" We're visiting Middleburg Plantation with Maki Hill, the son of the current owners."

" Architecturally, the thing that's most important about this house is the fact that these are original porches. They were here when the house was built."

" Uh huh."

" And so that makes them the oldest known in this country."

" Oh, is that right?"

" It is."

" Now, is the porch a feature that comes out of English architecture or----"

" It's more Caribbean. You would've seen that in Barbados where the families all came with staging area for the Carolinas."

" Okay."

" This is actually not a royal colony. It was a [unk] colony."

" Yeah. So that the house does have some sort of feeling of the plantation house. I'm looking at the asymmetry of it though. The chimney is not on center. Why is that?"

" Right. That's because the original portion of the house where the 2 rooms down and the 2 rooms up on this end originally had 2 end chimneys. On this side of the chimney is the modern edition from about 1717----"

" So to the left of the chimney is an addition from when?"

" 1717----"

" Oh, pretty early."

" Modern piece."

" The glass in these windows up here, the green tint. What explains that?"

" Those are original panes, the oldest, earliest 18th century glass in Charleston before as 1720 had that bluish-green tint."

" Beautiful. So this would be the original main room in the house."

" Yes. Originally, the ground floor has 2 rooms; the big one and the little one. This is the larger of the 2 rooms."

" And that would---- the little one would be over here, the withdrawing room?"

" Yes."

" Is this an original floor?"

" These are original floors. Very rare. This is before they'd invented tongue and groove, before some 1697."

" So they're just butt jointed."

" It's butt jointed and nailed right through the face. He went to England right after a fire at Hampton Court Palace and toured the palace, and the floors looked exactly like this, and apparently, George I floors, at the time this house had these, George I ballroom floors are exactly the same thing, Carolina heart pine."

" Right. So this was a precious wood."

" Yes."

" I mean it was an exotic and very hard and very good wood. This doesn't look right though, the asymmetry that you've got here, the windows and the panels below them."

" True."

" Is it original?"

" It is original."

" Well, this was put in about the 1820s. The family had made a lot of money at that point. They knew what high style was. They had a townhouse in London. Out here however, this was their rustic ancestral home. Apparently, it was a little too rustic so they made themselves consciously rustic."

" I've never seen it."

" This is putting everything on purpose."

" Yeah. They've kind of put everything together so that it looks like it was done like an amateur, but you mean it was done on purpose."

" Exactly. And in the center of the panel nonetheless."

" And the windows kind of fall right in the middle where the panels are here."

" Exactly."

" Well, can we see the little room?"

" Yes."

" So how is this room used?-We use this room as a dining room as it would have been used originally in the 18th century. You can see the dining tables are pushed to the side of the wall when you're not actually eating."

" So if you're having a dinner party you move everything into the middle."

" Yes."

" Boy, that's a beautiful built-in corner cupboard."

" This is original to the house. This dates from about 1740. They're only 2 others like it left. They used to be very common."

" I can see the marks of the plane on the boards."

" Exactly."

" Do you suppose the shelving is original?"

" It is original with the original grooves holding the plates upright, and it's the original china as well."

" You're kidding."

" No, it was given to us shortly after we got the house. It was presented to us to be put back in the corner. It's flow blue era from between the 1820s and 1850s."

" From England?"

" From England."

" Beautiful. So this is a room that evolved probably from a multipurpose room in the late 1600s to a family room in the 18th century----"

" Right."

" or 19th century."

" Right. This is a large family and all rooms probably were multipurpose, but if you were gonna dine, this is the room in which you'd do it."

" Then, they added on a third room."

" Yes, they did."

" Can we----"

" Would you like to see it?"

" Sure. Now you said all the rooms were multipurpose rooms, right?"

" Yes. They were originally. Remember, they had a very, very large family; the first several generation at over a dozen children."

" Wow."

" The first generation that built this had 14."

" Wow."

" They needed to expand the house a little bit. And this later became a more specialized room. This became the state room with a guest bedroom."

" Okay. But on a day-to-day business when you didn't have fancy guess, you had the dormitory in here."

" Basically."

" Yeah."

" Basically, they had over 15 beds in the house in the 1772 inventory in 6 rooms, 53 chairs on the front porch alone."

" This is kind of fancy, isn't it?"

" It is. This is. They---- although---- You remember how plain they were in the other room, in this room, they wanted to show off a little bit more so they've got this old-fashioned looking. Remember, in the 1820's, this mantel was 40 years out of date."

" This was old-fashioned, right."

" Exactly. Not quite right for a 1780's mantel. But they were showing off with the latest thing. [unk] and marble around the mantel was the highest style and about the most expensive fireplace treatment you could buy."

" Americans quarried marbles from Pennsylvania."

" Correct."

" Yeah."

" Yes."

" Very nice."

" Right."

" I've never seen a paint finish like this or is it wallpaper?"

" This is paint. This is a distressed wall finish. 2 walls are original. The other 2 have been recreated and restored, and basically, this is very popular about the same time. Remember, they were restoring and recovering underground rooms in room and they were fascinated by decay and ancient walls."

" The beginning of archeology, right."

" Exactly."

" So they were trying to reproduce some of that look on these walls. What this is is a very dark salmon-based coat covered with over 30 or up to 30 glazed coats for lightened effect. There are some wild colors under. There are neon, blues, and greens, and international oranges that you can't tell. It's muted by the washes, but it gives you some idea of the depth that those colors still shine through."

" They had a couple of VIPs that came here, didn't they?"

" They did. This was done either finished in time for President Monroe's in 1819. They served huge dinner for him out here in 1819. In 1825, they also had the Marquess of Lafayette."