The Rest of the Charleston Garden Photos I Started Sharing Last Week

   Hi everyone.  Can you believe it's the last day of April? This past month flew by. Now that winter is gone, could we slow down things just a little big? (grin)  I'm not around much during the day today (Thursday) with a couple of appointments, so I probably won't get to stop by your blog until later this evening or tomorrow.

  I thought today I would finish the photos I started in last Thursday's post. All these photos are from when I visited Margnolia  Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina a couple of weeks ago. Here's that first post if you missed it and are interested in it: Magnolia Part 1.

  I will also be linking  up this post to Nicole's Friday Face Off and Gillena's  Friday Lunch Break    because tomorrow is the first of the new month which means I will need to  share a new page for Art Journal Journey. I have some  faces at the end of this post. 

   So let's go back to the garden.😀

  After the American Civil War when the slaves were finally freed and rice farming wasn't as advantageous, the family who owned this property needed a find a way to keep their 400 acre plantation. In the late 1800's they planted azaleas and other flowering trees and created the garden. They then  opened it up to tourists who originally would arrive by boat from the Lesley River.  I found this old postcard online and  thought it was an interesting view to the story of this garden.

   Here's the Lesley River  along the gardens now. I like to imagine what it was like when this  waterway was the main transportation route because the road (which is obviously now paved and well traveled) at that time was a dirt track through the woods. 

     Now the house and grounds are  open to the public. I had hoped (besides seeing blooming azaleas) that I could also get a house tour on the day we visited, but those were all full. In retrospect that was OK because we still managed to spend a full afternoon just walking around and enjoying the grounds. 

   I think it would be grand to have a long driveway with such a wonderful oak ceiling and leafy tunnel. Of course  in New Hampshire it would be bare branches half of the year and during winter storms branches would break and block the way so I guess it's best to leave it for the south.

There are several trails to walk, and the one we were on came out through these moss covered beauties.

The Spanish Moss is so cool.👍

      You can see another passe azalea😞 in the photo above. If I ever get back to this area, I hope the azalea's will then be in bloom. 

     Then we had a glance of the house and the more cultivated gardens around the house. Those gardens were pretty, but not as fun as the wild walk I shared last week. But I bet a couple of weeks earlier they would have been gorgeous when the azaleas were blooming.

   Even though I never made it into the house, I did enjoy checking out this wide veranda. 

And I got a few funky/weird photos when I peaked in through the windows.

  The other cool thing up around the house were the peacocks that roamed around. Here's my face for Friday Face Off. This handsome guy was sitting in the cool shade of a small table area. We had stopped at the snack bar to get a cold drink since it was 95 degrees F/35 degrees C and when we sat down we noticed him.

   This other guy was shuffling around with his huge gorgeous train. It must be quite the burden for these birds to drag around their big tales. All just to impress the ladies.

     I was quite interested in the arrangement of the tail feathers.I didn't realize the visible eyes lined up down the middle when the tail was opened. I aso spotted some tucked into the side, but they were not so visible.

  For some reason when I see peacocks I think of Flannery O'Connor's short stories. If you aren't familiar with her, she was a mid-twentieth century southern (US) writer who was very interested in birds. She thought of  male peacocks as the king of birds, which with  their gorgeous colors and that tail was an apt description. She mentions birds in her stories, but her stories are not about birds.

  Hope you enjoyed your visit to Magnolia Plantation and Garden. When I post my next trip post it will be to  visit Congaree National Park which is a couple hours inland from Charleston. Until then, have a super day.