The Charleston, South Carolina area is a great place to live or have a vacation home. The weather is great, the beaches are fantastic, golf courses are abundant, there are many historical sites, the architecture is unbelievable, the dining is unbeatable, and the people are the friendliest in the country. It is because of these reasons that I believe Charleston SC Real Estate is truly unique. I look forward to helping you with any of your Charleston SC Real Estate needs in Charleston, Berkeley, or Dorchester counties. Today’s article is titled:
The Charleston Tea Plantation on Wadmalaw Island
If you haven’t been to the Charleston Tea Plantation on Wadmalaw Island, I highly recommend a visit to the Charleston Tea Plantation. You can ride a trolley for a 25 minute guided tour through the tea farm and also tour the tea leaf processing factory. After your tours, you can enjoy browsing the gift shop and drink samples of American Classic Tea, the tea brand of Charleston Tea Plantation.
The Charleston Tea Plantation, which encompasses 127 acres, is the site of the only tea growing and tea harvesting operation in North America. The tea plant (camellia sinensis) grows best in well drained soils at temperatures close to 100 degrees with at least 52 inches of rainfall annually, making Wadmalaw Island an ideal site.
The Charleston Tea Plantation was started in 1969 by Lipton Tea. The ideal plant source was found in Summerville where Dr. Charles Shepherd had planted over 300 varieties of tea he had ordered from China in the late 1800’s. By 1969 these plants were up to 50 feet tall. Lipton used cuttings from these plants to establish a research plot with 327 varieties of tea plants at the Charleston Tea Plantation. This field is still thriving today.
Charleston Tea Plantation is now owned by Bigelow Tea. Charleston Tea Plantation uses 8 varieties of tea plants in each tea plan plot to get their unique flavor of tea. The Charleston Tea Plantation produces an average of 50,000 pounds of refined tea leaves annually. A typical tea plantation this size in other parts of the world emplyees 500 laborers to hand pick the tea leaves while at the Charleston Tea Plantation there are only 3 outside employees thanks to custom made harvester know as the 'big green machine".
The Charleston Tea Plantation is located at 6617 Maybank Highway on Wadmalaw Island about 45 minutes from downtown Charleston. For additional information call 843-559-0383 or visit the Charleston Tea Plantation here.
These pictures were taken by Linda Vodzak, a past client and good friend. Linda is a great photographer. If you have a photography need let me know and I can have Linda contact you.
As always, your thoughts, questions, or comments are greatly appreciated.
Let me know if I can help with any of your Charleston SC Real Estate needs or questions.
See Charleston SC Real Estate Blog for local attractions and current Charleston events.
Look at Charleston SC Real Estate homes anywhere in the tri-county area.
View my entire inventory of VisualTours of Charleston SC Real Estate homes at http://www.visualtour.com/inventory.asp?U=182210
Sincerely,
"Carolina Joe" Idleman
http://www.carolinajoe.com
Nice job!! (he-he ;)