Charleston Life: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

A couple of weeks ago, while Mike's sister and her boyfriend fiancée (they got engaged on Saturday!) were in town, we spent a day at Magnolia Plantation.  We got there early in the day and spent much of the morning walking along the Ashley River, through the oldest public gardens in America.  Also included in our admission were the horticultural maze and petting zoo; both were recommended by Ericka and were a lot of fun.  We chose not to do any of the add-on tours like the house tour or the nature train, but our half-day trip definitely could have been made into a full day one with just a couple of those as well as a lunch break at the Peacock Cafe.  Here are my favorite photos from the day:

If you want to go to Magnolia Plantation, I suggest you get there early.  We got there about an hour after it opened, and there were maybe 5 other cars there.  By the time we left at 11:30 or so, there were over 80 cars and the petting zoo (our last stop) was getting pretty crowded.  We also went on a weekday, so I can only imagine how busy it would be mid-day on a Saturday!  In my personal opinion, the day at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens far outweighed Boone Hall Plantation.  Both have beautiful homes on the property and many additional tours available, but the gardens and petting zoo both included in the general cost of admission were some of my favorite spots in Charleston so far.