CHARLESTON, SC

Julianne Lillie
Oct 27, 2022
4 min read

Jett’s Wild Flight: Magnolia Plantation

By: Jett Lillie, 10/25/22

We arrived at the Plantation of Magnolia in Charleston, SC. We stepped up to the ticket booth and got our tickets.

We explored a lot of the grounds and saw big and small bridges, but no bridges were the same.

This bridge was built around a tree!

There were a bunch of Palmetto trees that are often mistaken to be Palm trees, but their difference is coconuts. The Palm tree produces coconuts whereas the Palmetto tree doesn’t. It was very spooky there because of the thick fog that morning.

On the nature ride we saw 4 alligators and 1 California Redwood tree!

After, we went to the small zoo that had 3 deer, a red fox, 3 or 4 peacocks, a couple of owls, snakes, and a goat. My favorite was a Buck called Norbert.

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: Magnolia Plantation

By: Jaycie Lillie, 10/25/22

The morning fog and Spanish moss made it look creepy! You couldn't tell where the sky met the water:

The gardens were very pretty! Here's the link to the video I made of the beautiful garden:

https://youtu.be/7EbqgCHN8XY

We did do a house tour. Sadly, we couldn’t take any pictures inside. The house we toured was the third on the plantation. The first was about 25 yards to the North of the existing one. It was a 3 story Georgian style mansion with marble staircase and all. In 1810 the beautiful wood shingled roof was struck by lightning and the house burned down. Because it was brick, it didn’t burn completely to the ground. They did, though, gut it. The family then took the bricks and moved it to the spot the house is today. They used those bricks to build a more farmhouse style mansion. It was still very nice but a little more modern and to the time period. During the Civil War, Union troops pursued a “scorch burn policy” when they came up the Ashley River. They burned everything! The house burned down and the whole plantation! Pastor Drayton, the 2nd born child inherited the burned land. (The 1st born had died on the property during a hunting accident.) So, now this son (who was a pastor) had a 2,000 acre Carolina Gold Rice plantation that had been burned to the grown. This rice was called Carolina gold not for the color, but because of the money it made. (Mama and I bought some and ate it… it’s really good!)

So Pastor Drayton sold a large portion of the property to minors and they mined it for an ore called phosphate. He then sold tickets for a boat tour called “Up the Ashley” for a dollar (About $40 today). He also planted a Romantic Style garden (for his wife) and the tours were extended to view the gardens as well. Now that’s what we see today!

We also went to the petting zoo. They had deer to pet and other fun animals!

Jules’ Journal: Forts & Ships!

By: Julianne Lillie, 10/26/22

We were up early again this morning to pack a picnic lunch and arrive by 9am to Fort Sumter National Historical Park Visitor’s Center.

Kids got right to work on their Jr Ranger booklets and within 1.5 hours they had earned their badge!

This was the fort where the first shots were fired and the Civil War began! We weren’t able to take the ferry to visit the fort (it’s on a man-made island) due to a work call I had to take. But we still learned all about it and were able to see dolphins swimming in the harbor!

We then drove about 20 minutes to Fort Moultrie where I stayed in the car to take my 1 hour call while the kiddos and Jason started to explore & work on this Jr ranger booklet.

After my call, they had just a bit left to complete so they filled me in on what they learned and we wrapped up the last bit of the booklets. We were able to explore & climb all over this fort and it’s Battery Jasper.

We learned that the fort we see today was the 3rd version. The first version was quickly built to defend Charleston from the British & they used nearby trees for lumber to build it… the Palmettos. They learned quickly that Palmetto wood is very spongy and the British cannon balls just embedded & stuck into the fencing/walls doing little to no damage to the fort during the bombardment! Because the Palmetto trees were a huge part of the British losing this battle, South Carolina added the Palmetto tree to their state flag. Here's Jaycie with a couple palmettos reading about them:

After the kiddos earned the Fort Moultrie Jr Ranger badge we had our picnic lunch and then drove to Patriot’s Point where we were able to board the USS Yorktown (Aircraft Carrier) and explore it!

Onboard the ship looking at all the historic airplanes:

Jett trying out a gun:

We learned that Apollo 8, upon its return from orbiting the moon, landed back on earth into the ocean and was retrieved by the USS Yorktown using one of their Sea King helicopters.

Jett with the Sea King helicopter that retrieved Apollo 8:

The flight deck was our favorite part as we strolled through the planes and took in the beautiful views of Charleston Harbor.

Here's Jett with the F-14 Tomcat which was flown in Top Gun:

Overlooking Charleston's famous bridge!

Overlooking the harbor with all the boats:

Jett was fascinated with all the guns!

We then boarded the USS Laffey (destroyer ship) and learned why it’s called the “ship that couldn’t die.”

During WWII, 6 Japanese kamikaze planes flew into it and 4 bombs were dropped onto it, yet the ship still survived! Only 30 or so men died of the nearly 300 seamen on the ship. Just miraculous!