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Keswick vineyards

One of the highlights of this trip for me was taking a step back in time in American history and going to Gettysburg, and I was looking forward to more history lessons as we continued to head south.

To get myself properly prepared for the task ahead, we stopped at a couple of local wineries in Virginia. Keswick was alot of fun. We were the only ones there, and we really enjoyed tasting through their native and vinifera grape wines. Wine tasted, it was back to history: in 1607, a group of adventurers left England and crossed an ocean to establish a colony at Jamestown – only a few miles from what would later become America’s most historic cities of Williamsburg and Yorktown.  This area today is know as America’s Historic Triangle. 

Williamsburg lady and slave

Williamsburg

“Colonial Williamsburg” is a self-guided village set up as it would have been back then, with men and women dressed and speaking in that period. The “townspeople” set up trade demonstrations and drama acts.

Williamsburg townsman

In Yorktown, we took a guided tour of the battlefield where the climatic military campaign of the American Revolution took place – the British surrendered and Independence was won. Before moving on, we made a stop at Williamsburg winery – Virginia’s largest winery producing over 70,000 cases. They make about 25 different wines, and we tasted 5. We really liked the Syrah – Susan Constant Red it’s called (yes, I immediately asked “who is Susan Constant?” and generated the immediate response of “you must not be from around here” – ok, then). Winemaking does have a long history in Virginia, and we heard more about it when we visited Thomas Jefferson’s house in Monticello.

Thomas Jefferson's home

Jefferson was quite an interesting and quirky fellow –  he was mostly a vegetarian- living off of his own garden, spoke 5 languages fluently, was against slavery yet had slaves of his own and is said to have fathered a child from a slave, took the outside temperature twice a day (what?), produced his own wine, and last, but not at all least, was the founder of the University of Virginia. Oh, and of course, there were those little side jobs of US Ambassador to France AND the frickin’ President of the Us of A! His property was truly self- contained, with all that he would need to live grown & produced right there.  It was where, and I quote from the man himself: “All my wishes end, I hope my days will end, at Monticello.”

Now, of course, Jefferson’s magnificent home could not have run without the help, well, of household help. And  help back then were slaves, and they were plenty in the South. Certainly some, the higher “echelon”, worked in their owner’s house, but the majority were field hands. We went to an old Plantation – Shirley Plantation, which sits on the James River. Unlike many Plantations, Shirley is still a working plantation.They open the Grand house for tours, but a descendant of the family still lives on the top floor (where we did not tour), and the property functions as a farm. Now, a quick note: a Plantation is a farm on steroids, with a Grand house for the owner flanked on both sides by a complex of buildings (stable,icehouse,laundry,slave quarters..) where the slaves performed chores that supported the plantation and the family that owned it.It was strange to walk these grounds and to imagine how life might have been for these scared people thrown into a new country, where they didn’t speak the language, and were forced to adapt under the worst of conditions.

Grand house - Shirley Plantation

We continued our journey south into North and South Carolina, passing many acres of cotton fields and beautiful Plantation-style homes dotting the small country roads. Where it may seem that there is so much grandeur in these areas, the reality is that the wealth of a former time is rare for many ancestoral families-these homes are expensive to maintain, and many families have sold them or left them to disrepair. While these families may have moved on, it seemed to me that the descendents of the slaves (or who seemed to me to be descendents) have not had that good fortune at all. I have never seen so many battered-looking single-wides or falling-down shacks in my life. These people still work the land and make and sell the sweetgrass baskets,the “slave baskets”, like their ancestors so many years ago. On one hand, it made me sad to see them struggle to get by, but on the other hand, I saw such pride in their work and a determination to continue their heritage for many generations to come. 

We took a side-trip to Kitty Hawk, NC, home of the Wright brothers famous flight in 1903. The flight lasted for 12 seconds, and they actually made four flights total that day – truly amazing to think that less than 67 years later we sent a man to the moon. There is an exact replica of their flying machine as well as the original markers of their four flights on the property. Definitely worth the stop.

Wright bros. plaque

Charleston, South Carolina was especially charming with all of it’s restored Plantation mansions and cobblestone alleys. Many of these were owned by the wealthy Plantation owners who would flee to the coast in the summer months, being deathly afraid of getting malaria, of which they didn’t know the cause. They would bring with then their most needed slaves, who lived on the top floor of the mansion, while the family occupied the first two floors.

Plantation mansion, Charleston, SC

We took some time from wandering the mansion-lined streets and stopped for lunch at one of the south’s most famous restaurants, Magnolias. It was very busy and the food looked great – immediately I was caught up in the south – fried green tomatoes, grits, cornbread and fried chicken. Yes! this is what I was looking for. The waitress guided us to a locals dish: “southern cavier” – homemade cheeses mixed with pimentos and a touch of mayonnaise. sounds a little strange, but it was excellent. The restaurant was elegant, yet relaxed, kind of like Charleston itself. We spent a little time outside of Charleston at Boone Plantation, famous for the 3/4-mile long spanish moss-lined driveway seen in various movies and tv shows.

Boone plantation driveway

Boone plantation "Grand House"

So many of the Plantations have gone through many different owners and remodels over the years, and much of what is left inside are reproductions, and outside are just bit and pieces. So when we went to Boone Plantation and saw the original slave “houses” still standing, it was amazing, and eerie. We walked where they walked, and could only imagine their lives- 12-14ppl crammed into basically one room with no running water or electricity. Many didn’t even speak the same language among themselves, so they created the “gullah” language to communicate – and it continues to be spoken today amongst their ancestors.   

Slave street - Boone Plantation

Slave "houses" - Boone Plantation