southeastsandy's Blog

Friday Fun
May 10, 2008 | 6:36 AM PST
Tags: musuem , gardens , plantation

  I had a great day yesterday.  I spent it doing fun local things.  I went to the blood bank and donated.  Then I met my daughter at one of our local museums.  It is the Goodwood Plantation.  I had not been there in about 16 years and I wanted to see what kind of progress was made in the restoration of the home and grounds.  It is a smallish plantation house close to mid-town with 16 acres of grounds which have rose gardens, guest cottages, carriage house, reflecting pool, and tennis courts.  The last owner established a corporation where the house would be open to the public but would own itself.   The house was built in the 1840s and 5 families have owned it since then.  The house was in pretty bad shape when the last owner passed away in 1990 and it has been a ongoing project to restore the grounds and home to period splendor.  I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful tour of the home with lots of interesting facts.  I had been there many years ago with my boss to notarize some paperwork for the last owner and only saw a dark parlor in the front of the home.  It was pretty spooky.  After the tour, my daughter and I took a long stroll over the grounds to check out the rose gardens, vegetable gardens and reflecting pool.  I put the pictures in one of my photo albums.  I didn't take enough pictures, but I will be going back in a few months to add to my photo album. 

After the museum we had lunch at a local restaurant, went shopping at twolocal nurseries (I bought two butterfly bushes, one althea, one lavender plant, and one spearmint plant) and went to fundraiser at the local animal shelter to taste wine and see local artists.  The weather was sunny and sometimes too hot to be outside, but it was all worth it.  A great way to start the Mother's Day weekend.