On my trip during spring break, I visited a plantation called Middleton Place. It is an old plantation at the banks of the Ashley River just outside Charleston, South Carolina.
Middleton Place has beautiful property that is still kept well today. As you enter, you walk through a nice little garden and then you come out in to an opening where there is a beautiful lake called the Reflection Pool. There are turtles and pearl white swans beside the lake. A lady that works there told us that the job of the swans is to make the lake look pretty.
There are many dirt trails to walk along at the plantation.
The trails are lined with trees and lots and lots of beautiful flowers that have vibrant colors such as red, yellow, pink, and white.
Some of the trees that line the paths are Oak Trees. Many of the trees are coated in a thick layer of Spanish moss. Once in a while the paths will come into an opening where there are beautiful flower and shrub gardens.
At one of the gardens there was a sundial where we could tell the time! I was very excited because I have never seen one before.
There were also beautiful lakes and flooded rice fields all that have sparkling water and birds such as White Herons.
The flooded rice fields are an example of the rice fields that the slaves that worked on the plantation before the Civil War had to harvest. The rice is sometimes referred to as “Carolina Gold”. The old Rice Mill still stands near the rice fields and today there are some old tools and drawings of slaves’ everyday workdays.
In one of the larger clearings there are the workshops of the slaves that worked at Middleton. Some of the people who work at the plantation have the job of dressing up and acting out the jobs of the slaves that worked there so we could see what it was like for them to work there. When I was there, there was a weaver, a pottery maker and a person that made candles.
There is also a barn with horses, cows and other farm animals. There were also pastures with water buffalo, rams, sheep, etc. I was very lucky because a few days before I came there was a newly born baby lamb that was just learning to walk! It was soooooo cute! The lamb was tiny and fluffy.
There are lots of big oak trees with Spanish moss growing all over them. The roots are so big that kids like to climb in and on and also people like to picnic around it.
If you are in the Savannah and Charleston area I very much recommend coming to Middleton Place plantation. I think that one day is enough to see the whole plantation. It is definitely worth it because it is a beautify place and a really good experience to see what life was like in the South in the 18th century.
