Sweet Southern Magnolia

 Today we toured the market area of Charleston and then the outskirts of Charleston. The market area of Charleston is the neatest area. They have one block that will be vendors and two blocks over will be stores such as Gucci, Marc Jacobs, and Chanel.

This is the market area. There were three buildings like this that are open. There are vendors selling scarves, jewelry, and the big seller is baskets made out of bamboo. Every other booth was somebody selling baskets. There were beautiful but pretty pricey.

This was the inside of the market. For a Wednesday morning I was surprised by the amount of people there. I found some fabulous and colorful scarves that I can't wait to wear when it is not 80 degrees.

After the market we headed out on a tour of The Magnolia Plantation. I have fallen in love with this historic part of America. I want a big ole house with a huge porch to entertain on.

This is the road leading into the plantation, doesn't it make you think about the old movies that show these long covered lanes leading up to the house.

The lane led up to the back of the house. We ate here at the plantation, not in the house but out of a little shed. They were showing a movie about the Drayton Family that owns this plantation so we grabbed our lunch and ate it while watching the movie. This particular family has owned the plantation since the 1600's. The house has burnt down twice, once by lightning and the other time during the Civil War. This house has stood since the late 1800's and was lived in until the 1970's. The family still lives on the property.

This was a slave house about 200 yards from the main house. The more skills a slave had the closer to the main house they would live. This would be were the house servants and their families lived and where the meals were cooked and then took to the house. A slave used to have to whistle while taking the meal to the house so that the master would know that they weren't eating the masters food. A slave can not whistle and eat at the same time. We also learned that the saying "Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite" came from this era. Beds instead of having wooden slates to hold had ropes tied across the bed frame. Before climbing into the bed you had to pull your ropes tight so that they wouldn't come undone in the middle of the night. The bed bugs came from the burlap sacks that the slaves used to cover up with. There would be chiggers in with the burlap that of course would "bite" in the middle of the night. Makes you appreciate the nice beds we have now, huh?

These were more slave houses farther away from the main house. These were where field workers would live. They grew Carolina Gold Rice here on Magnolia Plantation. They also have a massive garden that they are known for. Every spring thousands of Azalea Plants are in bloom.

Where the rice use to grow in now a swamp area. It is called the Audubon Swamp area. We rode a tram through this and saw many alligators. None were ever close enough to get a really good picture but there were hanging out on this wooden planks.

This is the front of the house. It points to the Ashley River.

This is a bridge off the back of the house. Today it was kinda of gloomy so the bridge doesn't look as lovely as it could be. There are pictures of it in the Spring with all the flowers in bloom and it is beautiful.

Ya'll come back now, you hear. We are having the best time.







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