Rose Hill Plantation, Sumter Nat'l Forest, South Carolina

We left Magnolia RV Park Friday as they did not have space for us. There weekend was full before we even got there. And the next stop was not available until Sunday. So we stopped in Walmart's for a couple nights and stocked up on groceries. But since we could not check into Barnyard RV Park until 12:30 Sunday, we visited a Church of God that we had been invited to by a lady we met last week at the Jeep dealership. It was different for us, and she was so surprised to see us. We enjoyed both Sunday School and church. She and her husband invited us to eat with them and their friends, however we declined as we needed to get checked in at the campground and settled. We had parked our rig (all intact) in a little plaza lot across from the church. It is a very small building and very old. So they are in the process of putting the church up for sale and will look for property to build. Now they are praying for the Lord's leading. The eyes above are looking at you from the Magnolia campground office in this picture . We thought that Richie would like this. To help him with Halloween we had sent him a skeleton that we had made from plastic water jugs as a surprise. Don't know that we will do this often as it cost ten times more to send it than it did to make it! But it was fun and he knows that we think of him. The campground had a few Magnolia trees and a gold fish pond near our site. Actually they had too many other trees, though not too large. However, the roots were above ground all over and we did not have smooth walking on our site. Thank goodness we were not eating outside. But I do like relaxing outside in part shade and part sun! We have one small tree at this new location and plenty of sand! While at Magnolia we crossed the freeway and went into Sumter National Forest (which is a man made forest, by the way) and checked out a campground and visited the Rose Hill Plantation. It was a very interesting southern home and is in the beginning of a restoration process to get it's paint, trim and fabrics to match the time period and what was on it originally. It is a very slow process as they have to scrape away one layer at a time to see what was there. Construction was begun in 1829 by William Gist, a 21 year old grandson of an embattled Loyalist from the Revolutionary War. William was a devout defender of states' rights. His strong political convictions led him into a career in public service and he served South Carolina as governor from 1858 to 1860. He led SC into secession which encouraged other states to follow and form the Confederate States of America. He was a lawyer and planter as well as a legislator. The Rose Hill Mansion grew from a family homestead into a prosperous plantation under the labor of enslaved African-Americans. It was named for it's landscaped rose garden . The home was originally constructed in the brick Georgian colonial style. It's fanlights, carved doors and spiral staircase are interesting features. It underwent a remodeling in the early 1850's by adding double porches, colonnades, and tuck-pointed stucco changing it to the Greek classical revival style that it is today. It is an interesting study of the life style of planter families, cotton production, the lives of enslaved African-Americans and tenant farming. The kitchen was in a separate building behind the main structure (yes, this is the back) . To the left you can still see the smoke house used to preserve their meat and a building used to spin cotton and weave materials used in the household. The tenant farm homes have deteriorated and there is not much more than a trace to show that they even existed. The house itself has the main central hall with spiral staircase which goes to the third floor which was used primarily for storage and sometimes the children played there. On the first floor there was the main parlor and dining room. (My pictures of the interior were taken through the front windows as no picture taking was permitted inside.) All of the main rooms have fireplaces in them for heat . The back half was a bedroom and a sitting room used by guests to stay over because of the time it took to travel from place to place. This portion of the house could be closed off from the families rooms in front, but opened into the dining room for sharing dinner with the family. On the second floor one side was a large ball/entertaining room with a powder room off of it, and the other side was two bedrooms used by the family. Some of the families original furniture is still in there, probably because it would be too heavy to remove! The gardens around the house were primarily the roses and box woods with an herb garden in between the main house and the cook house. And there were two stately magnolias in the front yard . The tour guide, Charles, was very interesting and knowledgeable about the Gist family as well as the local folk lore and government history. This time period was sure his expertise and he tells of much that he learned from his own great grandmother who lived to be 114. What a wealth of information! I would gladly see more homes of this style. Very interesting!