Magnolia Plantation

     Mike and I like to visit plantations.  Magnolia Plantation is the third estate we have visited in South Carolina.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_Plantation_and_Gardens_(Charleston,_South_Carolina)
http://www.magnoliaplantation.com/house.html

     Here's a brief history of the place:  The plantation was established by the Drayton family as a rice growing operation in 1676.  It was passed down from eldest son to eldest son until the 1840's. The eldest son of that generation died shortly after receiving the property.  His younger brother, John Grimke-Drayton, who never expected an inheritance and had followed his calling to become an Episcopal minister, was suddenly a man of means.  John returned south from Philadelphia with his Philadelphia born wife.  He learned to be a businessman and also pastored Old St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, the church down the road from his home.  The house was burned to the ground level foundation at the end of the Civil War.  Reverend Drayton dismantled a small house the family owned in Summerville, South Carolina, and had it moved to Magnolia and set up on one end of the burned out home's foundation.  That structure housed the family until they regained their wealth and could rebuild a finer home.  Since profitable rice farming was impossible after the war (no slaves/no free labor), the Draytons opened the gardens surrounding the home as a tourist attraction in 1870.  Also after the Civil War, phosphate, a very rich fertilizer, was found under the entire property.  Three quarters of the land was sold off to a strip mining company.  After fifteen generations, Magnolia Plantation remains in the hands of the Drayton family descendants, and it is operated as their family business.  While all this is extremely interesting, the coolest thing about Magnolia Plantation might be the fact that the movie "Swamp Thing" was filmed there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_Thing_(film)
   

They told us these little, muscular horses were bred to pull carts in mines.   

Spanish moss, harmless to the the trees in which it hangs, was named for the sparse beards of the Spanish settlers in the Carolinas.  

 

Cypress knees are part of the root system of the cypress tree.  They can grow as tall as six feet. It doesn't harm the plant to cut them off. That's why people use them for kitschy lamps.

I think the camellias are the most beautiful flower in the gardens.

We learned that alligators, unlike crocodiles, have a fear of humans.  As long as you don't get between them and the water, you'll be okay. It's also safe this time of year because they can't eat in cold weather.  When it's cold, their bodies can't produce enzymes needed for digestion.  They don't eat, and hybernate most of the winter.  On a sunny day, they will wake up to sun themselves.  In the summer, a turtle would never share this board with a gator.
There is a $1,000 fine for feeding alligators.  Hainesport has that beat.  We have a $2,000 fine for feeding turkeys!

A live oak or evergreen oak retains it's leaves all year.  The wood is so heavy and dense that it is termite resistant. It is also strong that it was used in ship building.

The gray material used as stucco is actually phosphate.  Use the materials you have on hand.