Name of Garden:
Magnolia Plantation and its Gardens
Description:
The gardens at Magnolia Plantation are of such beauty and variety that they have brought tourists from around the world to view them since they were open to the public in the early 1870s. However, many parts of the gardens are much older, some sections more than 325 years old, making them the oldest unrestored gardens in America. As the plantation has stayed within the ownership of the same family for more than three centuries, each generation has added their own personal touch to the gardens, expanding and adding to their variety. Today there are a large variety of flowers blossoming year round, with the climax of incredible beauty building towards the spring bloom.
BARBADOS TROPICAL GARDEN:
Like many of Charleston's settlers, the original American Drayton, Thomas, and his future wife, Ann Fox, arrived here from Barbados in the 1670s. Having received Magnolia Plantation as a wedding gift from her Barbadian father, Stephen Fox, they built the colony's first plantation house of note here in the 1680s. At the same time, they began planting what is now America's Oldest Garden. Over the ensuing three centuries, their direct descendants, while continuing to live here, have maintained a special affinity with their ancestral island, this Barbados Tropical Garden being their tribute.
THE BIBLICAL GARDEN:
As one explores the plants and flowers of the New Testament which surround the cross or which are located in the beds of the cross representing the 12 disciples, or as one scans those of the Old Testament area about the Star of David and within its 12 sections commemorating the tribes of Israel, it should be borne in mind that the purpose was to create an educational garden-not an Eden.
Location:
Magnolia Plantation and Its Gardens
3550 Ashley River Road
Charleston, SC 29414
DIRECTIONS/HOURS/FEES:
http://www.magnoliaplantation.com/when/index.html
Website:
http://www.magnoliaplantation.com/ |
