Boone Hall Plantation

Ten miles east of Charleston is Boone Hall Plantation. It's located at 1235 Long Point Road in Mount Pleasant. The plantation is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission is $20 ($18 with AAA or military discount).

The plantation was established in 1681 and is still a working plantation. Peaches, strawberries, tomatoes and pumpkin are still grown, with U-Pick fields open in season. The plantation has been featured in several tv shows and movies, including North & South and The Notebook.

Enter through the Avenue of Oaks, a 3/4 mile drive lined with Spanish-moss draped oaks. This is even more impressive than Oak Alley in Louisiana.

Sign up for a guided tour of the main house at the Hospitality Center. It's a 30-minute tour through 5 areas on the 1st floor. There is no photography allowed inside the house. The house is still occupied by descendants of the Boone family when they're in town.

The antebellum mansion was built in 1936 and has a very impressive porch. There are shaded seats just in front of the porch. Meet here for the tour.

The back of the house

with a river running through it.

Next to the Avenue of Oaks are original slave cabins. There were 40 slaves who worked here.

You can listen to a lecture about slavery between the first and second cabins, near the mansion. 

The tour through the slave quarters is self-guided.

There are exhibits in each of the cabins. Press the button when you enter to listen to the presentation. Plan on spending an hour to tour all the cabins.

You can also take a Plantation Coach Tour throughout the 738 acre grounds. These open-air coach tours begin in front of the Butterfly Cafe and last about an hour. The tours are first come-first served and focus on the agricultural and natural history of the plantation. You'll pass by the cotton gin, which was being restored.

On the coach tour, you'll see cotton fields,

ponds & marshes with wildlife,

more housing on the plantation,

and even Fluffy's house!

Horses roam the plantation in penned fields.

One last presentation is on the Gullah Culture. This is a live presentation  on the evolution and development of the Gullah Culture in the Lowcountry. It's offered in the outdoor theater at 11:15 & 12:45. It's supposed to be a good presentation but we ran out of time.

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