Magnolia Plantation

We ended up going to South Carolina - did anyone really doubt that I wouldn't? We still have no resolution to  our problem there. I'm hoping everyone has their fingers crossed in our favor.  However, we did need to start moving back up the coast towards home so we visited Magnolia Plantation just outside of Charleston and then headed northwest to Asheville, North Carolina. We are going to base our operations here for the rest of the week.



At Magnoia Plantation, we wandered the gardens ( avoiding alligators), took the nature train around and learned about Carolina Gold rice growing and it's exportation. We saw canals that were dug by the slaves to channel water from the fresh water ponds to the rice fields. We learned how the Ashley River is a tidal river that can raise about 5 feet during high tide,  making waterway travel the most efficient method to get to Charleston (1.5 hours as opposed to all day by carriage). Saw some turtles, ibis, egrets, snake birds, alligators, a cat, squirrels, peacocks and peahens, goats, piggies and one billy goat that followed Dave into and thru the reptile house. We learned about the Drayton family and how they have owned this plantation for the past eleven generations, that the plantation was a favorite haunt of Charles Kuralt and was a place where  Mr. Audobon had done much of his work and was the setting for one of his most famous paintings.



I think we are going to go to Asheville tomorrow to poke around and to Black Mountain as well.



I'll keep you up to date.