Magnolia Plantation

My family drove all the way down from Pennsylvania to spend a week exploring Charleston.

Before they came, they knew they really wanted to visit Magnolia Plantation, America’s oldest public garden and Charleston’s most visited plantation. It’s been open to the public since 1870 and filled with blooming romantic-style gardens. Thankfully, Groupon was offering discounted general admission tickets! They were originally $15 a piece and we got 2 for $24 and 4 for $48, which is a 20% discount.

We started by watching a 20 minute video on the history of the plantation. Then, we walked through their petting zoo. We had 2 hours to kill until we were scheduled to tour the house.

The weather was perfect and we were able to roam around all afternoon. Around every corner was something even more beautiful.

We saw a handful of birds and even an alligator!

This bridge was the most beautiful spot on the entire plantation. Mom and I could not stop taking pictures and fantasizing about how it was straight out of a fairy tale.

There is a really old wooden tower (that kinda shakes when you stand on it…it’s THAT old). When you climb the three flights of stairs to the top, you get this breathtaking view! You can see different wildlife from a distance and just soak it all in.

The house tour was very informative and our tour guide did a great job. We couldn’t take any pictures inside, but I made sure to capture the huge wrap-around porch. You can kinda notice in the picture how the porch is slanted and that’s because it’s made to let the rain drain off.

We had a blast walking around for several hours and we didn’t even cover everything! Looking back at all my pictures, I slightly regret not taking more! I will definitely be back to spend another day exploring.