Category Archives: Southern Seaboard
Gardens at Middleton Place Plantation
The Gardens at Middleton Place Plantation, , Dorchester County, Charleston, South Carolina
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Stretching out along the banks of the Ashley River, Middleton Place Plantation, located at 15 miles northwest of Charleston, South Carolina is homes to the oldest landscaped gardens in the United States. Henry Middleton, once the President of the First Continental Congress was the first to try his hand at the gardens, as well as built the majority of the house which once stood there. Another connection to the birth of our country can be found springing from Middleton Place, in the person of Arthur Middleton, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Eventually Middleton became a rice plantation, and like many of the great Southern houses, it was gutted by fire during the Civil War. In 1886, and earthquake brought down the walls of the main house as well as the north wing.
The gardens remain still, as well as part of the main house, the music conservatory and several other buildings. The grounds cover 7,000 acres, 110 acres of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Woodwright at Middleton Place
Woodwright at Middleton Place Plantation, Charleston, South Carolina
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Middleton Place Plantation remains in many ways a working farm, containing horses, cows, sheep, goats, pigs, and other farm animals. The work once done by slaves is now performed by skilled (and usually white) re-enactors, including a carpenter, potter, blacksmith and cooper. They perform these tasks for basic repairs around the plantation, and as demonstrations for the hordes of visitors who tour Middleton each year.
United States Customs House in Charleston
United States Customs House at Charleston, South Carolina, c. 1879
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Overlooking Bay Street and the harbor, construction of the Customs House in Charleston began in 1853, but progress was slow as the land it was built upon was in essence a swamp, and required extensive work just to lay a foundation, which was completed in 1855. But then came the Civil War and construction was halted until 1870, and in fact, the incomplete structure was damaged by shelling during the war.
The cruciform shaped building, built on a Roman Corinthian concept, is monumental in scale, stretch 259 feet on its east-west axis and 152 feet on its north-south. Marble is liberally used through, including office fireplaces. Today the building remains as it was intended, a U.S. Customs House. The United State Custom House is located at 200 East Bay St., at the foot of Market St. It is not open to the public.
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Beach at Sullivan’s Island at Sunrise
Sullivan's Island, Charleston, South Carolina
To view more photos from Sullivan’s Island or purchase prints, click here
Sullivan’s Island, near Charleston, South Carolina was named for a lighthouse keeper, Captain Florence O’Sulivan, an Irish immigrant from Kinsale in the mid 17th century. It served a more nefarious purpose as the largest slave point in North America. It’s estimated that almost half of the African-American’s in the United States have ancestors who passed through Sullivan’s Island, making it a sort of Ellis Island of the slave trade. Today, the only monument to this unholy past is a small bench, dedicated in 2008.
In the American revolution, Colonial forces held the island against an attack by Cornwallis, who would later go down to a humiliating defeat at Yorktown, due in no small part to the spongy nature of the palmetto trees of which the force was built, which had an uncanny knack for repelling cannonballs. Also in military history, the Hunley – the first submarine to ever sink an enemy ship was lost off the island.
