Charleston Plantations

[Anonymous]

Drayton Hall is the most historic house and it's actually impressive when you consider when it was built in the early 18th century given the context of the American colonies at the time. However, most wealthy planters in the Carolina lowcountries did not build extravagant houses as they divided their time among their (usually multiple) plantations and Charleston itself, and on the plantations lived in houses that we would consider quite plain and modest these days (the dirty secret is that the vast majority of southern plantation "big houses" were fairly plain as the wealth was concentrated in lands and slaves). If the Carolina lowcountry planters built extravagantly it was in Charleston. Drayton was one of the few exceptions, and another one was Middleton Place. The main house at Middleton was destroyed in the Civil War but one of the flankers survived and is still owned by the descendants of the original family and is furnished with family pieces (unlike at Drayton which is empty). But the real glory of Middleton Place are the gardens, which were one of the first large scale landscaped gardens in America and are quite lovely.

I cannot help with public transportation but I'm sure there are tour organizers that offer day tours to Middleton and perhaps one or two other key plantations/gardens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middleton Place.

Fascinating. Do the carriage tour.

[Anonymous]

You may not be a Southerner but as an American or at least someone who lives in America you do have to face our terrible shared history. Not many plantations have done a great job acknowledging that they (and by extension the whole country) were built on slavery and at worst totally gloss over it. People rent plantations for their weddings, which is pretty astonishing and in terrible taste. So that's why people were giving you a hard time.

Not in Charleston but if you really want the real plantation experience you should travel to Louisiana and the Whitney Plantation- this article calls it America's Auschwitz.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-americas-auschwitz-180958647/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drayton Hall is the most historic house and it's actually impressive when you consider when it was built in the early 18th century given the context of the American colonies at the time. However, most wealthy planters in the Carolina lowcountries did not build extravagant houses as they divided their time among their (usually multiple) plantations and Charleston itself, and on the plantations lived in houses that we would consider quite plain and modest these days (the dirty secret is that the vast majority of southern plantation "big houses" were fairly plain as the wealth was concentrated in lands and slaves). If the Carolina lowcountry planters built extravagantly it was in Charleston. Drayton was one of the few exceptions, and another one was Middleton Place. The main house at Middleton was destroyed in the Civil War but one of the flankers survived and is still owned by the descendants of the original family and is furnished with family pieces (unlike at Drayton which is empty). But the real glory of Middleton Place are the gardens, which were one of the first large scale landscaped gardens in America and are quite lovely.

I cannot help with public transportation but I'm sure there are tour organizers that offer day tours to Middleton and perhaps one or two other key plantations/gardens.

Yup, that's the dirty secret of the plantations. The slaveholders' houses were modest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may not be a Southerner but as an American or at least someone who lives in America you do have to face our terrible shared history. Not many plantations have done a great job acknowledging that they (and by extension the whole country) were built on slavery and at worst totally gloss over it. People rent plantations for their weddings, which is pretty astonishing and in terrible taste. So that's why people were giving you a hard time.

Not in Charleston but if you really want the real plantation experience you should travel to Louisiana and the Whitney Plantation- this article calls it America's Auschwitz.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-americas-auschwitz-180958647/

Good article. We have a conference in New Orleans in 2018. Should visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drayton Hall is a good tour. I go for the history and architecture of the house and property.

Op, you're going to be ripped apart here for this thread. Some people believe we should just demolish our history and pretend it never happened. When you are visiting these plantations, please do remember that people were enslsved there and it's not just about the "wealthy" family that lives in the big house.

Op here. Geez some of you are just nuts! It never even crossed my mind that people would go in this direction! Did I ever say I wanted to see a wealthy family's house???? Did I ever say that I wanted to ignore slavery? I'm not even a southerner! I just enjoy history and this is part of American history. I just asked about travel recommendations! You people need to chill out!

NP here. I recommend Drayton Hall for the pure historical significance of the place. They've tried to preserve it in as original form as possible. The grounds are beautiful, too.

http://www.draytonhall.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you hoping to get out of a plantation tour?

OP here...I guess just a fun activity. Walking around some nice grounds, seeing an historic home, hearing a bit of history....I don't have a lot of expectations really just an activity we want to do for a day.

That was why I brought my kids to Auschwitz! A fun activity, we needed something to do for the day, and I heard the concessions were great.

Guess you think Harvard shouldn't exist either?


http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/11/harvard-and-slavery/

[Anonymous]

Although slavery was a repugnant part of American history, to compare a plantation to Auschwitz or any other death camp is reprehensible and diminishes the horror of the Holocaust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Although slavery was a repugnant part of American history, to compare a plantation to Auschwitz or any other death camp is reprehensible and diminishes the horror of the Holocaust.

Thank you. ITA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drayton Hall is a good tour. I go for the history and architecture of the house and property.

Op, you're going to be ripped apart here for this thread. Some people believe we should just demolish our history and pretend it never happened. When you are visiting these plantations, please do remember that people were enslsved there and it's not just about the "wealthy" family that lives in the big house.

Op here. Geez some of you are just nuts! It never even crossed my mind that people would go in this direction! Did I ever say I wanted to see a wealthy family's house???? Did I ever say that I wanted to ignore slavery? I'm not even a southerner! I just enjoy history and this is part of American history. I just asked about travel recommendations! You people need to chill out!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may not be a Southerner but as an American or at least someone who lives in America you do have to face our terrible shared history. Not many plantations have done a great job acknowledging that they (and by extension the whole country) were built on slavery and at worst totally gloss over it. People rent plantations for their weddings, which is pretty astonishing and in terrible taste. So that's why people were giving you a hard time.

Not in Charleston but if you really want the real plantation experience you should travel to Louisiana and the Whitney Plantation- this article calls it America's Auschwitz.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-americas-auschwitz-180958647/

Why do people assume that if someone wants to visit a plantation the obviously are pro slavery and they need to be reminded about American history? SMH. Odd assumption to make. Also, did I miss something about OP wanting recommendations for a wedding venue? Was that deleted? If not then once again, why the hard time?

[Anonymous]

George Washington's Mount Vernon was a plantation. Slave labor and slave quarters. Yet, Mount Vernon remains a very popular tourist spot.

Charleston has a variety of historical tours. A plantation tour would make a nice day trip if you want to combine history, architecture, etc.

[Anonymous]

Slaves built most of 17th and 18th century New York, including Wall Street and most of the churches. At least when people visit plantations in the South, they are aware of the history of slavery there, and many houses, such as Mount Vernon, do discuss its impact.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2013/02/slavery_in_new_york_wall_street_was_built_with_african_help.html

[Anonymous]

The same can be said of slave plantation tourist sites in the Caribbean. People are clueless.

Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, wrote a great book in 1944 on how slavery enabled the capitalist system (i.e. Britain/London). He was well beyond his time.

https://www.amazon.ca/Capitalism-Slavery-Eric-Williams/dp/0807844888

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The same can be said of slave plantation tourist sites in the Caribbean. People are clueless.

Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, wrote a great book in 1944 on how slavery enabled the capitalist system (i.e. Britain/London). He was well beyond his time.

https://www.amazon.ca/Capitalism-Slavery-Eric-Williams/dp/0807844888

^ and let's not forget that the British Empire was built upon enslaved peoples from Africa, and indentured servants from China and India. These indentured servants were racialized as "coolies".