No Juice Contamination, Please!

This past weekend Noel and I went to Boone Hall Plantation, outside of Mt. Pleasant, SC (north of Charleston). It was an interesting trip - the avenue of live oaks and the house itself was made famous in North & South (love you, Patrick Swayze!), but one odd fact is that the big house that's there now was actually only built in 1936, to look like an old plantation house should look. Funny! The house that was there before, was a small 2-story white clapboard house - what you think of a farmhouse looking like nowadays.

Noel among the Live Oaks:

The garden had these neat brick walkways. I bet the azaleas will be blooming soon there - the ones in the yard here are already blooming.

Oh look! Thing In Sky! This is one half of the iron entrance gates. Lovely!

Here is the unauthentic plantation house. Looks like a proper plantation home, doesn't it? I think it's a little weird that it's lopsided though. It grates against my natural sense of symmetry. Weird that they'd put 2 windows on one side and 3 on the other.

Here's a good dose of reality to all the loveliness. Boone Hall was a working plantation starting in the 1600s (growing indigo, cotton, pecans, and peaches), and at one point had 225 slaves on the property. Here are some slave cabins. 11-16 people would stay in each, at the most crowded points in time.

More iron work. Pretty, huh?

The wall that went around the house and gardens was really cool - it undulated! Who knew brick could look so fluid?

So! Exciting other stuff too. On Saturday, Noel and I went to an outdoor/camping store, where he bought me a present:

Yay! Now my food won't touch!! Oh happy day. Sorry Rachel, you're going to have to figure out a new Christmas present for me. :) I am so dorky but happy with these (there are 2 of them). We ate off them once already and they worked perfectly. The barbecue sauce was safely ensconced away from the pasta salad, and ne'er the twain shall meet. Good stuff. I could maybe even eat juicy food again! OOh! Creamed corn! Or baked beans AND cole slaw in the same meal!!! Or anything doused in gravy!!!! The possibilities are endless.