Brookgreen Plantation
I recently had the pleasure of visiting South Carolina and Georgia, with stops in Murrells Inlet, Charlotte, and Savannah. The visit started out in my sister’s newly adopted home town of Murrells Inlet, a lovely town on the coast of South Carolina. The first night of my visit we had dinner at Captain Jack’s restaurant with a table overlooking the inlet. Dinner started with she-crab soup, a local delicacy made extremely flavorful by the use of both crab meat and crab roe in a cream based soup flavored with sherry. The server guilds the lily by adding a splash of sherry to the top of the soup when it is brought to the table. I must say it is the best soup I have ever tasted in my life. I enjoyed the rest of the dinner and would soon find out that culinary treats and surprises would not stop with the she-crab soup at Captain Jack’s.
The next morning we drove to Savannah. On the way to Savannah we stopped at a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. My two sister shared a green tomato and cheese sandwich. I had a chicken sandwich that was fine but most fondly remember the butter beans that were served with my sandwich. They were so tasty! How very skilled are the Southern cooks, who must have a special magic that they can make a vacationer like me like butter beans as much as I like fried chicken.
The day after returning to Murrells Inlet from Savannah with its beautiful town square filled with fountains and huge ancient oaks trees draped with spanish moss, my sister and brother-in-law took my sister and me on a tour of the lovely Brookgreen Gardens. The Brookgreen gardens are over 1000 acres of gardens interspersed with sculptures and fountains. The gardens are laid out in the shape of a butterfly and were set up to showcase American sculpture by philanthropist Althea Huntington. The gardens are named Brookgreen after the slaver plantation of that name that they replaced. The Brookgreen plantation was a highly successful rice plantation before the civil war. The gardens are enormous so cannot be seen in one day.
Upon arriving at the gardens we admired various sculptures and flower beds and sculptures with fountains. At one point we found ourselves in an allee’ formed by huge oak trees draped with spanish moss. Apparently the former grand plantation house had been sited at the end of the oak lined boulevard. We continued to meander and came across dozens of volunteers hanging the trees and bushes with colored lights in preparation for the annual Christmas display. My sister tells me that the gardens are draped with various colors of miniature lights for the holidays and that the result is an enchanting and stunning display.
The pathway we were on led us to an old clapboard single story largish cottage that was one of the few buildings dating from the original Brookgreen plantation. Overhearing the docent of a guided tour, I learned that the food for the plantation owners was not prepared in the main house but in this cottage building and that house slaves would bring the food to the house to be served. Part of the reason for this was to keep the smoke and hustle and bustle involved with food preparation isolated from the main house. We continued down the path past the kitchen cottage and came upon a sign that pointed to a self-guided tour of the slaver history of Brookgreen Plantation.
Brookgreen had been a very successful and prosperous rice plantation in its day. Starting out with a rice variety that bore rice at three times the standard for the world and ending with a highly complex water delivery system that took advantage of the ebb and flow of the tide, Brookgreen would make any dotcomer green with envy at its ingenuity.
After walking in silence for several minutes, we came upon the beginning of the self-guided slave tour. Various displays at which you pushed a button to hear a recorded message were placed at points along the wooden walkway. At one point the walkway display overlooked a flooded rice field where we were told by the recording that ‘special’ slaves were allowed to carry guns as they were appointed to guard the rice field during harvest time from the waterfowl that saw the rice as a source of food for themselves. They would both fire warning shots and direct hits of the waterfowl. I felt slightly disturbed at this but couldn’t understand why. The slave tour ended at this point where we rejoined the formal garden and came upon a greenhouse with a butterfly tour. This was a delight after the serious themed slave tour. The next day I flew home to San Francisco.
I arrived back in San Francisco and unpacked my goodies and souvenirs: the spice mixtures, the canned she-crab soup (to which you would add 2 cups of half and half), the cheese biscuits, and the peanut seed starter kit. Feeling tired after a long flight, I decided to have a cup of tea and some cheese biscuits before taking a nap. When I awoke from the nap, I was thinking of my visit to Brookgreen and what I learned on the tour when it suddenly hit me why I had been so disturbed when I had heard about the slaves allowed to keep guns to warn the birds away from the rice fields. The slaves who were armed and given ‘special’ slave privileges reminded me of the San Francisco Police Officers, treated little better than slaves with special privileges by Castrocreepersociety. The San Francisco Police Officers, who have volunteered to lay down their lives for the people they protect, are required to take training that makes them ‘sensitive’ to the needs of Castrocreepersociety. How utterly heartbreaking it must be for these brave men and women to be told that they are not fit to serve Castrocreepersociety unless the Castrocreepers first instruct them in appropriate behavior. I ask the very insolent question, what Castrocreeper can teach a SF Police officer what Bravery is, what Loyalty is, what Valor is? What a terrible shock that a slaver system that the U.S. fought to destroy over 150 years ago is peeping its ugly head up in the San Francisco Castro District. Will Obama use the same tactics against the Castrocreepers that was used against the slavers over 150 years ago? I think he should consider it, it worked effectively against the slavers.
During the Civil War, the Union army methodically burned down the great plantation houses of the South. It was done both to prevent a rebuilding and to serve as an example to the slavers. It was actually done very humanely in a gentlemanly fashion. The soldiers would knock on the door and advise the residents that they needed to vacate as they were going to burn down the house. By burning down the slavers great plantation houses, the Union army was underlining the fact that slavery was finished. Since the slavers as a group were arrogant narcissists, this step was needed to underline their failure. In the same way as the slavers, Castrocreepersociety is also arrogant and considers themselves all-powerful so I am thinking that the same tactic might be used to good effect in Castrocreepersociety. By doing a burn of 260 Douglas Street and the surrounding 10 blocks, it would also clear the area for high-rise housing for the people. And just as at Brookgreen, the land occupied by historic 260 Douglas Street might be replaced by a fountain surrounded by flower beds. The resulting neighborhood would be more beautiful than before and have a much better energy. The next step in this process is to petition Obama and Congress to declare war on Castrocreeper society.
And now for the painting commission honoring the San Francisco Police Officers. I see a proud spiffy gay couple standing on the porch of 260 Douglas street, holding in their hands various tethers and ropes, that run to various police officers, some of whom have a smiles that show a terrible fear of their masters, some of whom show a defeated look in their faces and their bodies, and some of whom are just shut down, unable to do anything but stare vacantly at the ground. Some of the ropes and tethers are attached to neck collars, some are attached to bound wrists, and some are attached to the police officers just like a dog harness. I will pay $500 per commission until 10 paintings have been selected. I am thinking that this Second Painting Commission will produce some very interesting paintings.
Painting Commissioned
