On the streets of Charleston, South Carolina, visitors see the grand homes once owned by the merchants, traders, and wealthy plantation owners.
What you don’t, or can’t, see is the hidden back where life was much different. One reason is the buildings may have been ruined by time, land sold off for needed cash after the Civil War, or many buildings are now private residences.
However this old home still has the land and buildings. They are old and not restored, which to me is better than being renovated to what someone thinks they might have looked like.
The enslaved and servant quarters were here. Also stables, laundry, kitchen, and carriage houses are hidden from street view.
The following were taken inside the building displayed above.
Click any image to view details.
….I appreciate these as a window into the past–one not appropriated by restorers, as you so aptly point out, TPJ
a kindred spirit 🙂
Gorgeous shots here Ted. Thanks for this virtual visit.
Thanks. Funny you said ‘virtual tour’. Local school systems teach the histroy of Charleston and it’s old buildings. They visit many, except this year of course. Instead they did ‘virtual tours’. I had shot the photographs for the schools.
That is super cool!
This is quite remarkable – I agree with you completely that it’s better to see them like this than to have them “renovated”. How fascinating it is to envision what it was like when these back buildings were filled with people and bustling with the activities of their daily lives! Does the public in general have access to enter and walk through these buildings?
At times, yes. There are many old manor houses both restored and preserved. Drayton Hall Plantation, outside Charleston, was not touched by the Union Army and remains as it was at thee time.
Trick is photographing them. Not all will allow anything buy guided tours. When we first came here I met some historians, authors, etc. and have been lucky to be included in trips with them. One being the old Charleston Jail. Open access trips to shoot.