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THE PARK:
For Thomas Drayton and his son, Thomas,
Jr., in 1675 it was Barbados or bust. They boarded the ship Willing
Wind and left England only to arrive in what had become the most
densely populated colony in the British empire. With all the
choice land for a sugar plantation already snapped up the Draytons
turned their attention to the new Carolina Colony.
Soon after arriving on the Ashley River young Drayton married
Ann Fox and inherited the Magnolia Plantation in 1680. The young
couple set about building a plantation house and at the same
time planted America's first estate garden, Flowerdale.
Through the Revolution and the Civil War and the end of the age
of the gentleman planter the estate was ravaged but the gardens
survived intact. In the 1870s, Magnolia Gardens opened to the
visitors as one of the country's oldest public gardens.Today
the estate remains in the hands of the Drayton family and Flowerdale
looks much as it did 300-plus years ago.
WALKS:
You wouldn't expect to find a formal
garden as a Park of the Month to hike with your dog. But how
dog-friendly is Magnolia Plantation? Not only are dogs allowed
to walk the grounds but they can ride the tour trams and even
go in the plantation house (if you carry the dog). And it is
quite a treat - you are not likely to have a canine hike like
this anywhere else. The prescribed path through the maze of walking
paths stops at two dozen points of interest, crosses graceful
bridges, looks in on 250 varieties of azaleas, skips through
quiet stands of towering bamboo and wanders by 900 types of camellias.
More hiking with your dog is available through the 60-acre blackwater
cypress and tupelo swamp. Plus there are nature trails on the
property.
BONUS
The Drayton Oak, just off of Bridge
Square and not too far from the site of the original Plantation
House, was planted around 1680 by Thomas Drayton, Jr. at the
time he and his wife Anne settled at Magnolia. If your dog acts
strangely at this magnificent live oak it may be because he senses
the ghost of Magnolia's recently deceased owner, J. Drayton Hastie,
Sr. When he died in December of 2002, his grandson and successor
did place his ashes in the tree, and Thomas Drayton's beautiful
oak became home to one of Magnolia's newest ghosts.
DIRECTIONS
On Ashley River Road (SC 61). From
US 17 go west for ten miles.
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