Charleston Tea Plantation

Front: The first confirmed cultivation of tea in the U.S. occurred when French botanist André Michaux brought to plants to Middleton Barony on the Ashley River between 1799-1802. Large-scale production, however, was not attempted. Beginning in 1880 the U.S. Congress subsidized renewed cultivation efforts. The Pinehurst Plantation in Summerville was the most successful of these attempts. Reverse: In 1963, cuttings from Pinehurst Plantation were transferred to 127 acres on Wadmalaw Island; land that is now the Charleston Tea Plantation. Because the Pinehurst plants had grown wild and cross-pollinated for decades prior to transfer they are now considered “South Carolina hybrids.” Charleston Tea Plantation remains the only site of large-scale commercial tea production in the U.S.