As we turned off the road toward the plantation we were amazed at the wonderful avenue of live oaks that were on both sides of the road and provided a canopy overhead. They are covered with the beautiful Spanish moss. It was an awesome experience to drive underneath these ancient trees and think about the people who had originally lived on this plantation, slaves and owners alike. So sad to think on the suffering that the slaves went through in a place filled with so much beauty and such pain. I thank God that slavery is no longer a part of our country. However, we can learn so much from the slaves and their fortitude and hope in God even during the hard times. I wish our country today had such hope and trust in God. I pray for revival of serving God in our country as I fear that is our only hope.

As we drove up to the house I saw small brick buildings on the left. I found out that those were slave quarters for the house slaves and those that the owners gave the most responsibility. These homes had wooden floors and were much better accommodations than the other slaves had to live in. The common laborers lived in huts with mud floors and were very crowded. The 5 small building here were each a small museum of some part of the slaves life. One was set up as a church and one was showing how they lived in these building. Another one showed things that had been dug up from the slaves quarters and some of the baskets and item they had made over the years.

The plantation had a Gullah theatre where they had a slave’s descendant tell the story of the slaves and their own special language. I recorded the entire 30 minute presentation so that I would remember it for the future. She explained that they created their own Gullah language so that they could communicate and the slave owners would not know what they were saying. They also used the Negro spirituals as signals to let the other plantations know what was happening. “Let us gather by the river” was to let them know that there was going to be an escape by river. When they sang the songs over and over it was considered the signal. Others were used to signal other activities and “Go Tell It On The Mountain” indicated the Underground Railroad was coming through that night. It was so interesting to hear these stories.

We then went down to the cotton dock where they shipped out the cotton bales. This building has been restored and is used for weddings and receptions. The dock is built on the river along one side of the plantation.

We went on a tour of the plantation house. They did not allow pictures inside the house since the owners still used the house as their private residence when they were in town. However it did have a beautiful flower garden and the back yard was a huge grassy expanse which ended up on the river on the other side of the plantation from the dock. Quite a ways behind the house we saw some white tents being set up and it looked like a wedding or party was going to be taking place in the evening.

After we went through the house we took a wagon ride around the working part of the plantation. They still grow vegetables and fruits for sale.  By where we got into the wagon was their old cotton gin.  It had been weakened by the hurricanes over the years but they could not tear it down because it was a historic site.  So they had to reinforce the brick walls with wooden scaffolding.  They we be working to restore the building soon. They also have had movies filmed on the property. There was a cabin on the far side that has been in several movies. I can’t remember which movies but I thought you might like to see it to see if you recognize it. After we left we stopped at the gift shop to see what we could find. They didn’t have any t-shirts in our size that we liked so we just bought some jelly.

Our next stop is Beaufort, a small town south of Charleston. We will talk again soon.