Orton Plantation (and my birthday dress!)

December 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under fashion

Photos by Drew (thanks a million!!)

Dress: 1385
’90s blouse and purse: thrift stores
Tights: Target
Shoes: Dolce Vita

Before we left for North Carolina one of Drew’s friends told us that we needed to go see Orton Plantation, so we got up extra early yesterday to make a stop there before heading back to Atlanta, and I put on my birthday dress for some blog photos. Oh dear, it was early, and we were both kind of out of it, but it was hard not to get excited as we pulled into the long path that led to the place, completely surrounded by great big, Spanish-moss covered trees. After you pass the avenue of trees you suddenly find yourself on a tiny road with jungle-like marshes on each side–signs tell you to stay in your car for your safety! Drew told me it was because of the alligators, and I didn’t really believe him at first, but I think it’s true. We felt like we were in Florida again.

The plantation itself is a strange sort of place–beautiful, and a little bit unexpected. The main part of the house was built in the 1700s, with additions built on later in the 1800s and early 1900s, and it really looks like a traditional antebellum plantation . . . big and white, with great big columns and gardens everywhere. It looks like the kind of place you’d find in the Georgia countryside, only when you reach the end of the carefully laid out garden paths you start to feel like you’re in the jungle again, and the palm trees and marshes and sandy paths would definitely be out of place in the plantations here around Atlanta. Also I don’t think I’ve seen plantations quite so old around here . . . It was fascinating to read a little bit about the history of Orton, to see the little Colonial graveyard, or the centuries-old rice fields that look out onto the water. Mostly I think it just makes me want to do some more North Carolina exploring.