Charleston: A Visit to Boone Hall

Today I’m going to share our visit to Boone Hall Plantation with all y’all. It’s an absolutely beautiful spot and the ride up their driveway is legendary thanks to the abundance of live oak trees.

Seriously. It’s breathtaking and awesome and I could have driven up and down this driveway many many times. I can’t even really explain why it moved me so much, I can just tell you that it did and it’s a sight I will never forget.

The house itself isn’t original, of course, it was built in 1936. It’s stately and beautiful, though, and the tour we took gave us great information about the history of Boone Hall and all of the changes it has undergone since 1681.

The row of slave cabins are original and sit off to the side of the driveway. They were built by the slaves of Boone Hall and are made of brick since brick making was part of the operation of the plantation. There are 8 cabins set up and they trace the history of slavery in America and show what the lives of slaves living at Boone Hall may have been like.

It’s eerie to stand in front of these cabins and think about the men and women and children who lived and worked here. There is a terrific live presentation of Gullah culture that is included as part of the tour and that also gave us some insight into what it must have been like on the plantation years ago.

The obligatory selfie. This is behind the slave cabins with the Horlbeck Creek behind us.

The gardens, I must say, are spectacular and were a big part of the reason why I wanted to visit Boone Hall. There are antique roses that are over 100 years old but for me it was all about the foxglove. I’m not even going to tell you how many photos I took of just the foxglove.

The poppies are beautiful as well, and there was orange and white and even yellow varieties.

But again. Those foxglove. Just stunning.

Boone Hall is a working farm, producing all kinds of seasonal produce. We were there just in time for the strawberry harvest and stopped at Boone Hall Farms Market to get some to snack on in the car. They were so sweet and delicious and a real treat.

We had a great time touring all of Boone Hall Plantation – the gardens and the house, the slave cabins and the nature train. But every time I think about this place I come back to those live oak trees. They are lovely and haunting and incredibly special.

P.S. I don’t often say this but clicking on those photos to make them bigger is worth it. Especially today.