Charleston, SC

We arrived in Charleston  on Saturday after a short two hour drive from Myrtle Beach. Since then we have been doing some errands and just laying low for a bit. But yesterday we did some touring again. It was a visit to Middleton Place. This is a plantation owned by the Middleton Family which had a long connection to Carolina and national politics. Henry was a president of the first Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His son, Aurthur, was the president of the second Continental Congress and continued in a prominent place in state and national politics.



Henry started on the gardens shortly after  his marriage to Mary Williams in 1741. The gardens have been maintained from that time and are just lovely. Sharleen was saying that the spring would be great to visit here.










Every pond has it's Alligator down here. I'll bet we saw at least  six of them walking the grounds.

As you can see, they don't lack for water here. It's called the Carolina low country for a good reason. The Plantations here grew rice which needs the water.

This is the original guest house and the only part of the housing complex to survive the Civil War. In 1865 a company of union soldiers from New York burned most of the housing here. Henry the second rebuilt the house and used it as his residence for some years.  There's history everywhere you look here.