Oh, Charleston.
I have no photos to show for my explorations around this city since I took a majority of them on my iPhone and said phone decided to die which I meant lost everything.
But luckily… I did capture our visit to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens on my SLR which brings us to the postcards I’m sharing with you today from my time there.
^^ My girl, Anna
“Wild and free” are the first two words that come to mind when I think about our self-guided tour through the marsh gardens at Magnolia Plantation. Located right along the Ashley River, Magnolia is truly unique in its harmonic cultivation with nature.
The beautiful black ponds that reflected everything around them.
The super cute walking bridges.
And let’s not forget the unexpected bamboo forest we stumbled across which added to the already zen-like atmosphere.
Despite the fact that our visit happened right before peak bloom, we saw a fair amount of flowers everywhere we wandered so I can only imagine what the gardens look like during peak season.
Anna and I were constantly exclaiming “this is so pretty!” with every corner we turned especially when we stumbled upon the peacock (above) who was free-roaming the grounds.
We (more like me because Anna does not scare easily) also let out a nice loud “Holy Shi-ut!” when we crossed paths with a HUGE rat snake (at least I hope it was a rat snake) lounging along the path we were walking. In reaction to our my screams, it slithered across the path away from us and when our my heart calmed down, we went about business as usual lol.
In addition to exploring the gardens, Anna and I spent some time in the history center learning about how Magnolia Plantation was established and the role it played pre and post Civil War.
It’s a sometimes difficult subject to discuss especially online (Charles and I went back and forth about whether I should really “get into it on the blog”) but I do think it’s important to recognize and acknowledge that at one point in the plantation’s history it housed about 40 slaves. And while yes, they were educated and treated better in comparison to neighboring plantations (as the historical video we watched informed us), they were still slaves.
It should also be noted that post-Civil War, Magnolia employed the free workers who chose to stay on and continue working on the grounds and gardens… Which made me think that these gardens we were exploring? They were also the fruits of their labor. While walking around, I thought of gardens as being just as much theirs as it is the owners of the plantation and made a mental note of thanks to the spirits of those who toiled these grounds.
After spending almost 3 hours walking around the property, we eventually made our way to the gift shop where we purchased the best kind of souvenirs = edible souvenirs. Anna got an ah-mazing jalapeno infused peach jam (that we ate with cheese the next day) and I went with the native Charleston Plantation Peach Tea which was so flavorful and aromatic when I finally made a cup of tea later on in the week.
All in all, a life happening day with my girl exploring Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in all its natural glory and history.
Have you ever visited/toured a plantation? If not, would you?
{linking up w/ travel tuesday}
