After water, tea is the most popular beverage on Earth. People drink it far and wide, on every continent and in every country, and it’s often associated with such exotic locales as China, Kenya, India, and Peru.

Thanks to a small farm on Wadmalaw Island, we can now add South Carolina to that list. The Charleston Tea Plantation, owned in part by the renowned R. C. Bigelow & Company, is the only place in North America that produces black tea commercially.

	TEA PLANTATION SIGN		FIELDS OF TEA		TROLLEY TOUR

Tea, South Carolina’s official state hospitality beverage, has a long and colorful history in our state. In 1799¹, French botanist André Michaux brought the Camellia sinensis plant to his friend Henry Middleton, future governor and heir to Middleton Plantation in Dorchester County. Tea has since become a relative staple in the Lowcountry, where the soil is sandy, the air is humid, and tropical temperatures prevail.

Of course, this doesn’t mean growing tea in these parts has always come easily. Farm after farm collapsed before finally – after nearly two centuries of trial – horticulturalist Mack Flemming and his partner William Hall claimed success with their brand, American Classic. Together the two men took over the former Lipton Research Station on Wadmalaw, cultivating cuttings from plants once grown at Pinehurst Tea Gardens in Summerville.

Interestingly, though Pinehurst ceased operations nearly a century ago and the land has long since been carved into neighborhoods, residents still find tea growing wild in their backyards. Because the plants have acclimated to our climate over time, their cuttings are stronger and more likely to survive than those from imported varieties.

Fleming and Hall split their company several years ago, and Hall, a third-generation tea taster trained in England, approached the Bigelow family to help save the land from developers. Ruth Bigelow’s daughter flew down from Connecticut to bid on the plantation at auction, and its future was secured. Today Hall and Bigelow manage the plantation jointly. It is open to visitors, who can view the factory, take a trolley tour of the fields, browse the gift shop, and best of all – sample the tea themselves. After all, tea tastes best when it’s fresh, which gives a cup “born and brewed” right here in South Carolina a distinct advantage.

[Editor's note: October is a great month to visit the Charleston Tea Plantation. Butterflies abound along the coast this time of year, and the tea plants attract them by the hundreds with their small white blooms.]

1. Some sources give 1802 as an alternate date.

South Carolina Tea Resources

• Complete history of South Carolina Tea Farms - 1799 through present
• Charleston Tea Plantation - photos, information, links
  – American Classic Tea | Order Online

• Tea rooms in South Carolina - phone numbers, addresses, and where possible, websites
• Tea: South Carolina’s Official State Hospitality Beverage

The ferris wheel dominates the midway at the Upper State Fair in Greenville, which welcomed young and old this year from August 28th to September 7th.

—  UPPER STATE FAIR FERRIS WHEEL | MORE INFO  —

This shot was contributed by Tom Taylor. Be sure to check out his blog, Random Connections, for more great photos of the Upstate and beyond. If you’d like to find out when the next fair is in your area, go to SCIway’s Directory of South Carolina Fairs.

If you would like to have your photo featured, please submit it to the SC Picture Project. We select photos for the newsletter from the ones we receive, and it is a great way to bring publicity to you or your organization.

Aynor Chamber of Commerce - Local history, membership directory, events, and photo gallery - Horry County

Caring in our Lifetime - Fundraising organization provides financial assistance to breast cancer patients in Georgetown and Horry counties

Greenville County Historical Schools - Index of 19 historic schools with links to extensive research and information - lots of great photos!

Liquid Highway - Greenville-area cafe donates 100% of its profits to the Touch the Ground Foundation

Palmetto State Base Camp - Provides housing and rehabilitation for homeless veterans in Columbia

Rediscovering Charleston’s Colonial Fortifications - Blog about the old walled city by Charleston County Public Library’s Special Collections Manager, Nic Butler

SC Election Watch - Non-partisan blog supplies news, analysis, and opinion about 2008 presidential, congressional, and state elections - presented by the South Carolina Association for Justice

SCElectsWomen.Com - SC ranks last in the US for women elected to public office - website features profiles of current women candidates in our state - presented by the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics

Spartanburg Housing Authority - Provides low-income housing and promotes neighborhood revitalization

Town of Ridge Spring - Handsome new site celebrates this Saluda County community

In keeping with our ongoing look at state symbols, and given the tasty nature of this month’s “beverage” issue of SCIway News, it is our pleasure to announce the two newest additions to our State Symbols guide – South Carolina’s state drinks. No, that’s not a typo. We actually have two: Our official state beverage is milk, while our official state hospitality beverage is tea.

South Carolina is one of only two states in America to feature multiple state beverages, but we share milk with 18 other states. We are currently the only state to feature tea however – and for a very good reason! The Charleston Tea Plantation, located on Wadmalaw Island, is the only place in America to produce black tea commercially.

Use the links below to learn more about these important state symbols.

September’s Featured Symbols:

• SC State Beverage: Milk - Most of us grow up on milk. We receive it in some form immediately after birth and are encouraged to drink it throughout our many stages of growth. However, did you know that South Carolina has close to 90 dairy farms? We encourage you to visit our new South Carolina milk page to learn more about one of this month’s featured state symbols.
• SC State Hospitality Beverage: Tea - Tea is one of the most widely-loved beverages in the world. It can be enjoyed with any meal or as an afternoon treat. South Carolina has attempted to grow tea on a large scale since the 1800s, and has at last achieved success via American Classic. Visit our SC Tea Guide to learn more about the history of tea our state.
  

Innocuous packaging and the words ginger ale do nothing to warn the unsuspecting of Blenheim’s fiery kick. Concocted from a secret blend of spices, this South Carolina icon is one that will both quench your thirst and set your mouth ablaze. While its reputation spans the country, Blenheim’s has deep roots in the Pee Dee region of our state.

The story begins with the accidental discovery of a mineral spring near the present-day town of Blenheim. In 1781, Patriot James Spears was running from the English when he lost his shoe in a water hole. After a successful escape, he went back for his shoe. Hot and exhausted, he sat down to take a sip of the cool water and noticed its strong mineral taste. Word spread, and in subsequent decades, the area became popular with the plantation set, who sought relief from the summer heat.

By the 1890s, a permanent village had been established. Local physician, C. R. May began prescribing the beneficial waters from Blenheim’s spring. To make the strong taste more palatable to his patients, the doctor added Jamaican ginger. The new beverage gained popularity, and Dr. May and A. J. Matheson opened the Blenheim Bottling Company in 1903. Blenheim’s Ginger Ale was born.

	BLENHEIM GINGER ALE		CASE OF BLENHEIM		BLENHEIM BOTTLING PLANT

For the next eight decades, Blenheim’s remained a small operation and eschewed any efforts to modernize. The granulated sugar was even hand-shaken into each bottle! The peppery drink was introduced to a national audience by Playboy in 1985. Charles Kuralt and the New York Times quickly followed suit. Demand steadily increased, and in 1993, Alan Schafer, owner of South of the Border, bought out the company. Shortly thereafter, he relocated the plant to Hamer where it remains to this day. The original factory in Blenheim still stands, just a stone’s throw from the mineral springs.

Despite the move, the operation continues to be a modest one. While the bottling plant does not officially accept visitors, we were lucky enough to be able to bring you back a few photos of the factory. Interestingly, Blenheim’s remains elusive in many stores, and as such, has acquired a bit of a cult following. Mention of this oft-revered drink can spark animated behavior in its devotees. Thankfully, there are three spicy varieties of Blenheim Ginger Ale to choose from: Hot (pink cap), Not As Hot (gold cap), and Diet (white cap). While we happily urge you to try this unique drink, we’ll recommend you try the Not As Hot first.

Learn More about Blenheim Ginger Ale

• Blenheim Ginger Ale - entry from the South Carolina Encyclopedia
• The Blenheim Shrine - fan website
  – Where to Buy Blenheim’s - list of stores that sell Blenheim’s

• A Southern Ginger Ale With Sting in Its Tail - New York Times - February 25, 1998
• Video Tour of the Blenheim Bottling Plant
• How to Make Ginger Ale - recipe to make your very own ginger ale

If you live in South Carolina, you probably know a thing or two about muscadines. These thick-skinned, juicy morsels comprise a unique variety of grape native to our neck of the woods. In fact, muscadines and their close cousins, scuppernongs, can be found growing all over the South and have long been used in jams, jellies, and pies. Of course, they’re also delicious right off the vine.

When crushed and fermented, muscadines make a sweet wine – so sweet, some say, it resembles grape juice. Early colonists drank it by the gallon in Spanish Florida, and along with moonshine, it enjoyed considerable popularity during the long years of prohibition. Since then, however, many have come to eschew the strong flavor, opting for more subtle, conventional wines instead.

	SACK RACE		SC HERITAGE CORRIDOR SIGN			MUSCADINE GRAPES

Wadmalaw Island, just south of Charleston, is home to Irvin-House Vineyards where muscadine wine is making a welcome return. When avid gardeners Jim and Ann Irvin decided to retire to a quiet life in the country, they purchased 2,600 muscadine seedlings in four different varieties. Carefully planted along rows of posts and guide-wires, the seedlings have since been cultivated into tremendous vines, burgeoning with ripe fruit.

August 30th marked the fifth-annual Grape Stomping Festival at Irvin-House Vineyards, and SCIway was on hand to help celebrate. Visitors brought blankets and picnic baskets, opened bottles of muscadine wine, and enjoyed the celebration of the Irvins’ annual harvest. Sack racing, hula-hooping, and face painting accompanied a live bluegrass band, and folks left bearing buckets of hand-picked fruit.

The grape stomp also highlighted Jim and Anna’s newest undertaking – flavored vodkas. In 2006, veteran distiller Scott Newitt partnered with the Irvins to create Firefly, a muscadine wine-infused vodka that has seen tremendous success. After two short years, they also released a second flavored vodka – Firefly Sweet Tea – which has caused quite a stir with locals.

The tea used to make this popular beverage is harvested from the Charleston Tea Plantation, just a few short miles down the road. Due to considerably lower taxes on alcohol production, the Irvins ship their wine and tea to a distillery in Florida, where it is added to the vodka, bottled, and sold in retail locations throughout the Southeast. Both Irvin-House Vineyards and Firefly Vodka seem to be working their way into the local vernacular, so let’s all raise our glasses and toast these SC originals.

SC Muscadine Wine and Firefly Vodka Resources

• South Carolina Wine and Wineries
• Irvin-House Vineyards - photos, information, links– Charleston’s Only Domestic Winery
• Muscadine Grapes - additional information on this native grape variety
• The Distilling Process - how wine and spirits are distilled to make alcohol