Middleton Plantation

Aboard our newly acquired rental car we rode through the urban sprawl of Charleston out the Ashley River to the row of plantations. Our first stop Middleton Place proved to be our only stop of the day. There was much to do and the entry fee of $86 encouraged us to linger.

We began with a ninety minute tour examining the lives of the slaves, the massively labour-intensive methods for growing, harvesting and processing rice, almost all of which had to be performed by female slaves to avoid heavy-footed or heavy-handed men either pushing seeds too far into the ground that they would never grow, or smashing the delicate grains to pieces if they did manage to survive. The guide was unhurried and well informed. This was one of seventeen plantations owned by the Middleton family and used mainly to grow food for all of their estates. The main cash crop of rice was successfully cultivated because of the knowledge brought to the colonies by African slaves. I was a bit skeptical of the description of benign treatment of slaves. Six weeks of maternity leave? Perhaps Middleton was a kinder and gentler place.

Prior to the Civil War there were three houses in a row that overlooked the Ashley River. One was a library, music room, and art gallery, one an office, and between those two mirror-image buildings sat the considerably larger main house. Incredibly, we were informed that this vast estate passed into the Middleton family as just one part of a marriage dowry that came with a daughter of the Williams family.

The houses and fields were looted and burned by Union soldiers; think Gone With the Wind. In the earthquake of 1886 most of what remained fell into piles of bricks. The remnants of two piles of rubble remained where the library building and main house originally stood. The office building, the most intact, was rebuilt to become the family home, the building we visited. When the estate became a foundation and opened to the public family member returned furnishings, artwork, documents and historical memorabilia. The opportunity to see the house was worthwhile, however the tour guide could use more training in history and professionalism.

After lunch with a glass of wine onsite we walked through the extensive gardens and woodland trails, passing several alligators basking in the various lakes, one 4-foot long black snake slithering across the path we were walking on, plus the rather more benign wandering sheep and horse-drawn carriages. By now it was four o'clock and we returned to Charleston.

 

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