This morning we took a quick trip out to see some of the plantations near our campground. Having watched the beginning of the miniseries “North and South” the night before, we were hoping to catch a glimpse of the Boone Hall Plantation, where many of the outdoor scenes were filmed. As we pulled up to the stand that guards the entry road to the plantation, we found that it would be almost $20 per person to tour the plantation, and since we didn’t have much time, I told them we just wanted to drive in and look at the outside of the building. In a very polite southern accent the gate attendant said, “Sir, if you drive past this gate, it costs $20!”. We promptly turned the car around and drove back down the road to find the free National Park Service site honoring Charles Pinckney.Charles Pinckney was a southern gentleman from Charleston, the youngest member of the South Carolina delegation that attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787. One of the first to speak out against the ineffective Articles of Confederation by which our country had been governed since 1781, he is credited with significantly shaping over 30 of the articles in our current constitution. Snee Farm, his country estate north of Charleston, has been preserved by the National Park Service. While none of the original buildings remain, archeological digs of the area have uncovered more than 150,000 artifacts dating back to the late 1700s. The existing house was built in 1820, after the farm had changed hands, and provides an example of early plantation life. Live oaks (the leaves never turn brown) covered with resurrection ferns and Spanish moss, surround the home. We watched the movie about Charles Pinckney in the visitor center in the house, the kids obtained stamps in their passport books, and then we returned to the campground to prepare for the drive south.
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