Boone Hall Plantation

You can't come to South Carolina without visiting a plantation or two, so we packed up and headed to the Boone Hall Plantation.

Boone Hall Plantation house

The avenue of oaks - about a mile long and leading up to the big house

This plantation is still a working plantation and over its history has raised cotton and made many of the bricks and tiles that were used to build not only the slave cabins, but many of the buildings and streets of Charleston.

inside one of the slave cabins

the row of slave quarters

We toured the plantation house, the slave quarters, the gardens, the butterfly pavillion and took the tram tour through the grounds.

One of the slave cabins.  Each cabin had a video narrative inside explaining various parts of their life.

Part of the slave cabins tour included a storyteller who spoke of her people and life on the plantation.  She was entertaining and had a beautiful voice when she sang.  She explained how many of the songs had hidden messages from one slave to another about where to meet and discuss an escape.

There were women making the sweetgrass baskets and I tried to capture a sign in one of the slave cabins that described this.

We saw these booths one after another on our way into town on Hwy 17 and
wondered what they were, now we know.

The tram tour is set up for Fright Night at this time before Halloween and we got to see all the witches, ghosts and aliens. 

The little store was used in the set of 'Queen', a sequel to 'Roots' and was left for the plantation after filming was completed.

The butterfly pavillion was captivating.  It had several ponds and running water that created a tranquil environment.

The outdoor gardens were huge but with the heat and humidity the butterfly pavillion was cooler and my favorite place to hunt these winged creatures.

One of the many Live Oaks on the property covered in Spanish moss ...
which is not Spanish nor a moss...go figure.

Long Live the Queen of the Plantation