South Carolina’s charm is not limited to its distinct architecture, its locals’ alluring Southern drawl, its beautiful subtropical beaches, or its storied history. The magic of the state extends across the dimensions of the landmass and finds its true identity among the glorious coast that meets the Atlantic Ocean. Amid pastel-colored houses of Charleston and beyond lies an enticing tea scene that is worth exploring. If you happen to be fortunate enough to live in Coastal Carolina or are visiting the lovely area, you might consider adding a verdant tea garden, a chic hotel, a home-and-tea tour hybrid, and a notable property to your itinerary. Each experience is steeped in history, gorgeous surroundings, and afternoon tea to suit your fancy.
Charleston Tea Garden
6617 Maybank Highway • Wadmalaw Island, SC 29487
843-559-0383 • charlestonteagarden.com
The Charleston Tea Garden is famous in the United States and among tea enthusiasts for being one of a short list of places in America where tea is grown. While a few other companies across the country have joined the pursuit, this garden remains most likely the largest in North America and certainly the most historic. It is the only farm in the U.S. where hundreds of thousands of tea bushes, stretching out over more than 100 acres, grow as far as the eye can see.
In 1888, Dr. Charles Shepard founded the Pinehurst Tea Plantation in Summerville, South Carolina, to make tea-growing in America a feasible reality. He created award-winning teas up until his death in 1915. Following his passing, the plantation closed, and the tea plants grew wild and unkept for approximately 45 years. In 1963, the once-prized tea plants were transplanted from Pinehurst to a 127-acre potato farm located on Wadmalaw Island. “Charleston Tea Garden was founded in the mid 1960s as a research company for another tea company,” Bryn Riley, general manager of the garden, explains.
