Multicultural Immersion

Middleton Place is fortunate to have two international interns this summer. Gloria Simpson from Barbados and Florence Guinn from France spent the past month learning about the history of the plantation, the Middleton family, and what it takes to maintain “America’s oldest landscaped gardens.”
A longtime student of history, Simpson holds a Ph.D. from the University of the West Indies, and lives in Christ Church. Working with members of the Middleton Place history department, Simpson has spent hours learning about historic preservation at both Middleton Place and the Middleton Place Foundation’s sister property, the Edmondston-Alston House, downtown. She hopes to take the knowledge she has gained back to Barbados and apply it to the rich historic sites located throughout the island.
Barbados has strong ties to Charleston and the Middletons. Colonists from England, including the first Middletons in America, first sought their fortunes in Barbados before moving to the newly-formed Charles Towne colony. Coming from a country also built on the British colonial plantation system, Simpson was especially interested in the institution of slavery in Charleston and at Middleton Place. “I have been a bit surprised by the pivotal role Charleston played in the international slave trade,” she says. “I am pleased to see how slavery is handled at Middleton Place, and the extent to which the property goes to highlight the contributions of slave society to its existence.”
Florence Guinn comes to Charleston from the National School of Landscaping in Versailles – quite fitting as the formal gardens at Middleton Place were based on the principles of Andre Le Notre, who designed the gardens at Versailles. She has worked closely with Middleton Place’s horticulture staff in the gardens and nursery, which has given her the opportunity to learn about the subject in-depth, and has been a good accompaniment to what she has learned at the university.
“The Versailles school is a landscaping school, not a horticulture school,” she says. “I want to be familiar with the plants, the different breeds, especially those from the American South.”
Guinn has had a hands-on experience at Middleton Place, helping plant new trees in the Secret Gardens, roses along the path to the restaurant, and vegetables at the Middleton Place Organic Farm. “Middleton Place is everything I’ve dreamt about. It has a great feeling of beauty and serenity,” she says. “The history of the place is remarkable, and so are the topography and the wildlife of the Lowcountry, with all this water, rivers, creeks, swamps, marsh, rice fields, and animals. It’s amazing!”
These internships not only benefit the students, but the staff as well. “Gloria and Florence have amazing insights into how the history of their home countries connects with interpretation at Middleton Place,” says Tracey Todd, vice-president of Museums for the Foundation. “They see the property through a different lens, and have fresh insights into what the Middletons were doing at Middleton Place and why.”
July 2013 marked the first for hosting an intern from Barbados, and the second year in a row Middleton Place has hosted an intern from the Versailles school, which is a collaborative project between the French Heritage Society, Middleton Place, Drayton Hall, and Magnolia Plantation. Simpson and Guinn returned to their home countries at the end of July.