Wednesday Garden Stroll and Wine Tasting at Middleton Place--A Collaboration of Nature's Bounty

Schedule for 2022

With the Ashley River lazily meandering in the distance, a peaceful easy feeling came over me as I sat on a wooden bench leisurely sipping on a plastic cup of red wine. I was in the company of one of the oldest oak trees in the Charleston Lowcountry. Greyed from age and bearing the scars of a sometimes tumultuous past, the Great Oak's long, broad branches majestically overshadowed the calming waters of the Rice Fields where fish launched themselves into the air like mortar shells and alligators prowled the surface like the H. L. Hunley in search of an unwary prey.

Clinging to the tree's weather-beaten bark, a cardinal curiously watched my every move. We weren't alone. With the Octagonal Garden to the right and the Sundial Garden behind, the soft, intimate chatter and light laughter of fellow strollers navigating the garden's preened pathways filled the warm evening air. The occasion is Wednesday Garden Stroll and Wine Tasting at Middleton Place.

The Wednesday Garden Stroll and Wine Tasting was started as a way for visitors to experience the beauty of Middleton Place in the early evening light and a more relaxed atmosphere--no tour guides needed. It is just you, the gardens, and a world renowned vino. The Wine Strolls are an invitation to drink in the incomparable natural beauty of the plantations 274 year old gardens--the oldest landscaped gardens in America. Each week, samples of specially selected wines from around the world are uncorked by the Middleton Place Restaurant for you to savor. A different wine region and beautiful garden location in bloom is chosen for the stroll.

Enjoy the following story of a previous wine stroll.

This week's selected location was the southern magnolia-lined walkway along the spring-fed Reflection Pond. The four white-cloth covered tables were evenly spread out under the tall trees the full distance of the pond and strategically located at pathway entrances for easy access into the sprawling gardens. On each table were two bottles of wine--one red and one white. Each setting was accompanied by a basket of crackers for cleansing the palette between tastings.

The wine region selected was South America. At Table One, Tomero Torrontes 2013 from Mendoza, Argentina was the white offering and Malma Malbec 2012 from Patagonia, Argentina was the red. At Table Two, the white offering was Cautivo Chardonnay 2014 from Mendoza and the red was Errazuric Max Reserva Carmenere from the Villa de Aconcagua, Chile 2011. Moving to Table Three, Arido Moscato 2013 from Mendoza was the white and Colonia Las Liebres Bonarda Clasico 2013 from Mendoza was the red. Table Four topped off the selections with a Sangria Blanco and a Sangria Roja.

The correct pronunciations I leave to you to figure out--some Spanish required. The Cautivo Chardonnay was my white wine favorite and the Bonarda Clasico was the red I sipped under the Great Oak. After a few glasses of the South American vino and a dash of imagination, I found myself rubbing shoulders and clinking glasses with Henry and Mary as a guest of their garden party. Blame my whimsical tryst to the past on the wine.

If you want to get that peaceful easy feeling, Middleton's Wednesday Garden Stroll and Wine Tasting is where you want to be. It is a perfect blend of fine wine and floral gardens accented with the aroma of magnolias and oaks interlaced with a tremendous concentration of gentle sunlight. This event is elegant and well-balanced. Extend the evening with an overnight stay at the Inn at Middleton Place and/or dinner at the Middleton Place Restaurant .

Now, create your own story with a visit to Middleton Place on one of the scheduled dates.

Tickets are $30 online and $35 at event.

Time: 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Three Presidents Who Visited Summerville and Their Stories

Forty-six presidents have governed the United States. Only one was born in South Carolina and that was Andrew Jackson, although North Carolina disputes the claim. It seems Jackson was born on the border of the two states in the Waxsaw region, an area just south of Charlotte. Jackson himself claimed to be a native of South Carolina. Of the 46, three found their way to Summerville.

In December of 1901, Charleston opened the South Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition to promote the industry and resources of the state. President Theodore Roosevelt accepted proprietor FW Wagener's invitation to attend the Expo's "President's Day" celebration in April 1902. April 9, the president viewed Charleston's historic sites from the harbor aboard the USS Algonquin and visited the exhibits. At Lowndes Grove Plantation, he was treated to a special Charleston lunch which included tea grown at Summerville's Pinehurst Tea Farm. After his day in Charleston, the president was escorted by train to Summerville, where he stayed at another one of FW Wagener's enterprises, the Pine Forest Inn. Roosevelt toured the Pinehurst Tea Farm. He was also an avid outdoorsman. Perhaps, he joined one of the fox hunts on Ingleside.

Rutledge House

William Howard Taft and his wife were guests of Mayor R. Goodwyn Rhett at his home, the John Rutledge House, in January of 1909. As legend has it, Rhett's butler was asked to "dress up" the pale crab soup they usually served. The butler, William Deas, added lump crab meat and orange-colored crab eggs to give color and improve the flavor. It became the famous Charleston delicacy known as She Crab Soup. Some contend that Taft enjoyed it so much he had the soup added to the White House's menu. On this occasion, Mrs. Nellie Taft, with diplomatic grace, summed up her assessment of Southerners fondly referring to them as being "strange" for their irritating ritual of "always taking a half hour to get ready for everything." Once again, Wagener hosted a dinner at Summerville's Pine Forest Inn for the president.

The third president to visit Summerville is a story less told, if at all. Unlike Roosevelt and Taft, he did not come to be a dinner guest at the Pine Forest Inn, by this time shuffled into the dust of history. He did come on a date indelibly branded into the psyche of Lowcountry residents equal to that of the War Between the States and The Great Earthquake of 1886 centered near Middleton Place.

President Bush and Berlin G. Meyers

The time was September of 1989, and George H. W. Bush was the president. Catastrophic Hurricane Hugo was the event. On this occasion, Bush landed at Doty Park in Summerville to personally meet with Mayor Berlin G. Meyers. Together they surveyed the destruction from a helicopter. On ground, Bush rode about 15 miles in a motorcade through the heavily damaged forests. The report was the president patted the mayor on his shoulder and said, "Why am I here? I'm here to give a little encouragement to a courageous man."

Who will be the next president to visit the Flowertown in the Pines? Maybe, it will be one who may have a hankering for a refreshing glass of sweet tea in the Birthplace of Sweet Tea, or a need for a fantastic cup of in-house roasted coffee at the local community hot spot, Coastal Coffee Roasters, or any one of the many amenities that make Summerville a desirable place to visit and hang out. Only time will tell.

More Summerville stories

Azaleas, Sweet Tea, and the Biggest Festival in the Southeast

Summerville is at present shimmering in a sea of magnificent multitudinous masses of magenta. It is the annual azalea bloom putting on its best dress for the upcoming Flowertown Festival hosted in Summerville's Azalea Park. The flowers are the official doorkeepers of spring greeting all to the celebration of warmer days. Drive anywhere on the streets in the town's historic district between Central Ave. and S. Main and you will be convinced Summerville is rightfully crowned the "Flower Town in the Pines".

Rightfully the "Flower Town in the Pines" because Summerville is also famous for its pine trees, but unfortunately, the pollen bloom that rains down from its branches, when the weather warms, is not enthusiastically embraced with happy celebration like the azaleas. With that being said, pine trees and azaleas are a perfect collaboration because azaleas grow well in its shadows.

The varieties of azaleas are as bounteous as its blooms thanks to hybridizing, or crossbreeding. They are native to North America, so it is likely they greeted our arriving ancestors in some form. All North American species are deciduous, meaning they drop their leaves. The evergreen varieties come from Japan where they can be hundreds of years old. The plants and blooms are mildly toxic, but I can personally dispute this assumption as not likely to be a deterrent to consumption. When I lived in northeastern Ohio years ago, I planted extensive rock gardens and plant mounds on my property. I attempted to incorporate azaleas into my scheme, but was unsuccessful. It seemed the branches were a favorite delicacy of deer, who ate the plants down to a stub before having a chance to pop a bud.

The azaleas that helped make Summerville famous are most likely the non-native variety. These originated in China and Japan, and made their way to the U.S. via England, France, and Germany. According to azalea historian Fred Galle in the United States, Azalea Indica (specifically speaking about the group of plants called Southern Indicas) got its name because when it was discovered, Asia was known as the East Indies. The first hybrids were planted in Charleston, South Carolina.

John Grimke Drayton imported the Azalea Indica from Philadelphia--where they were grown only in greenhouses by a nurseryman who also had a branch nursery in Charleston--and introduced them into the estate gardens of his rice plantation on the Ashley River. Marie Clinton Hastie wrote about the beginnings of her grandfather's garden, "it was somewhere in the mid 1840s that the Azalea Indica was introduced to Magnolia." His garden was the first in America to plant azaleas outdoors.

Thanks to the generosity of George Segelken, a pioneer in azalea propagation, Summerville became the place to see these uncommon plants in all their abundant glory in 1935. People came from all over to view the lush beauty of the town's Azalea Park. Segelken named the salmon pink colored azalea "Pride of Summerville." The park is the predominant venue of the Flowertown Festival.

The Flowertown Festival ranks as one of the largest festivals in the Southeast with an origin that goes back to 1972. The three-day festival also carries the well-deserved distinction as one of the Top 20 events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society. One of the main features of this family-oriented festival centers on the promotion of arts and crafts. More than 200 craft artisans and vendors are given the opportunity to showcase their creative wares throughout Azalea Park. The Taste is another feature that offers festivalgoers a chance to sample appetizers, main courses, and desserts from local restaurants. For the young ones, there will be a Children's Jubilee/Kid's Fest, for the adults, a Saturday farmer's market. Admission is free and parking is free. The Robert Pratt Band will be sending musical vibes through the town's historic district.

The current festival was predated by a previous one in 1941, when Summerville celebrated the first Azalea Festival—a four-day event that included dances, concerts, a parade, and a formal ball. The festival promoted local business and celebrated the town's community pride, a pride as old as the trees. Summerville's rich history dates all the way back to the late 1600s. In those early days, coastal residents sought refuge from the heat and mosquitoes among the cooler pines of Summerville. One of the trees redeeming features was the turpentine scent it emitted, and even doctors considered it a cure for a variety of respiratory ailments. Many came all the way from Europe for the pine air and its believed benefits, but it was not just for the air, they also came for the southern charm and beauty.

Spring is a great time to experience Summerville's southern beauty, charm, and community pride. It is the season to celebrate the Flowertown Festival in The Birthplace of Sweet Tea beginning on April 1st, and this is no April fools. Speaking of sweet tea, allegedly, in 2003 as an April Fool’s joke, the Georgia House introduced a bill making it a "...misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature" to sell iced tea in a restaurant that did not also offer sweet iced tea on the menu. The bill never went to a vote. You can not accuse the Georgia House of lacking in humor. South Carolina adopted sweet tea as the state's Official Hospitality Beverage in 1995.

Of course, you cannot have sweet tea without a tealeaf, and Summerville owns the bragging rights for a particular variety. With French explorer and botanist Andre Michaux's planting of Oolong tea on the Middleton Barony in 1795, South Carolina was the only colony in America producing tea plants at that time. Later, Dr. Charles Shepard founded the Pinehurst Tea Plantation in Summerville in 1888, where he made tea growing a profitable reality. While Oolong tea could be your choice in making sweet tea, any kind can be used, though black tea is always a classic.

Well, that is Summerville—azaleas, sweet tea, and the biggest festival in the Southeast. While visiting for the Flowertown Festival, grab a glass of the best sweet tea at Sweetwater One Twenty Three. When you see me walking around town, be sure to say, "Hey." I am always interested in making new acquaintances.

Summerville's Tour Guides and Tours Through the Years

Visitors were greeted by this overhead arch for over three decades in the early 1900s, welcoming them to Summerville. The brick archway meant "coming home" to travelers, as well as residents. Flanking both ends of the town's name was the phrase, "Flower Town in the Pines." When leaving, the last thing they saw was the town's motto, "Let the Pine be Sacred."

Since the early 1900s, tourists flocked to the town in early spring to enjoy millions of spring blossoms, particularly azaleas, in private and public gardens, including the mid-town Azalea Park. Thus, Summerville acquired the earned designation, "The Flower Town in the Pines."

The azalea spring bloom is just beginning. It is a prelude to the biggest festival in South Carolina, the Flowertown Festival. This year it is scheduled to take place April 1 – 3. Have you ever wondered how the name "Flower Town in the Pines" came to be?

In 1925, Virginia Lowndes Bailey entered a slogan contest sponsored by the town's Chamber of Commerce. She won the $5 prize. Her entry was "Flower Town in the Pines." The brick archway spanning Main Street near the Highway 78 intersection spotlighted her winning slogan for all to see. Virginia's son wanted her contribution remembered. She was known as "the horsewoman." So, the family donated a horse weathervane to the town, and the town council approved a commemorative plaque. The brick archway with her winning slogan is gone, but the weathervane remains and resides on top of the present Town Hall building.

In the 1930s, tour guides would stand by the brick archway holding signs in their hands, entertaining the hope arriving tourists would acquire their services. The Town Hall was another gathering place for the young guides. All local boys, upon being chosen, they would jump onto an arriving car's running board and direct the driver past the town's beautiful residential gardens and key landmarks. Berlin G. Meyers was one of those young boys. He was paid a meager five dollars for his services, but as he fondly recalled, "A real fortune for a young boy in those days." The brick archway crumbled into history, leaving fond memories of a bygone age.

In 2011, Summerville experienced a revival of its glory days when it embraced its identity as "The Birthplace of Sweet Tea." Mayor Bill Collins formed a tour task force in 2013 and tours in Summerville took on a new look in the shape of green and red colored transportation vehicles. They were seen traveling the streets around the downtown area and beyond on Fridays and Saturdays. In 2013 and 2014, sweet tea and tours put the town in the Lowcountry spotlight. As a beneficial result, the "Sweet Tea Trail" was formed, and the "Sweet Tea Festival" was established. A 15-foot mason jar named "Mason" stands in the downtown district, a testimony to the town's rights to the trademark.

The "Good Eats on the Sweet Tea Trail" was one of those tours. Immediately upon arrival to the Visitor Center doors, Tina Zimmerman, Summerville's tourism coordinator, graciously welcomed you. An offering of sweet tea was available nearby. Once everyone had arrived, the group assembled in a room lined with images of Summerville's past. Tina began the tour with an inspirational video introducing everyone to a short summation starting with the town's inception and concluding with Bill Collins, Summerville's mayor, wishing all a fun time. Storyteller Tim Lowry, as guest narrator, entertained the group after they boarded the trolleys. Summerville DREAM's Janyce Shoemake Hursey often accompanied the guests as the trolleys transported them to various local food entrepreneurs.

"Sweet Tea Trolley Tour of Historic Summerville and Linwood Gardens" was a 90 minute guided tour for $20 where you would see the preserved downtown and then travel through the back roads of the town to see its historic homes. Like "The Good Eats Tour," it started in the Visitor Center with a history film from 1939. Local historian Barbara Lynch Hill would give a guided tour on the trolley with a stop at the historic Linwood Gardens, named one of the 10 Best Bed and Breakfast Gardens in the World. In case of rain Linwood owner will board the trolley and give oral tour. A second tour concentrated on history, was more extensive and included the sites of the Tea Farm and The Pine Forest Inn.

Summerville DREAM planned on offering tour guide training for the "Sweet Tea Trolley Tours." Tim Lowery and Barbara Lynch Hill were assigned to conduct the sessions. The workshop was to be held at the DREAM office at First Citizens Bank. Unfortunately, the trolleys would eventually leave town.

Time rolled on for the town, and plans were brewing in the downtown area. On March 1, 2019, Summerville inaugurated the newly completed Hutchinson Square Project with a ribbon-cutting and celebratory party. Town representatives and residents packed the refreshed historic downtown area. The crowning touch to the restoration featured a pavilion with a roofline patterned after the old railroad station that once upon a time stood close by and a gateway reminiscent of earlier days in the town's honored history, a replica of the old brick archway. A proclamation went out declaring Summerville to be "AT THE HEART of it ALL."

The Visitor Center established the following tours to offer visitors and residents an opportunity to immerse themselves into everything Summerville today.

The Sweet Tea Trail: Created for visitors to fully experience Summerville as "The Birthplace of Sweet Tea," Participants will embark on the trail to explore the shops, sites, sips, and tastes that make life in Summerville so sweet. Trail Guides are available at the Summerville Visitor Center, at participating stops, or you can go to the Visit Summerville web page. Collect Stamps with the purchase and redeem Official Birthplace of Sweet Tea gifts and merchandise.

The Walking Tour of Homes and Flowers: A leisure one-hour stroll past 20 historic homes with a sign and QR code with information about each home. It begins at the Cuthbert Community Center in Azalea Park on West 5th South Street. Old homes framed by majestic oaks whisper their stories, and towering church steeples built a century ago recall the town's foundation. In Historic Summerville, no two houses are alike, and an afternoon spent with a cold glass of tea and a sense of adventure can reward you with a myriad of beautiful architectural visuals.

The Summerville Porch Stroll on the Sweet Tea Trail: The first porch stroll was inaugurated on June 12, 2021. This neighborhood and community event offers eight different porches where attendees can sit and sip iced tea on some of its most beautiful southern porches. With expected Summerville southern hospitality, each of the eight hosts offers unique delectables and experiences, including strolling historic gardens, farm animal snuggles, live music, and artwork by local artists available for purchase. The next one will be June 11, 2022. Proceeds benefit the Timrod Library.

Summerville is benefiting from a unique heritage that has been brewing since the early 1800s. The possibilities have become "sky's the limit." So, put out the southern welcome mat of hospitality and complimentary cup of sweet tea.

Is It True or Is It Not--The Phantom Flight Over Summerville

Former Sheep Island Road.

Most everyone loves a good mystery, and Summerville has its share of the unexplained. That is what drew hundreds if not thousands of young people to Sheep Island Road. The Summerville Light is by far the most revered of the area's eerie sagas whose nuances are deeply engrained into the persona of the town's Generation Xers and Millennials. Other well-known paranormal hotspots include the ruins of Colonial Fort Dorchester, the bell tower of St. George's Church, Guerin's Pharmacy, the E Doty Avenue house, the Quackenbush-List home, the Price House Cottage Bed and Breakfast, and Montreaux's Bar and Grill. However, there is one that ascends above all of these. The most controversial of the towns inexplicable takes you to the edge of the fifth dimension, the middle ground between light and shadow.

If the story is true, somewhere in the marked area of the included map is buried the structural remains of a World War II B-24 Liberator Bomber. It is a proposed location based on descriptions found in a beguiling narrative recorded in the book, Haunted Summerville, South Carolina. The author, Bruce Orr, recounts the event as told by two main eyewitnesses, Betty Jo Waring, a spotter on duty in the Town Hall bell tower, and Bobby Anderson, a student in a local school. Other eyewitnesses include fellow students, school faculty, and a crowd of townspeople. The details are as follows:

"Betty Jo watched it come in from the east. She saw parachutes begin to open in the sky one by one. Ten in all opened as the plane began to make circles...and as it flew over, she recognized the large bomber. It was one of ours. The plane was a B-24 Liberator Bomber...The plane began to level out. In his classroom, Bobby Anderson was staring out the window...It barely cleared the store across the street before clipping the treetops...it sputtered along the trees and disappeared...Bobby and his classmates jumped to their feet, raced across the classroom and out the door. They gathered on the football field with the other students and watched the little white parachutes drifting in the April sky...The young boys raced around the teachers and down the path...The boys reached the smoking wreckage and began scavenging souvenirs from the crash site before the authorities arrived...The townspeople lined the road on foot, on horseback, in wagons, and in cars as they hurried to the burning plane...Eventually, the town authorities showed up and extinguished the flames. The military showed up and retrieved what it wanted. Then the bulldozers showed up and buried the rest."

The incident occurred on April 4, 1945.

As you glean the story's passages, you notice the usage of landmark identifiers, such as Town Hall, treetops, a store, a school, and a football field. Also, there would need to be a unpopulated space on the edge of town large enough to accommodate a crashing bomber. A bomber armed with eleven .50 caliber machine guns, carrying a payload of eight sixteen-hundred-pound bombs, weighing in at about fifty-five thousand pounds, and possessing a wingspan of 110 feet. The section of town containing all those characteristics likely puts the crash scene along South Main Street and east just beyond Sawmill Branch.

South Main Street and the school.

The football field.

The store.

Mysteriously, a comprehensive search revealed no Charleston newspapers reported the crash, and that includes newspapers everywhere. The Air Force Historical Studies Office, which maintains records, historical data, and archives, officially maintains the ditching of a B-24 Liberator Bomber never occurred on that date in Summerville, SC. Secrecy was a key element during World War II, and censorship did not want that information to be broadcasted. The war ended September 2, 1945--put it in the X-Files along with Area 51 and the Devil's Triangle. It seems more than just a bomber was buried on that fateful day.

There are a few unexplainable chinks in the telling. According to the story, no one was in the aircraft at impact. All occupants safely exited via parachutes, which included the pilot. I find that difficult to accept. It would mean the pilot, at a safe elevation for deploying a parachute, abandoned his aircraft over a civilian population to crash where ever it may. Any responsible pilot would not have permitted that to happen.

No one knows what the plane was doing and why it ended up flying over Summerville. Speculation was it had been patrolling the coast searching for Nazi U-Boat submarines, but that would have been an assignment for a fighter more so than a bomber. Also, why didn't the pilot ditch the failing aircraft into the ocean, unless he lost total command of the primary flight controls and couldn't do so, but that hypothesis can be quickly dismissed since the pilot was still capable of circling the town.

Despite the notable chinks in the story, the named eyewitnesses Betty Jo Waring and Bobby Anderson cannot be ignored, not to discount a whole school of students and school faculty. Consulting the crew and pilot would be futile, they would be obliged to take an oath of confidentiality. One thing is for sure, the bell in the town hall bell tower would have rung out, thus alerting the firefighters and townspeople of the catastrophe. It served as a fire alarm for the town, indicating by a predetermined sequence of rings what part of town was on fire to direct the volunteer firefighters to the correct location.

Many years have passed since April 4, 1945. Still, there is possibly somebody out there who knows the truth. The question: Who are you, and are you willing to come forward and shed some light on this Summerville mystery?

Otherwise, mystery sleuths, get out your magnetometers and ground-penetrating radar equipped drones, there is a deeply hidden secret needing to be unveiled. This could be a venture requiring the expertise of Josh Gates and Expedition Unknown. Without a doubt, "The Phantom Flight Over Summerville" would make a good Twilight Zone episode.

Middleton Place's Rice Mill--Once a Tea Room Managed by a Summerville Matron and the Digs for a Famous Southern Chef

Halcyon Place was the name of a Southern Style house on South Main Street owned by Mr. and Mrs. George S. Weed at this pivotal time in Summerville's history. It would become the Halcyon Inn during the town's Golden Age.

The inn was not known for accommodating famous guests like the Pine Forest and Carolina Inns, at least I am not aware of any. Framed by the property's groves of magnolias and oaks, its sprawling two-story white-columned porch was a welcoming reminder of space and calmness for its seasonal patrons. A strategically placed joggling board offered an amusing session of relaxing contemplation. If the moment was right and the sojourner willing, the inn's host would retell the endearing story of the fateful circumstances that brought the wooden apparatus to the house.

Mrs. Caroline Parameter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Weed, was well known for her delicious entrees. Mrs. Parameter also showcased her culinary expertise at the springtime Tea Room on Middleton Place for the Junior League of Charleston during the late 1920s. The Tea Room was the first of the Junior League's fundraising enterprises.

Middleton's rice mill, situated next to the butterfly lakes and the rice mill pond, underwent weighty alterations during its transformation into the "tea room." The revamped two-story building, topped with a mansard roof, offered a tranquil setting for sipping locally grown Southern tea and sharing meaningful Lowcountry conversation. In its second-floor kitchen, League volunteers prepared okra soup and made sandwiches that they served to guests seated at tables overlooking the Ashley River. The first-floor eating area, adorned by a fireplace and andirons, was outfitted with a dumbwaiter the staff used to transfer food from the kitchen.

The Tea Room remained in the Rice Mill until 1949 when it was moved to a new location and became the Middleton Place Restaurant. It was converted to a museum in 1956, featuring a spinning wheel and "Brown Bess" over the fireplace.

The Restaurant building was designed by W. Bancel LaFarge in 1933, based on research done in Barbados, and has the same roof lines as the Rice Mill. Originally used as a guest house, it had two bedrooms and a sitting room upstairs. The cypress-paneled room downstairs was a living and game room surrounded by a screened porch. The Cypress Room, now used as a private dining room, was originally a series of storerooms leading to the plantation office.

In 1985, the owners of Middleton Place persuaded Edna Lewis, one of the country's ten most influential women in the food industry and one of the founders of Cafe Nicholson on Manhattan's East Side, to join them with a goal to inspire a menu based on historical records of early Carolina plantation cooking. She took up residence in the Rice Mill and became their head chef and consultant.

Many ideas for Edna's menu came from a book called "The Carolina Housewife" published in 1847 by Sara Rutledge, a cousin of the Middletons. Although the recipes in the book are incomplete by today's standards, Lewis drew the essentials from them and developed dishes that the well-to-do Middletons might have eaten. Dishes like panned quail with julienne of country ham and spoon bread, rabbit pate, broiled oysters on the half shell with buttered crumbs, pan-fried flounder, watercress soup, grits, shrimp paste, whole strawberry preserves, chocolate souffle, and caramel layer cake.

There are two choices for seating at the restaurant, the dining room or the garden. The view from the dining room is stunning. Lined with large windows, it overlooks the old rice mill pond and picturesque Azalea Hillside. If available, the garden seating offers an intimate, quiet space with a view of the spacious field in front of the South Flanker.

Enclosed by a three-foot brick wall and draped overhead by Spanish moss, a variety of potted plants accented the space--a perfect setting for sipping on an afternoon sweet tea, or if you are feeling a little more fruity, a glass of wine.

Despite the varied menu, I kept it simple and chose the special of the day, a roast turkey sandwich topped with green fried tomatoes and field greens picked from their on-site garden partnered with a side of French fries--sublime.

The casual lunch was sufficient. I was at Middleton Place for its historic surroundings and the garden atmosphere offered by its restaurant. With the warm Charleston sun shining overhead, the setting was perfect for basking in the aura of an antique building and savoring a delicious meal under the shadowy canopy of an ancient oak tree.

In the distance, basking in the soft rays of the Lowcountry sun on the other side of Rice Mill Pond, stood the old brick building that was a rice mill, a tea room managed by a Summerville matron, a museum, and the digs for a famous Southern chef. The halcyon scene was picture-perfect.

Immerse Yourself into an Unforgettable California Spectacle--Pacific Grove's Famous Winter Residents

Each winter, east of the Rockies, millions of Monarch Butterflies migrate to the fir forests of Mexico's Central Highlands in the Sierra Madre mountains in the states of Mexico and Michoacán, west of Mexico City, the place where they winter from October to late March. West of the Rockies, they will migrate to the eucalyptus trees in California's Pacific Grove near the Point Pinos Lighthouse. I have seen it. It is an awe-inspiring sight.

Looking up from the ground below the tree's outstretched branches, you view what you think are its leaves, but you notice something out of the ordinary. As you zoom in with the telescopic lens of your camera, an extraordinary spectacle comes into focus. You are treated to a vision of a restless sea of orange and black clinging to the canopy of leaved branches. The brilliantly colored Monarch Butterfly is among the most easily recognizable butterfly species that call North America home.

The Monarch Butterfly is a work of art. The wingspan of a full-grown adult can reach nearly five inches. If one of these soft denizens of the air landed on your hand, you would barely notice it. They are as light as a feather. Yet, they can navigate winds that would challenge your steady balance. These beautiful and delicate creatures are a marvel of technological miracles and achieve a feat no human can do without the assistance of instrumentation to guide them. They often go unnoticed by us humans until they begin their monumental migration, a time when you will see hundreds of them flying through your neighborhoods.

With no training, no map, and using a brain about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, the Eastern Monarch Butterfly makes the epoch journey from Canada to the small patch of forest in Mexico. How does this astounding insect find its way? It utilizes a built-in solar compass.

Up to four generations will make the journey north from spring to summer. Each generation will travel several hundred miles, lay eggs, and die, typically living from 2 to 6 weeks. While consecutive short-lived generations make the journey north, the season's last generation will complete the entire trip back to its place of origin in Mexico all on its own.

How does the last generation know it is time to leave? Its biological clock tells it the time has come. It stops laying eggs, builds muscle, and stores fat. As a result of this process, it grows larger, flies ten times as far, and lives eight times as long as the previous generations, up to 8 to 9 months longer. It is a butterfly super-generation.

Next, its solar compass heading flips from north to south, and it begins its way back to a place it had never been to or seen. After a two-month journey and up to 3000 miles, millions of them arrive at the exact location where their spring relatives wintered and began the seasonal odyssey north.

The Monarch Butterfly and its migration did not slowly evolve over time, it was ingeniously designed. It is the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration similar to birds, aside from the Painted Lady Butterfly. Unlike other butterflies, which can overwinter as larvae, pupae, or even as adults in some species, Monarchs cannot survive the cold winters of northern climates. Therefore, it has no predecessor and no equal.

Summing up, there is no truer defining statement about this ingeniously designed creature than these words, "But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this?" (Job 12:7-9 NKJV) The very first Monarch Butterfly ever to exist was imprinted with its vital genetic code by God at its creation.

I encourage you to take a trip some opportune day to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in California and stand under the tall trees of Pacific Grove. There you will see a spectacle seen nowhere in the world, other than in the Sierra Madres of Mexico's Central Highlands. You will be immersed in an unforgettable vision of a restless sea of orange and black clinging to the leaved branches of the eucalyptus tree, the winter home and origin of the majestic Monarch Butterfly.

Monarch Grove Sanctuary is at 1073 Lighthouse Avenue. With the entrance located just off Lighthouse Avenue, the city park is open from sunrise to sundown and is free for all visitors. The best time to see the monarchs is noon to 3:00 p.m. when the sun is shining brightest on their trees and when a docent is always on duty.