The sun was working its way up, lighting up this wisteria bloom, though not yet reaching the grounds around the cabins.
These cabins housed enslaved workers when Magnolia was a working rice plantation and are now part of the “From Slavery to Freedom” tour.
This smaller building was likely used for cooking.
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
March 14, 2023
The view across the big field of the Plantation House. Previous visitors to this location may notice that the hedge to the right of the house and the English boxed garden in front of the house have been removed.
Another view taken a few days later, on a grey afternoon, image cooked up just a bit.
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
March 11 & 13, 2023
For such an amazing architectural beauty, this staircase is in a very small space, making it is difficult to photograph it all. Standing underneath and looking up provides an interesting view.
This view shows a small door to the outdoors, which seems out of place. The light shining out of the underside of the staircase allows a view of the construction.
And it sticks out on the other side of the staircase, just like the window in my post about the second floor view.
This is that little door from the outside. One of the museum volunteers told me this was used to access the root cellar, again a bit of practical over maintaining full symmetry.
I’m 5′ 8″ (1.7 M) and when I stood on the step of this door my hair would have grazed the header if I could have stepped in.
Nathaniel Russell House Museum, Charleston, SC
January 27, 2023
This home has been restored to its 1808 appearance and is part of the Historic Charleston Foundation collection.
Additional posts of the Nathaniel Russell House Museum
Built in 1808, the design of a Charleston merchant’s home was all about symmetry. And impressing your neighbors, like this three-story, cantilevered, flying staircase was intended to do.
Sometimes, reality didn’t match the rules, and this window is not evenly placed behind the staircase. But it does illustrate that the staircase doesn’t touch the wall for support.
This window seen from the outside, taken from what is now the narrow driveway to the back of the property. My back was at the wall of the First (Scots) Presbyterian Church next door and the trees reflected in the glass are in the graveyard.
Nathaniel Russell House Museum, Charleston, SC
January 27, 2023
This home has been restored to its 1808 appearance and is part of the Historic Charleston Foundation collection.
Additional posts of the Nathaniel Russell House Museum
Yes, it is pink. And pretty dramatic looking in the Gothic Revival style.
A gap in vehicle and pedestrian traffic, no leaves on the Crepe Myrtles, and a beautiful sky came together on Friday for an unusual photo opportunity of this landmark.
The church sits across Church street from the Dock Street Theater, and as a fan of reflection images I couldn’t pass this up.
French Huguenot Church, Charleston, SC
January 27, 2023
The symmetry and bling of the historic Nathaniel Russell House is on full display in the oval drawing room.
I am fascinated by these tri-column mirror panels. Rather like a fun-house mirror, just shifting your position an inch or two changes the scene. Here, triplicates of a music stand with varying amounts of a standing harp next to it.
Despite the wealth and import business that would have allowed the Russells to have mahogany doors, the hallway doors are faux. The skill and expense of applying the design to a pine door was valued over real mahogany.
Nathaniel Russell House Museum, Charleston, SC
January 27, 2023
This home has been restored to its 1808 appearance and is part of the Historic Charleston Foundation collection.
Additional posts of the Nathaniel Russell House Museum
Continued from Leonards Mills: Shingle Mill, 1 of 2
Once he has the shingle in his hand the mill worker cuts one edge off…
…flips the shingle over…
…cuts the second edge off…
then flips the shingle into a pile.
Meanwhile the next shingle is ready…
Just to the left you can see a building sided with cedar shingles from this demonstration mill.
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I was fortunate that during my September visit the Maine Forest and Logging Museum was having Living History Days.
The Maine Forest and Logging Museum in Bradley has a variety of exhibits intended “to preserve, celebrate and educate people about the sustainable forest culture of Maine.”
http://www.maineforestandloggingmuseum.org
October 1, 2022
Wooden shingles have long been used in New England due to the abundance of wood and its durability. Ingenuity and mechanical innovations led to commercial production equipment like this Shingle Mill on display at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum.
A short length of cedar is fixed into a mechanism that carries the wood to the saw.
The mill worker takes each shingle…
… in a well practiced movement…
…lifts the shingle away from the saw blade.
A wider view:
This mill has an amazing number of moving parts.
I was fortunate that during my September visit the Maine Forest and Logging Museum was having Living History Days.
The Maine Forest and Logging Museum in Bradley has a variety of exhibits intended “to preserve, celebrate and educate people about the sustainable forest culture of Maine.”
http://www.maineforestandloggingmuseum.org
October 1, 2022
I was fortunate that during my September visit the Maine Forest and Logging Museum was having Living History Days.
I’m not keen on taking photographs of strangers and this was a well attended event so my images were somewhat restricted.
One of the highlights of the museum is the water powered saw mill which sits on Blackman Stream. The smoke up the stream was from the encampment of the trapper reenactor, who was cooking stew.
Next is the downstream view from that little bridge by the smoke in the first picture, with the covered bridge to the left and the mill works in the middle. It was a grey, dull day and not much fall foliage change; these few pops of orange was about it.
The Maine Forest and Logging Museum in Bradley has a variety of exhibits intended “to preserve, celebrate and educate people about the sustainable forest culture of Maine.”
http://www.maineforestandloggingmuseum.org
October 1, 2022
Early morning sun was lighting up the river side of the house at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
September 16, 2022
