Black History Month Celebrated at Middleton Place

Event Details

Celebrate Black History Month at Middleton Place with daily Beyond The Fields Walking
Tours and view Eliza’s House where an exhibit focusing on the daily lives of slaves and their work “beyond
the fields” is on display. Look for additional programming during the month.

This one-hour interpretive tour focuses on the African American slaves and freedmen that lived and worked at Middleton Place and their contributions to the Low Country culture. Trained interpreters discuss domestic life at Eliza’s House (a freedmen’s dwelling), rice cultivation at the Rice Mill and Demonstration Rice Field where Carolina Gold rice grows May through October, and religion and spirituality at the Plantation Chapel and Slave Cemetery. Interpreters also discuss the role of the slaves in creating and maintaining the landscaped Gardens and in providing domestic service for the Middleton family.

A permanent exhibit, Beyond the Fields: Slavery at Middleton Place is mounted in Eliza’s House and focuses on the daily lives of slaves and their work beyond the fields in the Middleton plantation system. The exhibit is richly illustrated with rare images, archeological artifacts and historical documents, and presents the Foundation’s latest research. Stories of individuals, recreated from family letters and documents, are told and over 2,600 names of Middleton slaves can be searched by visitors.

Middleton Place, a carefully preserved 18th century plantation and National Historic Landmark, encompasses America’s oldest landscaped Gardens. A tour of the House Museum highlights family collections and the impact of the Middleton family on American history. Costumed craft interpreters in the Living History Stableyards recreate the activities once performed by slaves on 18th and 19th century plantations. Garden Overview tours and Carriage Tours are offered daily.