The South - Eastern USA - page 678

The on-site inn is a series of ecofriendly modernist glass boxes overlooking the Ash-
ley River. Enjoy a traditional Lowcountry plantation lunch of she-crab soup and pole
beans at the highly regarded cafe .
Magnolia Plantation HOUSE, GARDENS
( www.magnoliaplantation.com ; 3550 Ashley River Rd; adult/child $15/10, tours $8;
8am-5:30pm) On 500 acres owned by the Drayton family since 1676, Magnolia Plantation
is a veritable plantation theme park, complete with a tram tour, a swamp walk, a petting
zoo, and a guided house tour. At the reconstructed slave cabins, the Slavery to Freedom
Tour traces the African American experience at the plantation.
Drayton Hall PLANTATION
( 843-769-2600; www.draytonhall.org ; 3380 Ashley River Rd; adult/child $18/8; 9am-5pm
Mon-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun, last tour 3:30pm) This 1738 Palladian brick mansion was the only
plantation house on the Ashley River to survive the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and
the great earthquake of 1886. Guided tours explore the unfurnished house, which has
been preserved, but not restored. Walking trails wander along the river and a marsh.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Lowcountry
From just north of Charleston, the southern half of the South Carolina coast is a tangle of
islands cut off from the mainland by inlets and tidal marshes. Here, descendants of West
African slaves known as the Gullah maintain small communities in the face of resort and
golf-course development. The landscape ranges from tidy stretches of shimmery, oyster-
gray sand, to wild, moss-shrouded maritime forests.
LOWCOUNTRY CUISINE
The traditional cooking style of the South Carolina and Georgia coasts, Lowcountry
cuisine is seafood-centric Southern fare with a heavy dash of West African influen-
ce. Dishes to look for:
Benne wafers Sesame-seed cookies.
Country Captain Curried chicken stew, brought to the city via India by British sea
captains.
Hoppin' John A rice-and-bean dish, sometimes spicy.