Great family experience of Revolutionary and Civil war era.It was great to see the fire candle lighting along the path from building to building. A lot of history I've learned from this visit. We will be back. Great Tour Brattonville!
We can't say enough about Historic Brattonsville! The property is HUGE, over 700+ acres complete with farm animals, historic buildings galore, a battlefield, trails, and reenactors. History comes alive in this amazing park. Everyone was professional, friendly and very knowledgable! We spent 3-4 hours and didn't see everything we wanted to but had other places to be. We will be back to check more out! A must for families!
This Saturday Brattonsville will host it's Christmas event and surprisingly good actors will re-enact what it was like to be in both the Revolutionary and Civil War eras in SC on a real plantation. With fire pits along the way the visitors will go from building to building to see how the owners, the slaves, teachers and children all lived during these eras. I have gone many times and it changes a bit from year to year but it is always mesmerizing. This is done by volunteers and they really put their hearts and souls into the production..
Although we only live a few miles away, this is the first time that we visited. This place was great! My 2 year old and seven year old loved it! It was not crowded (definite plus!). So much to see and learn. Highly recommend!
We went on Memorial Day and got to see some extra activities. There were period age children playing on the front lawn and they encouraged my children to get involved and play the games. Also three SCM (South Carolina Militia) soldiers were on duty and showing the children how to march with wooden muskets. The period of the plantation is Revolutionary War - not Civil War. Not all the buildings are from the plantation - some were moved to the plantation from other farms from South Carolina. I appreciate the historic preservation of the buildings. The only restrooms are at the visitor's center. Plan accordingly! The kids, wife and I had a good time and would go back again for other events. It was worth the price of admission. It's about 40 miles from Gastonia, NC and about a 50 minute drive. Also - bring your own food. There is a picnic area - no grills. Bring a cold picnic basket (sandwiches and such). There are drinks available.
Went for the Christmas walk. Felt like we were stepping back in time. Enjoyed the acted scenarios from various eras. The scenes were quite educational as well.
Nice walk to view buildings. Buildings could have been better marked but we figured them out. I would recommend that if you can visit when more is going on. Like the special events: Children’s Day on the Farm (March), Battle of Huck’s Defeat (July), By the Sweat of Our Brows (September), Piedmont Pottery Festival (September), Civil War Reenactment (October) and Christmas Candlelight Tours (December). We plan to go back on one of these events.
We went on a Saturday, and there was hardly anyone there which was lovely. We were able to thoroughly explore the area, read the information, and listen to the interpreters at our leisure. There are many original homes, buildings, and tools to see and enter and unlike other historic places, you can actually touch and interact with the surroundings. Some rooms were blocked off in the largest home (where the movie The Patriot was filmed), but other buildings allowed you to really get close to what it was like then and how they lived. My two sons, 10 & 7, had a fantastic time wondering the property, seeing the animals, and walking part of the nature trails. It's definitely worth the visit.
We absolutely love Brattonsville. The candle light tours before Christmas is the highlight to our holidays. Everybody is so welcoming and knowledgeable. Definitely worth following and enjoying events they have!
We went to Brattonsville at 1000 and were the only visitors during the time we were there. It took about an hour to walk thru the area. Very interesting and well preserved. I enjoyed spending time watching the pigs and sheep.