On July 4 American History Will Be Told Through Magnolia’s Eyes

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Ten storytellers positioned around Magnolia Plantation and Gardens on July 4 will recount American and Lowcountry history through the eyes of the nation’s oldest gardens.

Free admission will be offered to military families that day as Magnolia begins the first in a series of events this year to highlight how this garden has grown as the nation has matured, Tom Johnson, Magnolia’s director of gardens says. “Magnolia has seen this nation through its birth, wars, Civil Rights movement up until today.”

In addition to the history lessons, visitors will be treated to free popcorn, snow cones and watermelons. Gates open at 8 a.m.

The storytellers and the stories they will tell are:

·        Caitlin Armstrong, the Revolutionary War. Armstrong has worked at the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon Museum and volunteered at Charles Towne Landing.

·        Will and Michelle Pendergraph, Rev. John Grimke’ Drayton and Julia Drayton. Will Pendergraphs is a local tour guide and Michelle Pendergraph is a local actress.

·        Rick Bennett, Carolina Gold rice. Bennett conducts nature train tours at Magnolia.

·        James Parks, the Civil War. Parks has presented Civil War history to schools and civic organizations throughout the country.

·        Michael Coker, Percival and Thomas Fenwick Drayton. Coker is the author of “Charleston Curiosities” and “The Battle of Port Royal.” The latter book includes the story of the Drayton brothers who faced each other at that battle.

·        Miles Beach, Captain Martin and the camellias. Beach is president of the Great Gardens of America Preservation Alliance and Secretary of the American Camellia Society.

·        Donna Quinn, the Charleston earthquake of 1886 and the Charleston Renaissance of the 1920s. Quinn is a Magnolia volunteer and history buff.

·        Isaac Leach, the Civil Rights Movement. Leach is the head gardener at Magnolia, where he grew up in one of the cabins that is part of the Slavery to Freedom cabin tour.

          Other presenters include: Kitty Wilson-Evans, the African-American experience at Magnolia and other plantations; Rick Owens, brickmaking; and the Philip Simmons Artist-Blacksmith Guild of South Carolina.