James Island County Park, Charleston, South Carolina – Part 2
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
Blaine took these on his quick walk-about this morning.
We visited ancient history today, beginning with a 1,500-year-old tree. Or maybe it’s 1,400 . . . or 400 . . . or . . . well, it seems no one knows, but either the 400 is a misprint, or someone has no idea how to accurately guess-ti-mate the age of a Live Oak. The Angel Oak, named after the former plantation owners Justus and Martha Angel, has a much larger girth than the 800-year-old one we saw last year at Magnolia Plantation.
It’s said to be the oldest living thing in the United States east of the Mississippi (which would make it a lot older than 400). It’s reportedly 65’ tall with a limb spread of 151 feet, providing 17,000 square feet of shade. It’s largest limb has a 10-foot circumference. I don’t know when these measurements were last taken, so it could be even larger now! It was quite a sight to see!
According to information I found on-line, it’s earliest known date of existence is 1717, when Jacob Waight was issued a grant of 12,000 acres, which included the tree, to start a Quaker Society. It passed through several hands, including the Angel’s, until eventually the City of Charleston purchased the property in 1991.
Just ignore the 1,500 year old tree in the background . . .
Don’t cha love the new jacket?
Some of the branches are in or under the ground!
Hard to say where these go. They’re not roots, they’re branches!
Yep, you have to lean way back to see the top!
Someone at some point have taken measures to help this old girl out. She’s got props and guy-wires all over.
Here’s a knothole.
Here’s a knothole with perspective!
Some branches have been removed. When? Who knows.
Here’s the professional picture I found on-line
This is the picture Blaine took.
Pretty good, huh?!?
We walked around, totally awestruck for about 20 minutes, before heading out to our next destination for the day, the Charleston Tea Plantation.
I discovered their existence last year, but it was a pretty good distance from where we were staying, so we waited a year, knowing we’d be closer this time. I think Blaine wasn’t too sure about this place, since he cares not for tea, in any form, and can barely tolerate it even with a cup of sugar added to his glass.
But it was very interesting! And they provide all the tea you can drink for free! Of course, Blaine didn’t get his money’s worth, but at least he tasted a couple. 😊
These are Japanese Maples
We’ve decided when we eventually return to a sticks and bricks home, we’d like to have these!
Obviously he doesn’t remember that when you kiss a frog, you get a prince – – not a princess.
It is believed that tea drinking began about 3,200 years ago in China.
Next, is the information from The Charleston Tea Plantation website:
The Charleston Tea Plantation is located on historic Wadmalaw Island in the heart of the Lowcountry of South Carolina. We’re just a few miles south of the historic city of Charleston. The history of the Island dates back to mid-June of 1666 when it is believed that Captain Robert Sanford and the crew of the Berkeley Bay landed on the shores of what is now known as Rockville, South Carolina. On June 23, 1666, he and his crew claimed the land for England and the Lords Proprietors. Today, Wadmalaw is considered to be one of Charleston’s most unspoiled islands. It is approximately 10 miles long and 6 miles wide. The Island’s only connection to the mainland is a bridge that crosses over Church Creek.
Home to The Charleston Tea Plantation, Wadmalaw provides the perfect environment for propagating tea. With its sandy soils, sub-tropical climate and average rainfall of 52 inches per year, Wadmalaw possesses idyllic conditions for the Camellia Sinensis tea plant. This plant is currently used to produce both black and green teas and exists in over 320 varieties on the 127-acre grounds of the Charleston Tea Plantation.
This is the home of Charleston Tea Plantation teas – nine very special flavors of tea, including our original American Classic Tea. This is the only brand of tea in the world that is made exclusively with 100% tea grown in America. The Plantation sits right off Maybank Highway. Driving down Maybank is like taking a step back in time. Wadmalaw has not and cannot be commercially developed, therefore much of the land remains untouched. The Island is also home to other unique and historic attractions such as Deep Water Vineyard, the only domestic winery in Charleston, South Carolina as well as the Angel Oak, a Live Oak tree that is believed to be over 1,500 years old.
The Charleston Tea Plantation was purchased by family-owned Bigelow Tea Company in 2003, when it became the dream of Eunice and David Bigelow and local partner Bill Hall to combine talents and share their love of tea as a vibrant piece of Americana for all to enjoy. Today, the beautiful 127-acre Charleston Tea Plantation has become the standard bearer for the long and illustrious American tea story.
This is David and Eunice Bigelow and Bill Hall
They have a free factory tour, which amounts to a viewing of a large room with some equipment in it (believe it or not, that’s all they need!) and several videos that you watch as you walk the hallway. I’m guessing that when they’re actually harvesting tea, you would see the equipment functioning, which would have made it a bit more interesting.
I was trying to take pictures from the video that was playing.
It wasn’t easy.
This is their special harvester.
This is the harvester mowing the tops of the plants.
And the leaves running through the automated machine
And getting chopped to bits.
Another option here is to take the trolley tour around the plantation. This is when we learned quite a few interesting facts. Some of which we won’t remember . . .
There are only four types of tea – black, oolong, green and white. But they all come from the exact same plant. There is only one tea plant. The types come from the amount of drying time the dried leaves are exposed to. Black – 50 minutes, Oolong – 15 minutes, Green – 0 minutes. White – they don’t deal with white. It’s not popular because there’s no taste and no nutritional benefit. It’s made from the young leaves before they open up into full leaf. The flavors are added from other things. Herbal tea is not tea. It has no actual tea leaves. It’s made from other stuff.
They harvest every 2-3 weeks during the five month season. They have a unique, specially designed machine they drive up and down the rows of plants that cuts off the new growth only, which stimulates the plant to grow more leaves in just a matter of those 2-3 weeks. Then they drive the rows again.
The processing part is completely automated, and simple. Dump in the leaves, chop them up, dry them out (or not), run them under a static electricity roller to lift out stems, and put them in a hopper. That’s it! Probably. We don’t remember for sure, but if there’s more, it’s certainly not much more.
Mr. Hall went to school in England to learn about tea. It was an intensive 4-year course, in which he tasted 800-1,000 teas. We were told that he can taste any tea and tell you exactly what it is and where it was grown.
The plants bloom after harvesting season, which seems backwards to me. And as pretty and plentiful as the flowers are, they don’t have a scent, although it seems the bees enjoy the flowers.
They have recently added a small greenhouse, with the intention of growing the plants (from cuttings not seeds) for two years before planting so they have a heartier start, thereby having a better chance of surviving. They’ve had a rough couple of years with the two hurricanes and too many rainy days. Although the greenhouse seems small, there are 5,000 plants in there!
80% of the leaf is water, so it takes 5# of leaves to make 1# of tea.
Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, second only to water. And you’ll probably never guess which country consumes the most per capita! Not China, not England, it’s Ireland! Note the per capita stipulation. If you’re talking strictly numbers, it’s China because so many people live there.
There are 127 acres of tea to harvest here. In other countries where workers are paid $4/week to hand-pick, they would need 300 people. Of course, we can’t afford to pay 300 workers, so with the aid of that special machine they created, they are able to employ only 4! I think when they’re not actually harvesting, they maintain the plants, so they do actually work full-time, year ‘round.
Our tour guide also works as a guide in Downtown Charleston. He was very good. Of course, after what we learned tomorrow, I’m not so sure I can trust him . . . . but he really seemed to know what he was talking about.
That’s just part of what we learned today. I’m sure more will come to mind as soon as this post is published. 😊
That’s the real thing!
This is our tour guide, but we can’t remember his name. : (
We think he told us there are 26,000 plants in this particular field.
The greenhouse
They’re blooming
Cute!
This is outside the store.
We never saw Boadey . . .
Someone must have ignored the sign and taken him home . . .
After dinner, we walked from our campsite (instead of driving) to look at the lights again. They’re still pretty!
I know this isn’t a great picture, but to see it in person certainly was.
Those are trees and leaping deer over there, and the deer all leap at different times!
Very cool!
When we got close, I took a picture of one.
If you look close, you can see the wire set-up for the other positions.
This one’s not about the lights, it’s the end of the sunset.