Sunlight shimmers through rustling leaves of centuries-old live oaks, scattering their beams on the ground like pieces of a luminous patchwork quilt. The ancient trees spread their graceful branches toward each other, stretching over the long driveway as if reaching for an embrace. At the end of this elegant path stands a regal brick home, graced by tall white columns and flanked by cultured gardens on each side.

Boone Hall Plantation, made famous by the TV miniseries North & South, feels like a haunted place. Standing outside of Charleston, SC, barely over two hours from Savannah, it represents both the beauty and the underlying harshness of an antebellum plantation home.

Established in 1681 by a planter from Barbados, the plantation raised a variety of products throughout its history, including beef, timber, indigo, cotton, and pecans. The home on display now is actually the 4th home on the property and looks like a perfectly typical plantation home. That’s no surprise. The most recent home was built in 1936 by a new owner for his wife, who desired a “proper” plantation house where she could hold parties. The narrow, 2-story white farmhouse previously on the property did not fit her mental image of the Southern plantation ideal, so it was demolished and the new larger brick home was erected in its place.

Peer behind the row of regal oaks to a grassy area where a row of small brick buildings stand – former slave quarters – and you see the ugly side of plantation life. Visitors can sense the presence of those souls forced to live in these small homes. Up to 11-16 individuals would live in each house at a time, sleeping on pallets or small cots, cooking over an open fire. The contrast is striking, to see how the plantation residents lived – owners in the large house, and their slaves, and later servants, who bore the burden of the hard labor required to keep such a property running, in these small cabins. Many more existed previously on the property but have been lost to history. The remaining few have been turned into small museum installments, with each cabin illuminating a specific topic relating to the various eras that the property was a working plantation. A stark reminder of the brutality and inhumanity of the period is an inventory of slaves by name, age, main job task, and relationship to other slaves on the plantation.

Another particularly touching exhibit shows a collage of photos of women who had worked as slaves when they were girls, but were freed after the Civil War. Each photo is paired with a personal anecdote or memoir from each lady, reflecting back on her childhood of servitude.

For those interested in handicrafts, a fascinating exhibit displays traditional grass baskets made in various regions of Africa, and contrasts those with baskets made in the coastal south. The similarities in design and construction bring to life the deep cultural connection between the cultures of Africa and the immigrant populations brought over on slave ships.

The large plantation house, built in 1936, still serves as a private residence, so the only rooms available for touring are a lovely library, an elegant dining room boasting large incandescent chandeliers, and a charming loggia, or enclosed porch, with flagstone floor and grotto-like ceiling. A separate room with historic photos and everyday items of the period breathe life into the old brick walls.

Take a stroll around the grounds, by the stables, the various outbuildings, and the butterfly pavilion, and feel yourself taking a stroll back in time.

Photos by Kelli Nottingham
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