Charleston's Historic Estates & Gardens: Comparing Middleton Place, Magnolia Plantation & Boone Hall

Outside the downtown peninsula, four historic 17th- and 18th-century agricultural estates preserve both America's oldest landscaped gardens and the history of the enslaved Gullah Geechee men, women and children whose skilled rice-farming and brickmaking labour built the Carolina Lowcountry. Because visiting one estate takes 3 to 4 hours, use this comparison to choose the one estate that best fits your trip.

1. Along the Historic 'Ashley River Road' (Highway 61, 25 Mins West of Downtown)

Three National Historic Landmarks sit within 5 minutes of one another along live-oak-canopied Highway 61:

1. Best All-Around for Gardens, History & Stableyards, 'Middleton Place' (4300 Ashley River Rd): home of Arthur Middleton (signer of the 1776 Declaration of Independence). Explore 65 acres of 1741 French-classical geometrical terraced lawns, the twin Butterfly Lakes, the 1755 House Museum, a working 18th-century Stableyard (with water buffalo, sheep, blacksmiths and potters), the Eliza's House enslaved history exhibit, and a Lowcountry restaurant.
2. Best for Romantic Flowers & Wildlife, 'Magnolia Plantation & Gardens' (3550 Ashley River Rd): whereas Middleton's gardens are formal, Magnolia's 1676 gardens are wild and overflowing with azaleas (peak bloom in March and April) and winter camellias, a white bridge over the Audubon Swamp Garden (where wild alligators, egrets and turtles sunbathe near the boardwalk), a Nature Tram Tour, and the 'From Slavery to Freedom' Cabin Tour (preserving four cabins inhabited from the 1850s to 1990).
3. Best for Pure 1738 Architecture, 'Drayton Hall' (Next to Magnolia): the oldest preserved Georgian Palladian villa in America (1738, the only mansion on the Ashley River that survived the Civil War without being burned), preserved unfurnished without electricity or plumbing.

2. Across the River in Mount Pleasant (20 Mins East): 'Boone Hall Plantation'

If you are staying near Mount Pleasant or want to drive down the 1.2-kilometre 'Avenue of Oaks' (planted in 1743 with 88 live oaks meeting overhead, and filmed in The Notebook), visit Boone Hall. Its standout feature is 'Black History in America' inside nine original 1790 to 1840 brick slave cabins along 'Slave Street', with live daily presentations of Gullah Geechee Culture by Gullah storytellers.