Winter’s chill does not hinder the lavish colors of Charleston gardens, and beginning in February, famed Middleton Place Plantation offers a dazzling display and description of famous blooms in its “Camellia Walks.” Walks with members of the plantation’s garden staff will be featured every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 11am beginning February 11th, for no additional fee to the regular admission price to Middleton Place. The Camellia Japonica, with its florid shades of white, pink and red, is believed to have been first introduced here in America at Middleton Place by the famed French botanist, Andre Michaux. The colors of the plantation’s beautifully landscaped gardens are spectacular, and with the expertise of garden experts, can be especially enjoyed. For more information go online at www.middletonplace.org.

One of the lowcountry’s most compelling and historic parks is the Old Santee Canal Park in Moncks Corner. This 195-acre area along the Cooper River is marked by high bluffs, ancient oaks and an abundance of wildlife that enjoyes its pristine wetland surroundings. Visitors can hike more than three miles of boardwalk through ponds and forests and along the river to see an assortment of ospreys, herons, egrets, alligators and songbirds. The park includes some waterway from the original Santee Canal that was opened in 1800 to connect the midlands with the sea, and among the featured exhibits at the interpretive center is a full-scale lock like those that were used to negotiate the changing elevations along the 22-mile canal route. In addition, the park features the antebellum Stoney Landing Plantation house, and a full scale replica of the Civil War torpedo boat “David”, that was built at this site. During the Civil War, the house was home to Charleston inventor St. Julian Ravenel, who concocted an ingenious semi-submersible boat, powered by steam, which was used to attack the blockading Union fleet. Adjacent to the park is the Berkeley Museum, which is filled with exhibits highlighting Berkeley County’s rich history, including artifacts from prehistoric native cultures, slaves, and the early European explorers. The Old Santee Canal Park is located just off the U.S.Highway 52 bypass in Moncks Corners, 25 miles west of Charleston For information on hours and fees call 843-899-5200 or go online at www.oldsanteecanalpark.org..

One of Charleston’s most undiscovered treasures is the Karpeles Manuscript Museum at 68 Spring Street. Housed in a magnificent Greek Revival structure originally built in 1856 as a church, the museum features a constantly-changing display of world-famous historic artifacts. The former St. James Methodist Church was used as a soldiers’ hospital by both Confederate and Union forces during the Civil War, because of its substantial basement cistern and abundance of fresh water. This winter, January 1st - April 30th, some famed historic tales will resurface behind the towering Corinthian columns, with exhibits featuring the heralded English mystery writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as the most renowned name in illusion, Harry Houdini. Doyle and Houdini were friends at the turn of the 20th century, and were both fascinated with the supernatural and together attended séances in their quest to communicate to those beyond the grave. The Karpeles Museum exhibits from January through April will include personal effects that Doyle and Houdini used in their attempts to prove the existence of spirits. The museum also features a revolving retinue of art exhibits and historic documents in arts, science, politics, literature, and religion, and offers workshops on historic preservation and artifact identification. The Karpeles Museum is open Tuesday-Friday from 11am to 4pm. For more information call 843-853-4651 or go online at KMuseumChr@aol.com.

  Charleston Architecture - The Drayton House at 25 East Battery stands out among the historic house on “Battery Row” for its unusual style and history. The first use of this waterfront property was part of a fortification built in 1757 to protect Charleston from the sea. The fort and rows of guns that stood for so many years gave the area the “Battery” name, and when they were removed after the War of 1812, houses were built here for the first time. The 1820’s Georgian style mansion on the current site was badly damaged by Union shells that rained down on the city during the Civil War, and the shell of the original house stood until after the earthquake of 1886, when tremor shocks brought it tumbling down. The Drayton family rebuilt on the site in a style that had become fashionable in England by the 1870’s. Sir Charles Eastlake was a British architect and designer whose 1872 book Hints on Household Tastes would become very influential in house design, both inside and out. The 1885 construction featured intricate details in woodwork made possible by improvements in the circular and band saw, and copied Eastlake’s fascination with Asian elements as well. The result was a veritable “gingerbread house” of light yellow brick and elaborate wooden trim, including a gabled window and balustrade overhanging prominently with its eye-catching woodwork. Sadly, the brick was covered with stucco in the mid 1900’s, but the woodwork still stands out in fascinating detail.

  Bet You Did Not Know - Charleston was one of the world’s leading exporters of fertilizer in the late 19th century. During the Civil War, the South was in desperate shortage of gunpowder, and looked to subterranean rock deposits as a possible source. The coastal plain of South Carolina was once ocean bed millions of years ago, and decaying animal and plant life had created a substrata of minerals. One that was discovered was phosphorus, which was not only a fulminant that could fire weapons, but a healthful additive to any crop. The gunpowder role never became prominent, but the phosphorus became a great source of wealth as a fertilizer shipped all over the world. The mineral did not come easy, however, and had to be dug up and processed with acid baths to extract it from its base. Factories sprang up all along the Cooper and Ashley rivers to process the phosphorus, and created thousands of jobs and considerable wealth for the mine and factory owners until cheaper fertilizers from other parts of the world put them out of business by the early 1900’s. The significant negative was the residual pollution from the acid process that spoiled riverfront areas for years to come, but for a city suffering from the economic devastation of the Civil War, the fertilizer industry was a welcome discovery.

  Charleston Market Report -