Original subtitles

(whistling wind)

(majestic music)

(bright music)

- [Narrator] Our journey begins at Mepkin Abbey

on the Cooper River, before heading east

to the historic Hampton Plantation,

and then on to the coast, where we follow marshland

and inlets before flying over the enormous

Francis Marion National Forest.

To the south is a large natural harbor and Fort Sumter,

a key stronghold during the American Civil War.

And overlooking the bay is one of the most beautiful cities

in South Carolina, Charleston.

Inland we discover the picturesque gardens

at Middleton Place before turning south to Kiawah Island

and its famous golf courses.

On Parris Island the U.S. Marines

have their training camp for new recruits.

And our journey ends on the sandy beaches

of Hilton Head Island.

In the 18th century the Cooper River was once home

to several estates, and one of the most important

was the Mepkin Plantation.

In 1936 it was bought by the Luce family who,

13 years later, donated a large part of the property

to the monks of Gethsemane Abbey in Kentucky

to found a new monastery here at Mepkin.

The monks belong to the order of Cistercians

of the Strict Observance, more commonly known as Trappists.

They follow the rules laid down by Saint Benedict

in the sixth century.

Each monk takes three main vows described in his rule book,

stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience.

Saint Benedict also insisted on silence

as it's important in their life of prayer.

However, contrary to popular belief,

the monks do not actually take a vow of silence

but merely speak when necessary.

To the east is the Santee delta region.

And tucked away amongst oaks and magnolia trees

is the Hampton Plantation House,

which was declared a national historic landmark in 1970.

What we see today has evolved from settlers dwelling

into South Carolina's finest example

of a large, Georgian house which over the course

of the 18th century was gradually enlarged.

The enormous portico is one of the earliest examples

to be used in domestic architecture in America.

The wealth created to build this handsome house

was founded on rice production and,

of course, the age of slavery.

Both have long since gone.

The rice fields have returned to nature

and the last remaining slave cabin is an important

and poignant reminder of a very different lifestyle

for those sold into slavery.

(bright music)

Much of South Carolina's coast is made up of marshland

and inlets and a haven for bird life.

It is also home to a vast water channel system

that runs in sections from Boston

all the way down to Florida.

It's known as the Intracoastal Waterway.

It was planned in the late 18th century

under the new American government

and largely constructed over the next century.

It was noted that the map of the United States will show

that they possess a tidewater inland navigation secure

from storms and enemies.

Apart from the constructed sections

along this 3,000 mile waterway,

the route also consists of natural inlets,

salt water rivers, and bays.

Once completed, it allowed quite sizable ships

to deliver goods along the coast

without the many hazards of the open sea.

Today it's also used by private yachts

of all shapes and sizes.

And along the route are waterside homes,

complete with long piers reaching out

across the marshland, allowing boats to operate

during all states of the tide.

(bright music)

Many of the houses are certainly in the luxury bracket,

and they sit on the edge of Francis Marion National Forest,

which is just over a thousand square kilometers in size.

In 1989 this enormous area was almost entirely destroyed

by a hurricane, leaving only the young growth

and a few old trees.

It was named after Francis Marion,

an American general in the War of Independence.

He became one of the founders of modern guerrilla warfare

and a father of the future U.S. Army Rangers.

He was given the nickname Swamp Fox

by the British officers sent to kill him,

along with his band of Marion's men

after he successfully evaded British troops

by finding paths through the swamps

and setting up hidden camps so he could strike out

with his small army and kill the British.

Today this young forest is a vast recreation area

offering hiking trails, horseback riding,

boating, camping, and mountain biking,

all a far cry from the horrors of war

during the American Revolution.

To the south of the forest is one of only eight

surviving houses that can be directly associated

with the 40 men who signed the new

United States Constitution in 1787

following the War of Independence.

This farm house belonged to Charles Pinckney,

the son of a wealthy planter and lawyer

and is known as Snee Farm.

This was his favorite country estate out

of the eight others he owned in South Carolina.

After independence he served four terms as governor

of the state and also became a U.S. senator.

Like all other plantations in the 18th century

and early 19th centuries it relied on slave labor.

And when slavery was abolished, many of the workers

became tenants or sharecroppers,

and the plantation was still working well

into the 20th century.

In 1973 the house was listed in the National Register

of Historic Places.

Close by Charles Pinckney's house is Boone Hall,

a much grander affair.

It may look as though it has stood for centuries,

but it was actually built in the 1930s,

replacing an earlier wooden mansion.

Even though the house may be new,

the plantation is one of the oldest

still working after 320 years.

In the past the main crop was cotton,

and after it had been baled, it was taken

to the boat dock where it could be shipped downriver

on barges and loaded on to larger ships.

Today the estate grows a variety of vegetables,

including tomatoes, sweet corn, pumpkins and watermelons.

And there are nine surviving slave cabins in

what was known as Slave Street.

They were occupied by new African American tenants

until the 1940s.

Boone Hall Estate also boasts a number of events each year.

(lively music)

This is the Carolina Open Classic Car Show,

which searches for the best kept vehicle in several classes,

with cars from the 1900s to the present day.

(lively music)

Back on the coast and over the Intracoastal Waterway

is Sullivan's Island and the Charleston Lighthouse.

Built in 1960 to guard the northern entrance

to Charleston Bay, it was the last manned lighthouse

to be constructed.

When it was first lit it had one of the most powerful lamps

in the world, but was actually too dazzling

and had to be turned down.

Yet it could still be seen from 26 miles away.

At the end of Sullivan's Island is Fort Moultrie,

which has seen over 200 years of service.

Even before it was finished it sore off a British fleet

in a nine hour battle in 1776.

The fort was named after its successful commander,

William Moultrie.

During the Civil War it held off attacks by Union forces,

and as a result was virtually destroyed.

It was rebuilt and updated but never actually

saw action again and was finally decommissioned in 1947.

Following the War of 1812 with Britain,

the American government built a series of forts

to protect its East Coast harbors.

Fort Sumter was begun in 1829.

It was still unfinished in 1860,

and only partially armed when South Carolina seceded

from the Union and the Civil War broke out.

Major Robert Anderson, who was the commander

of the fort, refused to evacuate it,

and he and his men remained loyal to the Union.

The new Confederate Navy then attacked the fort from ships

in the first battle of the Civil War in 1861.

It lasted for 36 hours before Major Anderson was forced

to surrender as he lacked ammunition and artillery.

Miraculously, nobody was killed on either side.

However, a few years later, the Union forces

bombarded the fort and it suffered a great deal of damage.

Most of the outer walls were rebuilt in the 1870s

and the fort served as a lighthouse until 1897

when a massive central concrete battery was constructed

as a response to the Spanish American War.

It was still operational during World War I

and World War II, and in 1948 the army left

and Fort Sumter was listed as a national monument

and opened to visitors.

Across the harbor and opposite Charleston

is Patriots Point, home to the USS Yorktown,

an Essex class aircraft carrier built during World War II.

She was commissioned in 1943 and is the fourth ship

in the U.S. Navy to be called Yorktown,

which was the name of the final battle

in the War of Independence.

The ship saw service during the Vietnam War,

where she earned five battle stars.

And at the end of her career she was the recovery ship

for the Apollo 8 space mission in 1968.

In 1975 she was brought here to Patriots Point

to become a floating museum and is now a registered

national historic landmark.

Overlooking the Maritime Museum is the new

Cooper River Bridge, which was opened in 2005.

One of the great problems of building a large bridge

in this part of the world is that its survival is

under threat from three hazards, severe weather,

the earth's movement, and manmade disasters.

The weather problem comes from hurricanes,

and so the bridge has been designed to withstand gusts

of up to 300 miles an hour.

In 1886 an earthquake nearly flattened Charleston,

and so the bridge has been built to withstand a quake

of 7.4 on the Richter Scale.

And before a ship could collide with the main towers,

the design ensures it would career onto the rock islands

and run aground.

Jutting out into the bay between the Cooper

and Ashley Rivers is Charleston,

one of the South's most beautiful cities.

In its historic heart, 18th and 19th century buildings

line the city's grid layout.

It is also known as the Holy City due

to the number of church spires rising

above the low rise buildings.

This is because Charleston was one of the few places

in the original 13 states to allow some religious tolerance,

including Jews, but it did not extend to Catholics.

However, the city had a dark aside,

and in this building slaves were sold.

They stood on three foot high auction tables

so that buyers could inspect the goods during the auction.

With the end of slavery, the building was turned

into a museum of African American history.

But slaves brought wealth, and fine buildings

like the Customs House and the City's Exchange,

and the city's wealth shows in the number

of beautiful houses, including one famous street

called the Rainbow Row.

These mid-18th century houses were in a bad state of repair

by the 1930s, until they were bought and restored,

marking the start of a concerted effort

to preserve the heritage of the city,

which has some of the finest historic houses

in America's South, attracting thousands

of visitors each year.

As a result, Charleston has now been given the title

of the most polite and hospitable city in America.

During the American Revolution as well as the Civil War

many historic plantation houses were destroyed,

but on the Ashley River, there is one

that survives intact, Drayton Hall.

The house was built for John Drayton in the 1740s

in a style borrowed from the 16th century

Renaissance Italian architect Andrea Palladio.

It has been described as one of the finest

of all surviving plantation houses in America.

The wealth needed to build a house like this was created

on indigo and rice production.

And, as we have seen in other houses, the backs of slaves.

Most of the outbuildings have been lost,

and in the late 19th century an earthquake

destroyed the laundry houses

and a hurricane blew away the kitchen block.

In 1974 the Drayton family decided

that the ever-increasing cost of maintaining the house

was too much and decided to sell it,

along with some of the grounds to the National Trust

for Historic Preservation.

After restoration, it was opened to the public.

But in 1989 Hurricane Hugo struck

and blew down over 70% of the trees,

destroying much of the garden.

Surprisingly, the only damage to the house

was 58 small broken window panes,

three roof panels, and two chimney caps.

(majestic music)

Much of the grounds have been returned to nature,

and where the rice fields once were,

it is now a swamp and a haven for wildlife.

These geese and their young make interesting patterns

in the green duckweed.

(majestic music)

A few miles upriver is Middleton Place,

but unlike Drayton Hall, the house was burnt down

during the Civil War.

However, what survives is the magnificent garden,

which has been described as the most important

and most interesting one in America.

(majestic music)

In 1774 Henry Middleton designed a grand garden

in a formal French style based on the garden

at the Palace at Versailles created by Andre Le Notre.

He wished for rational order, symmetry,

fisters, focal points, and a few surprises,

with fountains and statues.

Unlike much of the area, which is flat,

Middleton Place stands about 12 meters above the river,

which enabled the great curving step terraces to be built.

It's been said that it took a hundred slaves a decade

to complete the structural work

to the terraces, lakes and walks.

Sadly, much of this was ruined

in the Civil War when the house

and most of the other buildings were destroyed.

The garden then lay neglected until the 1920s

when a descendant of the Middleton family

began a 15 year restoration program,

which included a more contemporary garden design set

within the 18th century structure.

Back on the coast and across the Intracoastal Waterway

is Kiawah Island, which is almost entirely

given over to golf.

There are five world class clubs,

including the Ocean Course, designed in 1991,

and one of the toughest on the East Coast of America.

(inspirational music)

To the south is the Osprey Point Course,

set on very scenic marsh and wetlands.

It winds through a residential community,

and it's quite possible to play here

and come across alligators getting in your way.

(majestic music)

Further along the coast is the Turtle Point Course,

which was designed by Jack Nicklaus.

It is considered difficult to play,

with its narrow fairways and small greens,

and so is much favored by better golfers.

And, like other Kiawah courses,

Turtle Point continues to hold PGA Championships,

as well as international events.

The River Course was opened in 1995

on the site of the earliest English settlement

back in the 17th century.

The clubhouse is considered one of the finest in America,

and the course is in the top 100 residential golf clubs

in the country and sits alongside the Kiawah River.

The final golf club on Kiawah Island is Cougar Point,

originally designed by Gary Player in 1976.

It lies on the narrowest point of the island,

with views of both the river and the sea.

It was redesigned in the 1980s

to incorporate expensive houses around the course.

However, Gary Player was called back in 1996

to make further improvements.

(majestic music)

When we're not playing golf,

Kiawah Islands offers its thousands of visitors each year

some of the finest unspoiled beaches in South Carolina.

(majestic music)

This is the Charleston Tea Plantation,

and it's the only one in the United States

to grow ordinary black tea.

In the 1700s the tea plant was brought to America

and several attempts were made to grow it commercially,

and they all failed.

It was not until 1888 that it was grown successfully

by Charles Shepard in South Carolina,

but then abandoned after his death in 1915.

In 1963 the well-known Lipton Tea Company

moved the surviving plants here to an experimental farm

on Wadmalaw Island, where the subtropical climate

proved to be ideal.

In 1987, under new owners,

the experiment was turned into a business,

and the Charleston Tea Plantation was formed.

They created a blend called the American Classic Tea,

which has been the official tea of the White House

since the company started.

Back on the coast, in what is known as the low country,

is the small city of Beaufort,

the second oldest city in South Carolina after Charleston.

It was founded by the British in 1711,

and subject to numerous attacks from American Indians

and threats of a Spanish invasion.

Later the city was the center for ship building,

and in the 19th century a large number

of grand houses were built.

After a hurricane in 1893 and a fire in 1907,

Beaufort went into decline.

But in the latter half of the 20th century

the outlook improved with the arrival of tourists

and the growing presence of the military.

Because close by is Parris Island,

and home to the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

It was officially opened in 1915,

and in 1949 began operating a separate command

to train female Marines.

Each year 17,000 recruits pass through this training center,

which includes a 13 week process

where the recruit becomes cut off from the civilian world

and has to adapt to a Marine Corps lifestyle.

The tough training includes handling weapons,

marshal arts, physical fitness,

combat effectiveness, and Marine Corps history.

Many hours are spent on the parade ground

learning the discipline of drill.

(rhythmic drum beat)

The Marine Corps' mission is to make Marines

who are committed to the Corps values

and the service to the country.

(rhythmic drum beat)

And their vision includes upholding the legacy

and operational relevance of the Corps

by taking qualified young men and women

and transforming them mentally, physically

and morally into U.S. Marines.

(rhythmic drum beat)

(inspirational music)

Our final location is Hilton Head Island,

close to the state border with Georgia to the south

and surrounded by glorious beaches.

(inspirational music)

Much of the island is owned and run

by a private company called Sea Pines,

and the center is Harbour Town Marina,

dominated by the lighthouse, which was completed in 1970,

becoming the first privately funded lighthouse

since the early 1800s.

Apart from an active light on the top for private yachts,

there is also a shop.

Hilton Head, with its nine kilometers of white sand,

is a subtropical paradise

and South Carolina's finest beach resort.

A beautiful place to end this journey.

(majestic music)