" What really begins in, in the late 17th century when the migration from Barbados to South China brought Edward Middleton here in 1678."

" Yes."

" His grandson was the first Middleton to come to Middleton Place in 1741, acquired this property by marriage to, into the Williams' Family and had acquired by then enough wealth to really want to lay out a, a, a grand headquarters for his series of plantations. By his death[unk] beyond some 20 plantations. The central family dwelling was built in 1735. The garden he began in 1741. So------"

" So the middle of the 18th century is really the, the heyday of the, of the property?"

" The ruins that we see today are all the result of not only obviously the, the civil war and Sherman [unk] coming through and burning down everything in site but also vindictiveness coz the Middleton's had been,. Not only signers of the declaration of independence but also the articles of secession."

" Exactly. The then Middleton, Williams-Middleton who lived here was a signer of the ordinance of secession. So perhaps there was some vindictiveness when the union troops arrived here in February of 1865. We have to think there was a certain amount of you know, let's get back at them that, that brought them here just a couple of month before the end of the civil war, this main house and actually the whole complex with the 3 parts of the house was out to the torch and burned and gutted."

" Yes."

" The building behind us was simply the least badly damaged and it survived well enough that when the family came back they re-roofed it, gave it rigidity and allowed it to survive the famous earthquake that came through Charleston 20 years after the civil war in, in '86. That earthquake just fell the 3 standing walls, the main family residence in the North [unk] but spared this [unk] that had been restored and re-roofed and strengthened."

" And the story of the, the 20th century members of the family is really closely linked to the, to the idea of preserving the land. We've got many acres of, of beautiful virgin land here that you've preserved."

" Well, the [unk] 26th journal that begins in, in 1925 when my grandparents moved out here and under unbelievable conditions. No electricity, no telephones, no water, no mail service and really began the process of restoring the garden which took 10 or 15 years to really uncover what had been 50 years, 60 years of neglect following the civil war."

" While you mentioned the formal gardens, let's walk in that direction so that we could get an idea of what's there today."

" Good."

" So these formal gardens that were created here are a couple of centuries old."

" 259 years old."

" Magnificent."

" 1741."

" And as you were saying a minute ago, it's been a big job to reclaim them after practically 60 years of abandonment?"

" Exactly, then neglect followed in the civil war."

" This is an octagonal garden that were looking at?"

" This is one of the many geometric forms within the overall geometric plan of the garden and it's an octagonal sunken garden."

" So it's a series of garden rooms."

" Exactly. Here is the octagonal garden then we'll be going to the circular rose garden and the, and the what, kinda pie-shaped pieces."

" Yes."

" Then there's the mount and then a long canal that was kinda the punctuation of the western end of the garden."

" Yes."

" An inner garden, secret gardens, places where, where amusements would've taken places, that crocket or tennis or bowling."

" And all of it filled with statuary brought in from Europe."

" And many, many pieces of sculpture that would've you know, been at a focal point. A long vista. Most of the sculptures were broken up, carted off during the civil war and the American revolution earlier or so."

" One is still remaining I understand."

" There's only one that was an original sculpture and then we've tried to restore classic Italian marble sculptures as, as confined on where they're appropriately placed."

" And I understand there's a note that's kind of the charter oak or the Middleton place oak?"

" Well the, when the garden was laid out, it did accommodate the natural surroundings that included large oak trees and the grand daddy of our oak's, we call the Middleton oak, that is somewhere between 900 & 1,000 years old."

" That is a magnificent tree. A thousand years old you say."

" It's a, it's approaching that and that it's a spot from which you can really appreciate the importance of, of preserving that riverscape. There's development right behind it and really, the biggest challenge our foundation faces is preserving the contrast of that natural environment to this man-made environment that really makes the garden [unk] and as important to the basic landscape design."

" It's a terrific goal for the foundation of preserving all this wild land."

" That's what were trying to do."

" One of the key things in the landscape though is the contrast, right?"

" Constant contrast and it really exemplifies the principles of [unk] when we see here, the wilderness by [unk] which we just let go wild------"

" Yes."

" in contrast to the octagonal sunken garden with it's geometric precision and it's not Yin and Yang that you see throughout the garden and really, this is a micro chasm [unk] of the Yin and Yang of the whole garden contrasted with the natural surroundings of the riverscape."

" The riverscape exactly. And Le Notre is the classical French landscape gardener from the 18th century. Now, these long alleys in the garden again are a feature of the design of Le Notre, right?"

" Absolutely. The long vistas with focal points at the end and you know, when you turn 90 degrees, the surprise that awaits you there or just simply a tunnel of, of [unk] material or a change in elevation. All of the vocabulary that notes 17th century work in France."

" And of course, the use of water------"

" This water------"

" So here you've got water that is most civilized used just as a mirror."

" And the 2 birds that Le Notre insisted on in the classic [unk] garden. The mute swan [unk] that we see here and then the peacock."