The Garden Tourist’ Charleston & Savannah Tour
Featuring Historic Homes, Private Gardens, Middleton Place, Magnolia Plantation, Brookgreen Gardens and more!
Wednesday, March 20–Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Itinerary
Often described as “a city set in a garden”, Charleston has a rich gardening tradition dating back to Colonial times. Many of the homes and public buildings of Charleston date from the mid 1750s, when this colony was a booming, cosmopolitan port city with ships delivering staples and luxuries from Europe.
This tour was planned to visit Charleston during peak azalea and camelia bloom time, and enjoy early spring in this lovely city!
DAY 1: ARRIVAL We fly independtly into Charleston and check in to our hotel, the Courtyard Charleston Historic District. We then meet for a Welcome Dinner at 6:30 pm at Hyman’s Seafood to sample some of Charleston’s famous seafood dishes (included).
DAY 2: We begin the day with a narrated horse-drawn Carriage Tour of historic Charleston. From there we tour the 1808 Nathaniel Russell House, widely recognized as one of America’s most important neoclassical homes. The interior is adorned with elaborate plaster ornamentation and a stunning free-flying staircase. The mansion is set in a formal garden of Southern magnolias, live oaks, azaleas, and boxwood parterres accented with wrought iron and statuary. Lunch is on our own at one of the many restaurants in the vicinity of Charleston’s City Market. Established in the 1790s, this historic landmark is one of the oldest public markets in the U.S. There’s everything from handmade crafts, trinkets, and jewelry to the city’s most prized souvenir—the woven sweetgrass basket.
In the afternoon, we step beyond the garden gates and piazzas to visit private homes and gardens during Historic Charleston Foundation’s award winning tour. The 76th Annual Festival of Houses and Gardens showcases Charleston’s distinctive history, architecture, gardens and culture. Dinner is on our own.
DAY 3: In the morning we tour another Charleston landmark, the Heyward-Washington House. Built in 1772 for Thomas Heyward, Jr., signer of the Declaration of Independence, and later used by George Washington, the home was opened to the public in 1930 as Charleston’s first house museum. Here you will see a superb collection of colonial era Charleston-made furniture, and ornamental gardens with boxwood parterres in the style of the period. Lunch will be on our own at one of the many downtown restaurants featuring authentic Southern cooking.
In the afternoon we enjoy intimate glimpses into some of the most beautiful private homes and gardens during the annual House and Garden Tour hosted by the Garden Club of Charleston. Every year, a different Charleston neighborhood is selected for this special event. Dinner will be on your own.
DAY 4: This is our day to visit beautiful Savannah, the crown jewel of the Georgia coast. In this historic city, architecture, trendy boutiques, art, music, and haunted stories all create an experience unmatched anywhere else.
We will first enjoy a Guided Walking Tour of Savannah’s Historic District. The district is famous for its stunning period architecture, beautiful cobblestone streets, and 22 historic squares. Our tour will end at Forsyth Park with its iconic fountain, and we will enjoy lunch in the park’s own cafe, Collins Quarter at Forsyth.
After lunch we will take a tour of Savannah’s most notorious home, the Mercer Williams House. Thirty years since author John Berendt wrote about it in his New York Times Best Seller, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, thousands of visitors still trek to Savannah to gawk at the spot where Danny Hansford’s shooting occurred.
We will have time for shopping and dinner on our own before returning to Charleston for the night.
DAY 5: In the morning we depart for Brookgreen Gardens, a former plantation that is now a unique melding of art, nature, and history. One of the South Carolina’s most magnificent hidden treasures, the 9,100-acre Brookgreen Gardens is the oldest and largest sculpture garden in the United States. The property was purchased as a winter home for industrialist Archer Huntington and his wife, sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington in 1929. They opened it to the public as a wildlife sanctuary and sculpture garden with more than 2,000 pieces of figurative American sculpture by such artists as Frederic Remington and Daniel Chester French. Each sculpture is carefully set within garden rooms and outdoor galleries graced by elegant trees, colorful flowers, and peaceful ponds. The historic Live Oak Allée is comprised of trees that were planted in the early 1700s when the property was four thriving rice plantations. The gardens are lush with azaleas, camellias and annuals in early spring, and include a kitchen garden and a delightful children’s garden.
Our day at the garden will include lunch on our own at one of Brookgreen’s three cafes, and a guided Creek Excursion on a 48-ft. pontoon boat. As we cruise along, we will learn about the history of rice cultivation in the Lowcountry, and the plants and animals that call this area home including alligators, waterfowl, and birds of prey. We will stop for dinner in Murrell’s Inlet on our way back to Charleston (included).
DAY 6: We will spend our last full day touring Charleston’s most famous plantation gardens: Magnolia Plantation & Gardens and Middleton Place. Selected as one of “America’s Most Beautiful Gardens” by Travel & Leisure Magazine, Magnolia Plantation has been in the Drayton family for more than 300 years. In the early 1840s, Rev. John Grimké Drayton began to design an informal, “romantic style” garden to showcase his azalea and camellia collections. The garden was opened to the public shortly after the Civil War. Today, visitors can wander down the original paths, marveling at the magnificence that has inspired poets, painters, and authors for 180 years. We will enjoy a ride through the grounds on the Nature Train and then tour the many acres of gardens. Horticultural highlights include a Biblical Garden, a Camellia Garden and a conservatory.
Once a 7,000-acre rice plantation, Middleton Place is now the most famous garden in the Charleston area. The property was the family seat of four successive generations of Middletons who played important roles in American History as patriots, revolutionaries and politicians.
The gardens, which Henry Middleton envisioned and began to create in 1741, reflect the grand classic style that was in vogue in Europe at the time. Middleton followed the principles of André Le Nôtre, the designer of Versailles. His landscape incorporated rational order, geometry, and balance; vistas, focal points, and surprises.Working with an English gardener, Middleton created the feature that earned Middleton Place the title of “the most interesting and important garden in America.” It is a gravel carriageway leading through a greensward to six shaped turf terraces and a pair of hand-dug “Butterfly Lakes.” Later generations of Middletons added camellia walks, sunken gardens, and the dazzling azalea hillside.
We will enjoy a guided tour of the 65-acre gardens, lunch in Middleton’s restaurant, and experience 18th and 19th century plantation life with displays, artisans, and historic animal breeds in the Stableyards.
Our last dinner will be aboard the Spirit of Carolina. As we dine on a delicious multi-course plated dinner, the Spirit of Carolina will cruise through the beautiful Charleston Harbor at sunset, past Fort Sumter, along the Battery and beneath the Ravenel Bridge.
DAY 7: DEPARTURE From Charleston Airport.
Please Note: The first 3 days will be without a coach, so there will be a significant amount of walking.
Includes:
Small group tour with author Jana Milbocker and Friendship Tours
7 days, 6 nights at Courtyard Charleston Historic District
76th Annual Festival of Houses and Gardens Tour
CharlestonGardenClubHouseandGardenTour
6 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 3 dinners including dinner
cruise
Hotel and restaurant gratuities
Sightseeing, admissions and coach per itinerary
Limited to 30 travelers
Airfare and hotel transfers not included
$3,169 Double Occupancy $4,219 Single Occupancy based on 25 travelers
Final Payment Due: December 20, 2023
Jana Milbocker is a garden designer, speaker, and author of the Garden Tourist travel guides. She combines horticulture, design, and travel tips to educate, inspire and delight both new and seasoned gardeners.
Friendship Tours has been operating group tours for more than 40 years, including custom trips for the Connecticut Horticultural Society, Federated Garden Clubs of Conn., and Tower Hill Botanic Garden. FriendshipTours.net
Photos from the trip
