What a beautiful entrance! These live oaks made me feel like we were entering a scene from Gone With the Wind! It is no wonder…It is rumored that this Avenue of Oaks inspired the oak-lined drive to Ashley Wilkes’ Twelve Oaks Plantation on the set that was created for Gone With the Wind. The sequel, Scarlett was actually filmed at Boone Hall! Boone Hall appeared as Allies’ summer home in The Notebook, was filmed here as Allie’s summer home. This was considered for a running scene in Forrest Gump, but Tom Hanks decided it was too long a distance. Instead they used a plantation in Savannah with a shorter oak-lined road. Â North and South and Days of Our Lives filmed at Boone Hall.
Boone Hall Plantation was founded in 1681 when Englishman Major John Boone came to Charleston, SC. He established a lucrative plantation and gorgeous home here. In 1743, his son planted live oak trees in two evenly spaced rows. It has taken two centuries for the massive, moss-draped branches to meet overhead, forming a spectacular tunnel-like drive all the way in. It is most impressive as a grand welcome and entrance. It was a way to show wealth, as well as having the slave homes that ran parallel to the entry drive.
HOUSE TOURS:
The current mansion was built in 1936 by Canadian ambassador Thomas Stone as part of the Second Wave of Reconstruction. We signed up for a time to tour. The tour was only the first floor, but we enjoyed it. No photos or videos were permitted inside.
There were nine slave cabins with each one set up to represent various aspects of Black American history. The cabins were built between 1790 and 1810. These brick homes were a much upscaled home from what most slaves experienced even though 2-3 families (12 people) would share each house.
GULLAH THEATER – GULLAH CULTURE –
Real descendants of the Gullah people present the history of this culture. A Gullah lady gives a unique presentation that is authentic and educational via storytelling, and singing for visitors to hear and feel who they are. The intimate setting for this authentic and educational performance was great. The Gullah lady we watched shared uplifting spiritual messages of love and understanding of how overcoming the hardships of the past has brought them to a better place today.
Wade in the Water – Opening:
Work songs:
Typical Family Cabin:
Boone Hall was originally a brick production plantation. As the slaves made the bricks to build these homes they would secretly “sign” some with their “fingerprints” if no one was watching them. When you know what to look for, you see them here and there anywhere the bricks are used! It was pretty cool.
Boone Hall was a successful cotton plantation as well as harvesting rice, indigo, peaches and pecans over the years. At one time there were 15,000 pecan trees here making it the largest pecan grove in the world. Unfortunately, half of the trees were wiped out by a hurricane and a later one destroyed an additional 80%. Today there are less than 50 of the original 150 year-old pecan tree remaining.
Important figures who played significant roles in gaining respect and equality for all.
Slavery reality – I feel it is extremely important to refresh historical facts and not bury this abhorrent treatment of people or allow it to be removed from history books. Being complacent, is a form of support of inappropriate treatment of others. Standing up for humane treatment of others, and equality is crucial still today.
The Gardens – Even though we were here in October, the gardens were lovely and filled with so many butterflies and huge bees. The amount of color surprised me. Theses are definitely multi-season gardens!
We didn’t realize till later that the outer wall was not the typical straight wall. It was designed as wings of a butterfly on both sides of the gardens.
Boone Hall Stables
Polo Horses! This mini-tour was totally unexpected. It was cool to learn about polo horses. They are bred specifically for polo. The manes are extremely short for the comfort/safety of the horse during games. These were absolutely gorgeous creatures.
It was quite special being this close to these magnificent horses!
Boone Hall Stables are known for their thoroughbreds. The grandfather of Secretariat, the champion racer that Disney based a movie on, lived here. He sired four other triple crown horses!
Interesting horse facts from the Great Manure Crisis of 1894:
By the late 1800’s large cities around the world were “drowning in horse manure”! Horses were a necessity as transportation for people as well as all goods. In 1900, just in London there were 50,000 horses used for transporting people around the city! I can’t imagine that many horses within a city! Now the main issue: A horse produces 15-35 pounds of manure and 2 pints of urine every day!! Now multiply that by 50,000 horses. A working horse only had a life expectancy of three years, so now add to the waste and stench, decaying carcasses till it was easier to saw into pieces to dispose somewhere.
New York had 100,000 horses! In 1894, the NY Times predicted, “In 50 years every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure.” Henry Ford came to the rescue! Luckily, necessity is the mother of invention.
Some of these “25 Bizarre Horse Laws made me laugh. Others made me wonder what happened to make that a law!?!
Some FUN FACTS:
- Horses cannot vomit.
- A horse can see better at night than a human, but its eyes take longer to adjust from light to dark and dark to light than human eyes.
- Ears of a horse point to where it is looking. If they are pointing in two different directions, then the horse is looking in two different directions.
- Horses produce about 10 gallons of saliva a day!
- Horses cannot breather through their mouths.
- Horses drink at least 25 gallons of water a day.
The horse ALL Americans are familiar with – the Clydesdales! The Clydesdales have been an integral part of Anheuser-Busch for over 90 years. It began in April 1933, when August A. Busch, Jr and Adolphus Busch III surprised their father, August A. Busch, Sr., with a gift of a six-horse Clydesdale Hitch to commemorate the repeal of prohibition of beer. Realizing the marketing potential of a horse-drawn beer wagon, a second six-horse hitch was added and sent to New York to mark the event. The Clydesdales drew crowds of thousands as they made their way to the Empire State Building. This popularity continued as the Clydesdales made their way to Washington, DC to reenact the delivery of the first cases of Budweiser to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The six-horse hitch very soon went to eight, and on March 30, 1950, in commemoration of the opening of the new Anheuser-Busch Newark Brewery, a Dalmatian was introduced as the Budweiser Clydesdale mascot. A Dalmatian continues to travel with each hitch. Each Clydesdale consumes as much as 20-25 quarts of whole grains, mineral and vitamins, 50-60 pounds of hay, and up to 30 gallons of water on a warm day. When traveling, the teams stops at local stables so the “gentle giants” can rest. They stayed here at Boone Hall Plantation Stables in 2015 and 2018.
Clydesdales enjoying the pasture at Boone Hall – video (no, they were not here when we visited. I got this off of the Boone Hall Facebook page.)
The Clydesdales first appeared in the Super Bowl in 1986, and have since appeared in 46 Super Bowls. The Clydesdales commercials are some of my favorite commercials!
People love the magnificent horses and their canine companions, but rarely do we think about the job of the hitch driver. Driving the combined 12 tons of wagon and horses requires amazing skill and tremendous strength. The lines the driver holds total 40 pounds, but when combined with the tension of the horses pulling creates a weight of more than 75 pounds!
Interesting facts about the Clydesdales:
- The harness and collar weighs approximately 130 pounds!
- The horseshoe for these “gentle giants” are about 22 inches in length, and weigh about 5 pounds (about 2x the length of a riding horse’s shoe, and 4x heavier).
PLANTATION TRACTOR TOUR
We got to see so much more of the acreage making up the Boone Hall Plantation! Pretty grounds where various events are hosted, a large pond – even with an alligator or two. Since the pond area was fairly close, we took time to walk back to the pond area.
Area with October seasonal decor was fun to ride through. It was a delight of pumpkins, jack-o’lanterns, ghosts, skeletons, and of course huge scary spiders. (No wonder people freak out when they see gentle, and harmless tarantulas.)
Even aliens!
More surprises:
Sample of the crop areas at Boone Hall. Muscadine grapes were the only seasonal fruit available. Not a fan.
Since the pond area was fairly close, we took time to walk back to the pond area. Look who we spotted!
A couple special trees
This tree was massive! Looks like it would be a comfy “seat” to sit and read.
The proposal tree! I don’t recall much about it or how old it is, but it was pretty cool.
Butterfly House and Gift Shop
The Butterfly House was disappointing. We saw so many more out in the open air gardens than we did inside this area.
The plantation was closing soon. It was time to go. What a wonderful day! I’m glad we had the time to enjoy all the areas of the plantation – to “be present” in each one. I think many to even most visitors miss the “extras” that are here.
Once again a very informative blog of a special place, really enjoyed the horse laws.
Glad you enjoyed the horse laws. When I read them I knew I had to include them!