Middleton Place: A Plantation

"The historic preservation work and interpretation of history of this essential American experience focuses on major contributions of the Middleton family as well as the enslaved Africans and African Americans who lived and worked here. The stories are a microcosm of United States history. From the early Colonial period through the Revolution, the early Republic, the Civil War era and beyond, they made a mark on the land, the colony, state, and nation."

"Through meticulous research of history, architecture, and horticulture and continuous digging into agriculture and archeology, art, artifacts, and journals, we keep alive the spirits, lessons, and stories of Middleton Place. American stories. Black stories. White stories. Essential, life‑changing human stories."

Middleton Place was established in the 1730s and acquired by the Middleton family in 1741, significantly developed under Henry Middleton. Henry incorporated European garden design with Southern elements like live oaks and Spanish moss. The property played a role in American history, notably with Arthur Middleton signing the Declaration of Independence and later serving as a site for surrendering British troops during the Revolutionary War. After suffering damage from the Civil War, the site has undergone restoration and is now owned by the Middleton Place Foundation, which focuses on preserving its history and landscape.

With little ones in tow, we spent most of our time here exploring the landscape.

We spied SIX alligators bringing delight to us all.

An interesting, and beautiful, side note is the fact that Arthur's son introduced the first camellias to America through a friendship with a French botanist.

What a special tree to hug. This 900- to 1,000-year-old tree is known as the Middleton Oak, a historic southern live oak. It is one of the most photographed and iconic landmarks in the South, draped in Spanish moss and admired for its immense size and resilience, having stood as a witness to centuries of history.

Constructed in 1850, the Mill House stands as an important part of the agricultural history at Middleton Place. The mill, used to process rice, a major part of the plantation's economy, was fed by the pond which was dug and created from the damming of a creek winding off the Ashley River.

Rice was the main driver of the economy here and across the South Carolina Lowcountry. It was the primary export crop, leading to immense wealth for planters. The labor-intensive process of rice cultivation relied heavily on the skills and resilience of enslaved Africans and African Americans. They performed the difficult tasks of planting, weeding, and harvesting, and their forced labor was the foundation of this wealth.

Rice cultivation reshaped the geography and culture of the Lowcountry. The success of rice as a cash crop was due to its ability to grow in the region's marshy environment, leading to a unique agricultural system.

To learn more about life of the enslaved, we visited Eliza’s House. This Reconstruction-era African American freedman’s dwelling contains a permanent exhibit on slavery entitled Beyond the Fields. Based on extensive research over the course of a decade, the exhibit documents the story of slavery, in South Carolina and at Middleton Place. The focal point of the exhibit is a panel with the names of over 2800 African and African American men, women and children enslaved by the Middletons.

We spent a great deal of time exploring the Stableyards where we were able to get a glimpse of 18th and 19th century working plantation life. Here skilled enslaved artisans made tools, pottery, clothing and tended an array of livestock.

A highlight for me and the girls was a guided walk titled Heritage Breeds With A History.

The heritage breed animals are indicative of those found on a plantation like Middleton Place at various points in its history over the 18th and 19th centuries. The animals today are known to have been on the plantation just prior to the Civil War thanks to surviving records from the 1850 and 1860 censuses, and from various letters, inventories, and receipts found in the Middleton Place archives.