The Drayton family that purchased Magnolia Plantation in 1676. Listed on the National Register of Historical Places, Magnolia Plantation has the distinction of being the northern hemisphere's oldest established gardens. The gardens include one of the largest collections of azaleas and camellias in the country.

While visiting the estate, guests can choose to ride on the nature train (complete with a 45-minuted narration), take a nature boat tour of an ancient flooded 150-acre ricefield, tour the Pre-Revolutionary War Plantation home with museum-quality Early American antiques, and view wildlife from the observation tower.

The ground of the estate and the plantation home are absolutely lovely. Magnolia Plantation is a must-see for anyone visiting Charleston, especially since the plantation is only ten miles from downtown on Highway 61.

The Magnolia Plantations, listed on the National Register of Historical Places by its distinction as being the northern hemisphere's oldest established gardens and the country's oldest man-made tourist attraction, was our choice of the many available in this area. The gardens are as beautiful as I ever expected, but the history was more than I would have dreamed.

Although Magnolia has attracted tourists with its spring-time blooms since the devastation to family resources following the Civil War made it a necessity to the owners, since Rev. Drayton’s death in 1890, the plantation has continued to attract visitors year-round by the addition of plantings that bloom all through the year. Managed still by the heirs of the original owners, the plantation now emphasizes conservation with 500 acres of former rice fields as protected wetlands for an extensive collection of waterfowl.

Options for visitors touring Magnolia Plantation today include: a nature trail, with a 45-minuted narrated tram tour, a nature boat tour of an ancient flooded 150-acre ricefield, the Audubon Swamp Gardens with 60-acres of blackwater cypress and tupelo swamp traversed by bridges and boardwalks where alligators and other wildlife thrive in their natural setting. We just walked and walked the 500 acres ourselves and marveled at the blooming beauty all around us. My husband lost himself in the horticultural maze modeled after one in Henry VIII's gardens. I stood on many a romantic bridge defying the alligators in the waters below me.

A house tour is available, though the furnishings of this current house which was barged down the Ashley when the second was burned, is much more modest considering the family’s change of fortune following the war but historic nonetheless. For collectors there is an impressive Art Gallery and gift shop located in the lower level of the plantation house where outstanding Audubon prints and exquisite sculpture and art by other lowcountry artists is available.

The first thing I did upon returning home from visiting Charleston and Magnolia Plantation, was to watch "Gone With The Wind," never my favorite movie in the past. So maudlin, so over-dramatic, so Southern! But this time as I watched, now recognizing the landscapes, I found myself identifying totally with the characters, realizing for the first time that it told the real story of so many families’ and the history of our nation that affected them so dramatically.

Of course now I've fallen under its spell, like so many wiser millions before me. And all because a visit to places I’d only heard about before suddenly became very real and not so far away. Read on, if you’d like a short history of the Plantation and the fascinating family that founded it: the Drayton’s of England.

This estate was built during the 17th century. It was acquired in 1676 by the Drayton family and is still owned by descendents of that family, which I find amazing. It features the year-round blooming of the country's oldest gardens. It has one of the largest collections of azaleas and camellias in the country, and possibly the world.

The highlights include the Pre-Revolutionary War Plantation House which houses museum-quality Early American antiques, Biblical Garden, antebellum cabin, Nature Train, Nature Boat, wildlife observation tower, gift shop, Gallery of Nature and Wildlife Artists, snack shop, canoe and bike rentals. It is an easy drive from downtown. It is about ten miles from downtown on Highway 61.