Charleston - Middleton Place

We had one more place to visit during our stay in Charleston - Middleton Place.

Note that he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence

We opted to skip the house tour and we took our time visiting the gardens.  I'm sure hours and hours are spent each day on maintaining these beautiful gardens.

These two love their home.

A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and, in most cases, a symmetrical layout.  Usually, low perennial plants and flowers are planted in borders where the main criteria is not the bloom but rather the shape and effect produced by the color of the leaves.  If lawn is used, it is usually a closely cut ornamental lawn.

We continued our walk and saw some beautiful old trees.

And just like that, we entered the area with graves of the Middleton family.

Arthur Middleton, 1742-1787, signer of the Declaration of Independence

We continued our walk and had a beautiful view of the river.

And then we were in front of the house.

I looked around and Ron was out of view.  I found him here.

Taking a photo?  Of what?  Fortunately I stayed where I was once I realized what was so interesting.

Hard to see it but it's a GATOR!  And not a small one, either!

We kept walking and saw the chapel.

We headed toward the stables.  These sheep are just a small portion of those that have free range of the grounds.

 

This guy wasn't fazed at all by me coming close to take his picture.

We then visited the animals.

A different looking pig

These are some mighty big horns

This guy was noisy, noisy, noisy.  He must get irritated when visitors pay more attention to his barnyard friends so he bangs his hoof on this plywood floor.

He looks very irritated

Not animals but the carriage house was very interesting.

The blacksmith shop was in use as we walked by.  I'm not sure what he was doing but he was very busy.

We found our way to Eliza's house.

Bedroom

Kitchen

And then the exhibit I was waiting for - the horses!

It was hot and this guy looked very anxious to get out of the sun.

This was a great walking tour of a beautiful plantation.  And with that, it was time to leave the Charleston area the next day.