while I took his photo...

Two days ago we paid a visit to a nearby Tea Plantation, the only one in North America! Did you know that tea is the world's second most-consumed beverage after water? Did you also know that whether you like black, green, white or oolong tea, it is all made with the same leaves - just the processing is different. Black and oolong have a longer oxidising stage, whereas green tea bypasses this stage. It was a very intersting interesting tour that included a tram ride around the crops, and a narrated tour inside the processing plant. Each new crop is started using cuttings from existing plants , and they wait 3 years before the first harvest. Tea plants are very hardy (even the local deer don't eat them) and there are some plants that are reportedly over one hundred years old and still producing fine quality tea (probably in China). They are not bothered by pests or disease.

Only 10 miles from the tea plantation and on our way home, we pulled off the road to stand in awe at the base of the oldest living thing this (east) side of the Mississippi: a live oak tree that is believed to be around 1200 years old. Records show the live oak was on land that was part of a land grant made in 1717. Known as the Angel Oak, named after previous owners, it is 65' tall with a circumference of 25'. Very impressive. One of its branches is 89' long.