Vacation Ideas: Middleton Place Plantation, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

The Middleton Place is a carefully preserved 18th century plantation National Historic Landmark. The Middleton Place was home to four important generations of Middletons:

• Henry Middleton, President of the First Continental Congress
• Arthur Middleton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence
• Henry Middleton, Governor of South Carolina and an American Minister to Russia
• Williams Middleton, a signer of the Ordinance of Secession

The Middleton Place, Gardens, House Museum and Stableyards tell a story of one of America’s most important families as well as the history of a thriving South Carolina rice plantation. It is open daily at 9:00 a.m.

The Middleton Place Plantation is located at 4300 Ashley River Road, in Charlestown, South Carolina. Telephone: 843-556-6020 or 800-782-3608

Established early in the life of the Carolina colony and serving as a base of operations for a great Low Country planter family, the Middleton Place Plantation was home to a dynamic African-American slave community.

General Admission Prices

Adults $25
Child (7-15) $5

For the general admission fee guests can explore 65 acres of formal landscaped gardens and the working Plantation Stable yards. Costumed interpreters demonstrate the work once performed by slaves. General admission also includes participation in an African American Focus Tour, Nature Walk and Garden Overview Tour.

House Museum Guided Tour is $10 in addition to the general admission fee. This is a guided tour of the Middleton Place House, which displays family collections of paintings, furniture and silver.

A carriage tour is $15 in addition to the general admission fee and consists of a 45-minute horse-drawn carriage ride along a bamboo forest and woodlands to an abandoned rice field.

Spend the Day Packages is $45 for adults and $30 for children, children less than 6 years of age are admitted free. This package includes:

• Middleton Place
• America’s oldest landscaped Gardens
• Working Plantation
• Stable yards
• House Museum
• A carriage tour
• An African American Focus Tour
• Wildlife Nature Walk
• Garden Overview Tour

The Gardens represents the Low Country’s most spectacular expression of an 18th century ideal of union of man with nature and includes:

• 65 acres of landscaped terraces
• Shadowy alleys
• Ornamental ponds
• Garden rooms

Hours of the guided tours of the Middleton Place House Museum:

Tuesday – Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Monday 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
These hours are valid for the year of 2007 and are subject to change. Contact them at 843-556-6020 or 800-782-3608 for the most current hours for planning of your trip.

On the guided tours of the Middleton Place House Museum you can expect to see:

• One of the finest collections of family-owned artifacts
• Middleton family furniture, paintings, books and documents dating from the 1740s through the 1880s.

A Brief House History

The plantation house was built facing the water. The main mode of transportation was by boat since the land route was so difficult. When Henry Middleton acquired the property around 1741 he began construction of the gardens, which took one hundred slaves laboring seasonally for ten years to complete. He made further improvements to the property in 1755.

In 1857, Richard Yeadon, editor of the Charlestown Daily Courier described the Middleton family home as being a fine and strong built old brick mansion, spacious and with interior designs of the richest productions of the painter’s and sculptor’s arts, a gallery of fine family portraits by artists of high fame. He felt the Middleton Place closely resembled the Italian villas he saw near Rome, Italy.

The Middleton Place House Museum is now owned and operated by the Middleton Place Foundation and open to the public since February 1975.

The Inn at Middleton Place

On the bluffs of the Ashley River, just outside of Charlestown, South Carolina sits the Inn at Middleton Place. The Inn features relaxing accommodations in an atmosphere of unsurpassed natural beauty. The Inn was a recipient of the American Institute of Architects highest award. Its design is a contemporary counterpoint to the adjacent 18th-century Middleton Place.

The Middleton Place Restaurant

The restaurant was built in 1933, originally designed and used as a guest house with two bedrooms and a sitting room upstairs. A cypress-paneled room downstairs was the living room/game room. It was surrounded by a screened porch. The Garden room, now used as a private dining room, was a series of storerooms leading to the plantation office. W. Bancel LaFarge designed the building to incorporate the same roof line as the Rice Mill and to compliment the architecture of the Middleton Place House.

Lunch at the Middleton Place Restaurant is served 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to visitors. Dinner is served Friday and Saturday 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Reservations are required for dinner. 843-556-6020, ext 118

Dining at the Middleton Place Restaurant features a taste of the old south with lunch menu items such as:

• Hoppin’ John and ham biscuits
• Okra gumbo
• She-crab soup
• Collard green
• Huguenot torte

Dinner’s menu includes:

• Pan-fried quail
• Scallops
• Shrimp and grits

Renowned southern chef Edna Lewis was a consultant-in-residence for several years. Her recipes especially developed for Middleton Place Restaurant give special attention to authentic Low Country cuisine. The recipes she used are still in use today.

Outdoor Adventures include:

• Kayak Tours
• Black Water Cypress Swamp Kayaking
• Biking
• Nature Trails
• An Interpretive Trail Walk
• Horse Boarding
• Horseback riding lessons
• Horse Trail Rides
• Middleton Place Hounds: The primary hunt country consists of land in Charleston and Dorchester Counties of over 10,000 acres on Middleton Place and Millbrook Plantation. Hunting days are Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday as announced. 843-851-6212 for more information

Guided tours of the Edmondston-Alston House are Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday and Monday 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Hours are subject to change.

Weddings

Weddings at the Middleton Place are especially memorable. The Middleton Place offers:

• Breathtaking ceremony and reception sites
• Superior catering services
• Luxurious accommodations
• Beautiful landscape with rolling hills and blooming color

Special Events:

A Candlelight tour of the historic Edmondston-Alston House decorated for the holidays.

Christmas 1860 – A Candlelight Tour, Friday, December 7 & 14, 6 – 8 p.m.: Tickets in advance are $15 per person purchased at the Edmondston-Alston House, 21 East Battery, Charleston, South Carolina. Tickets purchased on night of event are $20 per person. For more information 843-722-7171

Source: Middleton Place Plantation Online

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© 2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reserved