Magnolia Plantation and Gardens - oh, my!

I hadn't planned to write again so soon, but we saw the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens today and I couldn't help but share!  This old rice plantation has been the ancestral home of the Drayton family - without interruption - since 1676...think on that!  During the Civil War, the Union cavalry burned down the majority of the house; only the ground level remained.  So the family moved a house from another property (actually floated it down the river in sections!) and incorporated it onto the old homestead, and this is what it has looked like for the past 140+ years:

The family have been avid conservationists throughout the years, and the gardens are world famous.  [Apparently, this is one of the Top 25 Most Visited Historic Houses in America - perhaps you've seen it?!]  We toured the grounds for almost 2 hours and, needless to say, our cameras were very busy.

Natural beauty was all around us; and there was an easy, relaxed air about the place...it was all so southern!  And then we saw this glorious albino peacock

- well, glory be, it jes' looked to me like an angel had descended from the heavens, dahlin'!

Thank goodness we leave for North Carolina tomorrow; that 'suthun' accent could become permanent! 

Later, y'all  =]