The past few weeks have been poor for getting new images; lots of grey days and thunderstorms at various times throughout the day, there are not many birds around, and the greater Charleston area has been mostly shut down since Monday due to the threat of Hurricane Florence.
I got a quick stroll in at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens on Sunday between rain storms. The air was still so the reflections in the ponds were pretty even though there wasn’t much light.
Pond at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
Magnolia and all of my usual haunts are closed until the storm passes. Florence’s path and power for our area are still hard to predict but I expect I’ll see some changes when we are able to return.
Opened in 1850, Charleston’s Magnolia Cemetery is now home to an abundance of decaying monuments and fences. The shapes and colors make them all beautiful.
Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, Crepe Myrtle adding a dash of pink
I doubt the original mourners could have envisioned the current state of their loved ones’ resting places in this older section of the cemetery. Even payment for perpetual care, which is marked on many of the plots, has not prevented the ravages of time.
I’ve photographed and commented previously on Fences Between Neighbors at Charleston’s Magnolia Cemetery. This section of the cemetery never had the fences or they’ve completely disintegrated, but the living made sure to leave lines of division.
A circle of 99 rustic numbered “camps” form the Indian Fields Methodist Campground on a ten acre (four hectare) site in St. George, South Carolina. Indian Fields was built in 1848 and has been a site for religious gatherings continuously since then.
This site is used just one week a year; there is electricity and running indoor indoor to sinks only. Privies, also numbered, are out back, across the road.
ref=”https://passyingbyphoto.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/esj1516-edit.jpg”> Indian Fields Methodist Campground[/caPine trees stand straight, towering above the camps, sentinels to the passage of time. The buildings have no ornamentation and the rusting metal roofs were the only sign of color not provided by nature.
Indian Fields Methodist Campground
This view from the porch of camp #25 shows how meager the buildings are. Even if their doors were closed there were numerous other openings into the interiors. I kept expecting to get startled by a bird or other creature that had taken up residence, but saw nothing.
Indian Fields Methodist Campground
This last view is from outside the circle where the cooking quarters all face outward to the circular road. The kitchens have been modified more than other parts of the camps over time with sinks, stoves, and storage compartments. I imagine that food is a big part of the social aspect of the annual gathering.
Indian Fields Methodist Campground
Taken 7/8/2018, Sony Alpha-6500, processed to have an old postcard look.
9/2/18 Note: I edited this post last evening to change 100 to 99 in the first sentence after Ted mentioned my error. I foolishly used the WP interface on my iPad and the post got all scrambled up and the last two images didn’t display. My apologies for presenting a mess.
Two towers make up the cable-stayed suspension support of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge that connects Charleston and Mount Pleasant, SC. This is the tower closest to Charleston, seen from Magnolia Cemetery with a sky filled with white fluffy clouds.
Long shadows reached from behind me, like arms stretching out across the pond. This end of the pond is covered in duck weed and mosquito fern, making it look more like a grass carpet than water.
It was a beautiful morning at this old rice field pond even if there weren’t many birds out. It was hot so they had reason to stay tucked in elsewhere.
Old Rice Field Pond
This tree has become known as the Spoonbill Tree as it is a favorite perching and thus photography spot. The water is very high; often there are two or three alligators lounging on the ground up near the trunk.
Empty Tree
See Early Morning Pond for a view of this tree taken last October with the roots exposed.
In 1825 George Washington Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, became the ninth owner of the land that he named Grove Plantation. Three years later he built Grove House. These images are the front of the house, taken from the extensive tree lined lawn from the left, center, and right.
Grove House at Grove Plantation
As you move away from the building the massive Live Oaks close in quickly, giving a feeling of seclusion. The second floor porch that runs the full width of the house is very inviting and the wide overhang would have helped keep the home cooler during the South Carolina summers.
Grove House at Grove Plantation
The house has survived numerous hurricanes and the wrath of the Civil War, during which many similar estates were torched.
Like many plantation homes in the south the front of Grove House faces the water where all traffic would have originated when the house was built in 1828. This is a view of the back of the plantation house, taken from the Live Oak lined drive.
Grove House – rear
The pond where I photographed the water lilies in yesterday’s post sits in the circular turn of this drive, just in front of the ground floor entry arches.
Grove House Rear Entry
Below are the Live Oaks lining the driveway leading away from the back of the house.
Live Oaks Leading Away from Grove House
Today Grove House is home to the offices of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge.
