South Carolina’s plantation sites are among the most historically significant — and most complicated — places in America. They are beautiful. They are also the sites of immense suffering. The best plantation tours today center the stories of the enslaved people who built these properties, not just the planter families who owned them. This guide covers which sites are open, what they offer, and what to expect.
Before You Go: What to Expect
Plantation tours in South Carolina vary widely in how they interpret history. Some focus almost entirely on the architecture and the planter family. Others — increasingly — center the stories of enslaved people, their resistance, their culture, and their descendants. We recommend sites that take the fuller view. If a tour doesn’t mention the people who were enslaved there, that’s information too.
Charleston Area
Middleton Place (est. 1741) — America’s oldest landscaped gardens, on the Ashley River. The Eliza’s House exhibit and the Stableyards interpret the lives of enslaved workers. Open year-round.
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens (est. 1676) — One of the oldest plantations in the South. The From Slavery to Freedom tour is the most comprehensive interpretation of enslaved life at a Charleston-area plantation. Open year-round.
Drayton Hall (est. 1738) — A National Trust Historic Site and one of the oldest surviving plantation houses in America. Drayton Hall’s interpretation focuses on the full history of the site, including the enslaved community. Open year-round.
McLeod Plantation Historic Site (est. 1851) — Run by Charleston County Parks, this is the site that prioritizes the stories of enslaved people. The guided tour walks through surviving slave cabins, the cotton gin house, and the main house, centering the voices of the people who were enslaved here.
Georgetown Area
Hopsewee Plantation (est. 1740) — Birthplace of Thomas Lynch Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The plantation house sits on the North Santee River. Open seasonally.
Hobcaw Barony (est. 1718) — A 16,000-acre property on Winyah Bay, once a massive rice plantation. Now a research preserve. Guided tours cover plantation history and ecology. Reservations required.
Brookgreen Gardens (est. 1930s, on former plantation land) — Sits on 9,100 acres that were once four rice plantations. Today a National Historic Landmark with sculpture gardens, nature trails, and a Lowcountry history trail.
Beaufort Area
Penn Center, St. Helena Island (est. 1862) — Not a plantation in the traditional sense, but the story begins there. Penn School was founded in 1862 as one of the first schools for freed African Americans in the South. The York W. Bailey Museum interprets Gullah Geechee culture and the Port Royal Experiment. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited multiple times.
Upstate
Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site (est. 1828) — Home of William Henry Gist, South Carolina’s ‘Secession Governor.’ Open seasonally.
Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site (est. 1859) — A 369-acre state historic site near Aiken. Interprets both the planter family and the enslaved community across multiple generations.
Hampton Plantation State Historic Site (est. 1750s) — A former rice plantation on the South Santee River. George Washington visited in 1791. Open year-round.
A Note on Privately Owned Plantations
Many of SC’s most historically significant plantations are privately owned and not open to the public — including Fenwick Hall, Mulberry Plantation, Harrietta Plantation, and dozens of rice plantations along the Waccamaw Neck, Santee Delta, and Combahee River. Some open their gates once a year during the Georgetown Plantation Tour, held each spring by Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church.