Otranto (Charleston, SC)

Otranto (Charleston, S.C.)

Texts

• Ogilvie, George, 1776, describing Otranto, in Carolina; or, The Planter: Written in 1776 (Berkeley and Berkeley, 1969, 352-57)

"And lo! my friend, where all the muse demands,

"On Goose-creeks banks thy own Otranto stands!

"Where pleas'd and wond'ring as we thrid the maze,

"We doubt what beauty first demands our praise

"The river bounded by the impervious shade,

"The smooth green meadow, or the enamel'd glade,

"Where all the pride of Europe's florist yields

"To the assembled wildings of our fields....

"Here Pales seems with Flora to have strove,

"To blend the beauties of the lawn and grove....

Bright as the blush of Venus when she loves,

"Sweet as the woodbine of her Paphean groves...

"From tree to tree the flow'ry tindrils rove

"Till one continu'd garland binds the grove—

"Winding through shady walks, we slow descend,

"To skirt the mead, or trace the river's bend...

"There midst the grove, with unassuming guise

"But rural neatness, see the mansion rise!...

• Garden, Alexander, July 24, 1789, to Cadwallader Colden ("The Letters of George Ogilvie and Alexander Garden," 1986: 117)

"A few unconnected remarks on the situation and productions of Otranto [and] the Reasources of Carolina are inclosed. Such of them as you can weave into a description of that once beautiful and roman tick spot, may show what a Carolina situation ornamentted with only the natural productions of the Country can arrive at when so laid out.— The magical deception of the winding of Streight walks was not the least ornament of the garden for while walking in the garden you saw no straight walk & yet when turning and walking along the Bank of the river you saw none but Streight walks & not one of these winding walks thro the meanders of which you had visited all parts of the Garden while in it. And what is it now— possessed by a Goth! It sickens my soul to think of it.

"Diversified grounds— Hill & Dale— A fine winding River— The opposite banks covered with tall primaeval trees with many a flourishing shrub making the most picturesque background. The river plenteously stored with a variety of Fish— the labrus sapidus or large voracious fresh water trout— The blue bream the most delicate and sweetest of fishes....

"The house on the top of the hill commanding a fine prospect of the adjacent grounds and many different views of the meanderings of the River— guarded on the West from the afternoon's sun by two large Liriodendrons or Tulip trees full of foliage and beautiful Blossoms during May June and part of July. Remember the large Liriodendron between the fish ponds rising eighty feet without a branch then spreading out into a large head having a large opening in the middle thro which the full moon about an hour high was seen from the Piazza of the house — Never was Cynthia seen so much to advantage before having not the simple fig leaf that Mother Eve resorted to but a full grown beard of tulip tree leaves and flowers. Had Endymion seen her thus arrayed what would he have said?

"Near the house is a rural Library overshaddowed with an Umbrageous Catalpa & Lofty magnolia under Cover of which the first Company of the world reside ...[Milton, Tasso, Ariosto, Gay, Voltaire, Horace, Theocritus, Thompson] Lineaus & Bufon accompany you to the Fields — Sir Issac & Cassini to the Celestial dance.

"The ponds full of fish Juletta a successful fisher for Perch, Carp, Blue Bream &c.

"The River at different seasons Covered with Ducks of Various kinds: ... the Mandarine Ducks— the blue winged teal and even the alligator in plenty....

"The gently hanging garden where Art only gives easy access to the Various inimitable productions of Nature from the early and mildly blushing Atamasco Lily to the modest Moccasine flower the pride of the meadows surrounded by the jessamines, orange coloured asclepias, the Candid Crinums, the Azure Lobilias and purple Iuccas[?] and day Gentianellas&,dash... Leaving the pearled Lobelia, the rich velvety Erythrina or Corrollodendrons&dmdash; the blushing rose Coloured Accacia and in the number and magnitude of its clusters of flowers— to face the solsticial sun— The Andromedas— The Iteas— The Cyrilla— stillingia— The styrax, the Stewartia— The Illicium— all beautiful flowering Shrubs.

"The Chionanthus.

"The Magnolia altissima, the Proudest of the Vegetable kingdom, chal­lenging both Indies in the rich Verdure of its foliage and Excelling Every Vegetable in the Magnitude and grandeur of its flowers—

"The Magnolia Glauca, or Sweat flowering Bay, scenting all the Circumambient air with its fragrance.

"The Calycanthus or sweet scented shrub diffusing an Aromatick fragrance seemingly a Compound of Strawberry, Pineapple, & the Clove— called sometime by the envied name of Bubby Blossom from the Ladies often carrying them in their bozoms.

"The Kalmia or Callicoe flower, a beautiful shrub.

"The Borders deakt with full blown Illiciums-Kalmias Erythrinas Calycanthus-Accacia Coccinea[?]— Umbrella Magnolias-Stewartia­ Ptelias— Styrax— Itea Cyrilla and many other aromatick and flowering shrubs give a lovely glow to the gardens of Otranto that your cold bleak gardens of Albion can never see or produce.

"The Liriodendron, Magnolia Gordonia, or Loblolly Bay— the Catalpa— the large flowering Cornus— the Chionanthus&mash; the Halesia, all large trees overshadow the Lesser greatly.

"The yellow Jessaminy rich in the wallflower smell, luxriantly covering the tallest trees mingles its fragrant flowers with the Snow Drop or Chionan thus together with the Periclymenum or Scarlet woodbine.

"These invite a thousand warblers— the Mocking bird. The Nonpareil, the Last in beauty of colours and the first in variety of notes exceeding all known birds—

"Innumerable hosts of fireflies—

"A storm of thunder and lightning.

"Fair Peaches— the Kennedy Peach when full ripe exceeding in richness and flavour any other fruit or what even fancy can suggest— a taste the cold clime of Albion with all her art can never Emulate.