POPLAR GROVE PLANTATION 5/17/2011

 Continuing north on Hwy 17 we crossed the border into North Carolina.  We found both South Carolina and North Carolina to be green and full of trees and farms.  There are a few big cities, but most places are old quaint smaller towns.

 Take for instance Wilmington, North Carolina.  It is not much of a town, but as you enter town there is a very nicely maintained old plantation dating back to before the Civil War.  They had several thousand acres and they grew mostly peanuts.  They had 60+ slaves that lived and worked the plantation.

28 acres now remain and it is run by the state of North Carolina.  It is used for educational purposes now and for a fee, they will take you on a tour.  We decided to do this and it was well worth it.  This is the front of the mansion.  We are looking out at the main road and the railroad tracks where the peanuts were shipped all over the USA.

 The house was 3 stories and would have been a wonderful place to live if you were alive back in the 1800's.

 After the tour of the inside of the mansion, we sat on the cool back porch and enjoyed the breeze.  We are beginning to appreciate rocking chairs more and more.  Sitting on the porch in them of the last few mansions we toured has become a favorite activity.

 After that we toured the grounds of about 2 acres that was set up as it was back then around the main house.  This is the smaoke hose where they smoked their meat so it would last longer.

 This is one of the slave cabins.  Compared to some we have seen recently, these were luxurious!!  The family that owned this plantation were Union sympathizers during the Civil War and actually freed all his slaves in 1861.  But only on wanted to leave.  The rest stayed on and share cropped with the owners.

 Here is a photo of some of the families a generation or two later, still working on the plantation, growing peanuts.

 They had a weaving shop on the plantation and this lady has been the master weaver here for the last 28 years.  She was very informative!

 They keep a few animals on the place to exemplify what they had back in the old days.

 Here is a cat that reminded us of our cat, Niko.

 This is the back of the big house as it looks out on the fields and farm.

 We really enjoyed our couple hour visit here.  We left and drove on north a little bit and then realizing we hadn't eaten lunch, stopped at Taco Bell for a late lunch/early dinner.  Later in the evening, we arrived in Washington, NC where we stayed the night at Camp WalMart.