Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [82]
Drayton Hall
The most informative and museum-like of the three Ashley River plantations. 843-769-2600; www.draytonhall.org; 3380 Ashley River Rd, Charleston; adult/child/youth $14/6/8, DVD $7; 8:30am-5pm, to 4pm Nov-Feb;
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
The third plantation with a full day’s activities. 800-367-3517; www.magnoliaplantation.com; 3550 Ashley River Rd, Charleston; adult/child $15/10, house tours $7; 8am-dusk incl holidays, shorter winter hours;
Magnolia Plantation Nature Boat Tour
There’s almost a guaranteed alligator spotting on each trip into the rice-growing wetlands. 800-367-3517; www.magnoliaplantation.com; 3550 Ashley River Rd, Charleston; adult & child/child under 6 $7/free; hourly from 9am Mar-Nov;
Magnolia Plantation Nature Train Tour
A one-hour tour into the further reaches of the vast plantation. 800-367-3517; www.magnoliaplantation.com; 3550 Ashley River Rd, Charleston; adult/child under 6/child $7/3/5; half-hourly from 9am;
Middleton Place
One of Charleston’s most prominent family homes. 843-556-6020; www.middletonplace.org; 4300 Ashley River Rd; adult/child $25/5, house tours $10, carriage rides $15; 9am-5pm;
EAT
Peacock Café
Outdoor casual dining at Magnolia Plantation serving breakfast, lunch and light fare. 800-367-3517; www.magnoliaplantation.com; 3550 Ashley River Rd, Charleston; mains $5-11; 8am-dusk incl holidays, shorter winter hours;
Restaurant at Middleton Place
Lowcountry cuisine like mama, grandma and great-grandma used to make. 843-556-8020 ext118; www.middletonplace.org; 4300 Ashley River Rd; 11am-3pm, also 6-8pm Tue-Thu & Sun, 6-9pm Fri & Sat;
SLEEP
Inn at Middleton Place
Modern structures in a historic setting, equally elegant and peaceful. 843-556-0500; www.theinnatmiddletonplace.com; 4290 Ashley River Rd; r $179-280, ste $400-500
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LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner
TRIP
21 A Charleston Walk Back in Time
23 South Carolina Swamps opposite
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Return to beginning of chapter
TRIP 23
South Carolina Swamps
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WHY GO From the coast to Congaree National Park, this nature tour of the Palmetto State’s wetlands (the politically correct term for swamp) takes you through wild bald cypress and tupelo forests and protected floodplains - seen best on naturalist-led canoe tours - with a stopover at a riverfront Trappist monastery.
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TIME
3 days
DISTANCE
209 miles
BEST TIME TO GO
Feb - Jun
START
Charleston, SC
END
Santee, SC
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Leave behind the urban hubbub of Charleston for the untamed backcountry of swamps and wetlands. Just before heading out of town, make your first stop on your swamp tour the Audubon Swamp Garden at Magnolia Plantation, one of the Ashley River Rd plantations. A series of boardwalks, dikes and bridges leads visitors on a self-guided tour through terrain so perfectly swampy that Wes Craven filmed a slithering Adrienne Barbeau here in The Swamp Thing (1982). It’s still possible to see the great blue heron, river otters and alligators that brought James John Audubon on his own visit 150 years ago. Venture north on Hwy 17 for lunch at the delectable SeeWee Restaurant. All manner of fried seafood and shellfish are on the menu (as are grape Nehis and glass bottles of cherry Coke for the nostalgic crowd), but be sure to try the signature she-crab soup.
Whether you have a few hours or five days, hook up with Nature Adventures Outfitters, the modern swamp foxes of the area. If you want to float through a swamp, these are your people. The organization runs hundreds of trips throughout every inch of swamp country, from two-hour tours near Moncks Corner to overnight trips near the Santee Coastal Reserve. They’re based in the Francis Marion National Forest, named for the Revolutionary War hero better known as the Swamp Fox, who used these 400,000 acres of wild forest to evade and outwit British