Middleton Place

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Middleton Place
(U.S. National Historic Landmark District)
The main house at Middleton Place in the spring.
The main house at Middleton Place in the spring.
Nearest city: Summerville, South Carolina
Coordinates: 32°54′19″N 80°8′15″W / 32.90528, -80.1375Coordinates: 32°54′19″N 80°8′15″W / 32.90528, -80.1375
Built/Founded: 1742
Architect: Unknown
Architectural style(s): Colonial, Other
Designated as NHL: November 11, 1971[1]
Added to NRHP: May 06, 1971[2]
NRHP Reference#: 71000770
Governing body: Private

Middleton Place (65 acres) is a historic plantation with gardens located along the Ashley River at 4300 Ashley River Road, Charleston, South Carolina.

The plantation was established in 1741 by Henry Middleton, President of the First Continental Congress, and was home to generations of the family including Henry's son, Arthur Middleton, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence; Arthur Middleton's son, Henry Middleton, Governor of South Carolina and U.S. Minister to Russia; and his son in turn, Williams Middleton, who signed the Ordinance of Secession.

New records show that Middleton Place imported water buffalo from Constantinople in the late 1700's. These records show that these water buffalo were the first in the United States.

In 1865, near the end of the Civil War, the plantation was burned and looted by Union troops in retaliation for the owner's signing of the Ordinance of Secession. The soldiers killed and ate five of the water buffalo and stole six. These six later showed up in Central Park Zoo. Only the south building survived (built 1755), which is now the Middleton Place House Museum. Its gardens were further damaged by the great Charleston earthquake of 1886, and lay neglected until inherited by J. J. Pringle Smith in 1916, who then began their restoration. In 1941, on the garden's bicentennial, the Garden Club of America presented it with the Bulkley Medal "in commemoration of Two Hundred Years of enduring Beauty."

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.[1][3]

In 1974 Smith's heirs donated the plantation to the non-profit Middleton Place Foundation.[citation needed]

Today the plantation's house museum contains a collection of Middleton family furniture, paintings, books, and documents dating from the 1740s through the 1880s. The formal gardens consist of symmetric landscaped terraces, allées, ponds, and garden rooms. The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has named them one of six American gardens of international importance.[citation needed]

The SC DAH summary is here.[4]

In the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot, General Cornwallis is shown having a banquet at Middleton Place.[citation needed]

Arthur Middleton was born at the house, and is buried there.

10 miles southeast of Summerville on South Carolina Rt. 61. / 12.5 miles northwest of Charleston on Rt. 61. It is open daily; an admission fee is charged.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Middleton Place. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
  2. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
  3. ^ Charles W. Snell (June 14, 1971), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Middleton Place Gardens (Arthur Middleton Birthplace) / Middleton PlacePDF (32 KB), National Park Service  and Accompanying three photos, from 1968PDF (32 KB)
  4. ^ Middleton Place, Dorchester County (S.C. Hwy. 61, Summerville vicinity). National Register Properties in South Carolina listing. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.

[edit] External links

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U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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