Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Best of West Ashley 2007

Best of West Ashley 2007

Charleston, South Carolina has long been a popular tourist destination; and why not? Great beaches and temperate climate, an historical district and Market, the South Carolina Aquarium, the USS Yorktown, the Hunley, Ft. Sumter and the list goes on. However, few tourists know what the locals know. Charleston is a peninsula with the Cooper River to the east and the Ashley River to the west. If you’re looking for great food and entertainment while in Charleston, go west, young man, go west!

West Ashley (west of the Ashley River, get it?) is a part of the City of Charleston. While primarily a bedroom community it is also the home to spectacular antebellum plantations and some of the best food to be found anywhere. Each year “YourWestAshleyGuide.com” features its “Best of West Ashley” and the 2007 awards have just been announced.

Looking for a great breakfast in West Ashley (Bear E. Patch)? How about a spot to walk your dog (West Ashley Park)? Thirsty and looking for a great West Ashley sports bar (Bobby Hartin’s), then “Best of West Ashley” is for you. The list goes from the sublime to the practical. From “The Best Place to take Friends for Dinner” (Amuse) to the “Best West Ashley Barbershop” (Ed’s), it is on this year’s list.

“The Best of West Ashley 2007” is dominated by food and restaurants with some great suggestions for places to find the best Chinese food (Red Orchid), a traditional bakery (Rococo) and even the best place to get wings (West Wings) or a pitcher of beer (T-Bonz).

“The Best of West Ashley” list is fun and lighthearted. If you’re planning a week or two in Charleston and you’re looking to rub elbows with some of the locals, then check out “The Best of West Ashley” which has a map of where to find them.

Written by John Q. Wilson, owner of YourWestAshleyGuide.com and famous for the annual “Best of West Ashley” awards.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Middleton Place Plantation

Middleton Place Plantation

West Ashley, SC

Charleston, South Carolina is one of America’s favorite vacation destinations; and for good reason. It offers pristine oceanfront beaches and an historical district that would take several days to cover on foot. The famous Market where you can watch local women as they make “sweetgrass” baskets the same way they have for hundreds of years. For the nautical lovers, there is Patriot’s Point where you can tour the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. Or, you can visit the Confederate submarine the Hunley; the first underwater vessel to ever sink another ship. Or take a tour boat out to Fort Sumter where the first shots were fired in the American Civil War.

But the crown jewel of Charleston is located west of the Ashley River in the appropriately named suburb of West Ashley. About 10 miles from downtown Charleston, out Ashley River Road, lays the Middleton Place Plantation.

One of the oldest homesteads in America, the original property was deeded to Jacob Wayte over a hundred years before the American Revolution. The next owners were the Middleton family and this is where the Plantation drew its name. The Middleton’s were one of the richest and most influential families in the antebellum south. Henry Middleton (1717 – 1784) was President of the First Continental Congress. Arthur Middleton (1742 -1787) signed the Declaration of Independence. Arthur’s son Henry Middleton (1770-1846) was Governor of South Carolina and an Ambassador to Russia. Williams Middleton (1809 – 1883) was a signer of the Ordinance of Secession that launched the American Civil War.

The original plantation house was built in 1755 with the main house and north wing ransacked and burned by Sherman’s Army in February 1865. The southern wing of the house, which suffered less damage, was restored in 1870.

In the great Charleston earthquake of 1886, Middleton Place was dealt yet another destructive blow. The beautiful garden terraces that had taken hundreds of slaves decades to build were destroyed in a matter of minutes. After the earthquake the stately mansion and beautiful gardens fell into disrepair.

In 1916, J.J. Pringle Smith inherited Middleton Place and soon began a massive restoration of the beautiful gardens. If you’ve ever seen the Mel Gibson movie, “The Patriot” you have seen the magnificence of the restoration. In 1991 the International Committee on Monuments and Sites named Middleton Place one of only six U.S. gardens of international importance.

In 1974, J.J. Pringle Smith's heirs established the non-profit Middleton Place Foundation, which now owns the Middleton Place National Historic Landmark.

Today, Middleton Place is a thriving restoration of eighteenth and nineteenth century plantation life. If you plan to visit Charleston, make the short day trip out to West Ashley and Middleton Place. Bring your walking shoes. There are amazing gardens spread across 65 acres. For those not inclined or unable to walk the grounds, a 45 minute tour in a horse drawn carriage conducted by a knowledgeable guide can be purchased at visitor’s center.

In addition to the gardens, there is a house tour available and a plantation stable yard with displays of the tools and methods used in the daily life in the Old South. These stables are staffed by local volunteers who are willing to share insight into jobs and the daily lives of the slaves who used to live there.

Be sure to include Middleton Place in your Charleston vacation plans. It is a day you will not soon forget.

Middleton Place
4300 Ashley River Road
West Ashley, SC 29414
(843) 556-6020
(800) 782-3608

Written by John Q. Wilson, owner of YourWestAshleyGuide.com and famous for the annual “Best of West Ashley” awards.