On the way out 0f Charleston, we decided to visit Boone Hall Plantation. While the plantation is of note for many reasons, the driveway into the property under an avenue of huge oak trees is a most familiar site. It was the inspiration for Twelve Oaks, the fictional plantation of Ashley Wilkes in Gone With The Wind.

Boone Hall was one of the most prosperous plantations in the entire south for a long, long time. They grew a variety of profitable crops, including rice, cotton, indigo and pecans. The plantation flourished, of course, due to the incredible work performed by its slaves. Aside from growing crops, the slaves also made bricks (millions per year at one time) from the clay in the nearby riverbed. Some of those bricks were used in the buildings on the plantation, including the slaves quarters. The close up of the brick shown below reveals the fingerprints of the slave child who made it.

The stories we heard today were quite moving, but none more than the little fingerprints on that brick ...