The Guardian of a Dream

The enchanting gardens of Middleton Place were created in 1741, nearly 40 years before the Revolutionary War - the dream of Henry Middleton.

For more than 40 years, Sidney Frazier has nurtured historic camellias at Middleton Place. I met up with him along one of the brick paths as he was pruning a bush several feet taller than himself. “Camellias love the heat, humidity, and mild winters in South Carolina,” says Sidney. “They have to be pruned to let the air flow through the branches so they can breathe and grow.” Many of the more grandiose towered above him along the path, making a breathtakingly beautiful tunnel of pink and white blossoms, many of them very rare.

Sidney Frazier handed me a delicate blossom as tenderly as if I might be royalty. “This is the Queen of Flowers, a blossom from our oldest camellia, over 200 years old.”

Located in Charleston along the Ashley River, Middleton Place has survived the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and an earthquake to become a well-preserved museum and a National Historic Landmark. It was the family seat of four successive generations of Middletons who played important roles in American history.

This camellia path offers mottled sun and shade all year round.

On this frosty morning, I stood on hallowed ground - stunning beauty and history surrounded me. Yet there was a haunting remembrance of those who once cleared this land, toiled in the rice fields, and grew cotton and Indigo. The realities of plantation slavery were difficult to imagine at this moment - the lives, families, and contributions to this land spanned seven generations of slaves with more than 2,800 individuals owned by the family from 1738 to 1865.