Day Trip

Sometimes, you just need to get out of town. Sometimes, when you live in Charleston, you just need to get out of town on Labor Day weekend. On any given holiday, especially those where businesses close on Monday after the weekend, one can expect your quaint little town to be a zoo. So, it felt like the perfect time to do one of the many short road trips my husband and I had been planning.
We I had a few requirements for this road trip. The first and most important need was that our beloved beagles could accompany us. We hate leaving them behind and don’t often get to enjoy vacation with them. We found some dog-friendly destinations. Second, we didn’t want to spend our precious extra hours off of work locked inside a car trying to get there so we needed to explore somewhere in our own backyard. With a little research and a lot of reviews (thank you very much, TripAdvisor) we hit the road, dogs in tow.  Our final destination: Georgetown.
Perhaps Georgetown seems like an odd destination. It did to me at first. I’ve driven through this steel town many times on my way to Myrtle Beach. I (wrongly) thought it was just a pit stop with a sweet McDonald’s along the way. Instead, what we discovered was a treasure an hour drive from Charleston. We felt like we were a million miles away.
But, before we got to Georgetown, we had a few stops planned. We started by picking up a picnic lunch from Black Bean Co. We headed to Buck’s Hall Recreation Area, along Highway 17, just 6 miles south of McClellanville. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The picnic area at Buck’s sits beside the Intracoastal Waterway and has an easy entrance point to the Palmetto Trail, a 7-mile hiking trail.
After lunch, the dogs led the way on the trail. Our younger dog, Maggie, sprinted ahead to lead the way, adorably stopping every so often to make sure we followed. Thirteen-year-old Dixie ambled beside me taking time to stop and smell the roses, or whatever, as her hound dog breeding instills her to do. After a vigorous and bug-bitten walk, we headed back to the car. Next stop: McClellanville.
We drove through the historic town, admiring the architecture and making a mental note to eat at T.W. Graham’s restaurant the next time we were near. After enjoying the scenery, we hopped back on the road to our final destination: Mansfield Plantation in Georgetown.
Mansfield Plantation is South Carolina’s best-kept secret! I even hate to tell, because I want to keep it so reasonably priced and easy. Y’all, it’s so amazing I have to share! It’s an old rice plantation where guests stay in the historic guesthouses. The plantation is 936 acres with bikes available on site for exploring. And there is plenty to explore — from the freedman’s cottages, to the old slave chapel, and even a cemetery.
After checking-in, we had dinner at the Big Tuna Raw Bar along Georgetown’s quaint waterfront. Back at Mansfield Plantation (bugsprayed), we watched the sunset from one of the hammocks hanging from a Live Oak on the plantation, enjoying a popsicle. We marveled this day of adventure was just a short drive from our front door. We made a pledge, then and there, to take the time to get out of town and explore all the Lowcountry has to offer. Which is a lot.
 
Katie Wells can be contacted at kewsolutionsinc@gmail.com