Boone Hall Plantation and Other Lovely Places Near Charleston

I'm stopping by to finish my posts about South Carolina. I want to share a few other must-see things that I really enjoyed. While Magnolia Plantation was my favorite of the two Plantations I visited, Boone Hall Plantation is also well worth a trip. It was a cold and cloudy day when I visited, but the drive up the long lane-way of huge oak trees, dripping with spanish moss, was worth the visit alone. Live oak trees are different from regular oak in that they are evergreen and have leaves all year round.

Along the side of the main hall where the plantation owner lived, is the row of slave cabins. There are tours and talks you can take to learn more about the history of slavery and the Civil War.

There is still cotton growing on this plantation.

The camelias were in full bloom and gave some much-needed colour to a dreary day!

 

Outside of Charleston, is a wonderful quilt shop in Summerville. It is called People, Places and Quilts. The inside is enormous, taking up the space of an old hardware store, with interesting nooks and crannies, each with its own display.

I really enjoyed the Charleston City Market. Lots of interesting and tempting things to purchase.

One of the popular items there are the sweet grass baskets woven by Gullah People, descendents of African slaves. They are simple and exquisite.

I am now turning my attentions to preparing for next week's trip to Simcoe, Ingersoll and Hamilton. In the gaps between teaching and lecturing over the first two weeks of March I will be staying with my sister in Waterloo, and trying to help her with my 91 year old father, who was hospitalized while I was away. 

South Carolina Lectures and Workshops

My lecturing and teaching in South Carolina began with the Cobblestone Quilters Guild in Charleston. Here you can see the group waiting for the meeting to begin.

The next day I taught a workshop, "Hosta Leaves 101". This is Anita, the guild's Vice-President, and the lady who picked me up at the airport, drove me around, and drove me the two hours to the next guild in Columbia.

Vicki is the President and was responsible for signing me on to visit this guild. A big thank you to Vicki and Karen for organizing everything.

During my stay with this guild I was billeted in the home of Christine. We had many things in common and she was the perfect billet.

Meet Christine's two felines. It is customary practice for me to introduce the many charming cats I meet on teaching trips! Here I'm getting a little love from Ralphie.

The sleek and elusive Grace wasn't too sure about me.

Anita drove me to Columbia for my next booking with the Greater Columbia Quilters. Upon my arrival at my hotel, I found this hospitality bag. It contained snacks, bath products, reading material and souvenirs. Members were asked to contribute things with a Southern theme. This was like arriving to a big welcome hug!

Meet Mary Zimmerman, to my left. I met Mary twice in Canada, and she was the instigator behind me being invited to South Carolina. Thank you Mary!

One member was armed with her camera and took lots of photos, which is why I have so many more photos from my time with this guild. Below are several members who came forward for a photo.

Kitty asked for a photo of just the two of us.

Here are members having a closer look at my work.

Sunday was my day off. Joan and Mary picked me up and showed me Columbia, took me shopping, and then to a wonderful dinner of more "she crab soup", crab cakes, and this time I even tried the collard greens. They reminded me a bit of sauerkraut.

The next day twenty members showed up to try their hands at Tree Collage.

After class, Mary drove me to Rock Hill for my last booking on this trip with the York County Quilters Guild. I was billeted at the beautiful home of Barbara, where the guild had left this welcome box for me. It included products from YLI Thread and Springs Creative Industries, both local businesses. I was feeling really spoiled at this point!

I gave a lecture the next evening,.

followed by another Collage Tree workshop. With all the beautiful trees I saw in South Carolina, I can see why trees were a popular workshop topic there.

I received lots of love from Barbara's two cats during my two day stay. Meet Nicky.

and Peaches.

Barbara took really great care of me during my stay. Thank you to Gail and Stephanie for organizing my visit.

Thank you to all three guilds for your warm hospitality. It is true what they say about Southern hospitality! I flew home from Charlotte right after class I was fortunate to have missed some of the coldest days during my time away, as well as a storm that dropped 50 cm of snow on Ottawa in one day. I am now prepping for my next teaching trip to Simcoe, Ingersoll, and Hamilton, Ontario. I leave in a little more than a week.

Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina

I know some folks find it morbid, but I love old cemeteries. They are filled with history, are usually quiet and peaceful, and often very beautiful. I had read about Magnolia Cemetery and its moss-covered trees and monuments. There were so many photo opportunities, and I think I will just let the beautiful photos speak for themselves.

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Welcome to the beautiful Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, near Charleston, South Carolina. While the temperatures were predicted to be around 60 degrees fahrenheit during my trip, they only reached that temperature on a couple of days. Many days saw only 45 degrees fahrenheit. But hey, that is a vast improvement over the deep freeze days experienced in Ottawa and the dump of 50 centimeters of snow while I was away.

The morning I arrived at Magnolia Plantation, I noticed icicles on some leaves in the garden. Very soon I spotted these red berries, which belong to a plant named Nandina. You probably know that I LOVE red accents. I think this is going to be my Christmas card next year. Well, what I mean is that maybe next year I will actually send Christmas cards because I love this image.

I have cropped the image closer. I wonder if I could manage to make this into a quilt? I know I could handle the berries, but the icicles would surely be a challenge!

This is what Nandina looks like if you look at the entire plant.

I found this old (maple?) leaf lying in a shrub. I picked it up and it was quite tough, not delicate like Canadian maple leaves when they get to the stage where they are brown and fall to the ground.

The mood is one of peacefulness and contemplation all around the garden. Of course that was enhanced by the fact that this is probably low season for tourists.

More red accents!

There are a number of small lakes on the property, and on a bright sunny morning the waters reflected like a mirror.

As with many old properties in the area, there are oak trees, dripping with Spanish Moss.

This photo shows the line-up of oaks along the entrance laneway.

The Magnolias were in bloom.

Love the contrasts in this shot.

I found this interesting growth protruding on the side of a tree.

It was camellia season. They were blooming everywhere.

One can walk a boardwalk over the swamp near the entrance to the Plantation. Look at that beautiful sea of green. It is actually Duckweed and not algae.