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Middleton Place

Grand Homes & Gardens 2026

Thursday, April 16 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The fourth and final program in the 2026 Grand Homes and Gardens series, Freedom at Home: Telling the Full Story of America’s Founding Homes & Gardens, featuring Middleton Place in Charleston, South Carolina with speaker Brandon Stone, Director Research and Preservation.

The primary residence of the Middleton Family, including Declaration signer Arthur Middleton, Middleton Place, located in Charleston, SC, was built in several phases of the course of the 18th and 19th centuries. The plantation’s extensive and transformative gardens, established in the 1740s, were awarded the Garden Club of America’s highest honor, the Bulkley Medal, in 1941.

The estate saw the birth of the new country and was heavily impacted less than a century later by the Civil War when Union troops razed most of the property. More than 2,800 men, women, and children were enslaved by the Middleton family from 1738 to 1865. Today, the site works to interpret the stories of the enslaved and free Africans and African Americans who lived at Middleton Place.

About the Speaker

Born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, Brandon has and always will call the

Carolina Lowcountry his home. Graduating from Coastal Carolina University in 2019 with a

Bachelor’s degree in History, Brandon began his career with the Drayton Hall Preservation Trust

as a Historical Interpreter. While completing his Master’s Degree in Public History at the College of Charleston, he took on the role of Volunteer and Interpretive Coordinator at the Edmondston- Alston House, a house museum operated by the Middleton Place Foundation. Brandon now proudly serves as the Director of Research and Preservation for Middleton Place.

Brandon takes great pride in working for the Middleton Place Foundation alongside a

fantastic team, where each day is a privilege to be part of stewarding a National Historic

Landmark.

For Morven Members

Please note that you must login into your Morven Member account in the upper righthand corner of the registration page in order to access the member rate.

Series Schedule

All programs begin at 6:30 p.m. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. for light refreshments. The programs are hybrid, offered both in-person and virtually. Upon registration, a Zoom link will be sent to virtual participants. All programs will be recorded and shared with registrants following each event.

In an 1804 newspaper advertisement, Trenton clock and watchmaker William J. Leslie touted that he was “Not from Paris, London or Boston – But a Native of New-Jersey.”  At the time, the state was home to dozens of craftsmen specializing in tall case clocks. Morven’s newest exhibition will examine the work of New Jersey clockmakers as they collaborated with cabinetmakers, ran shops, and formed professional partnerships to create beautiful timekeeping pieces.

Spanning the colonial and post-revolutionary period, clockmakers ran their shops with the assistance of apprentices and often enslaved labor. Some carried on the clockmaking tradition through several generations, often working multiple trades, including silversmithing.

This exhibition will feature over 50 tall case clocks, representing almost as many different clockmakers, from both private and public collections. These freestanding pendulum clocks are as functional as they are beautiful with faces made of intricate brass work or painted designs of objects like ships, suns, and moons. Internally, their complicated workings are mechanical masterpieces. Some even chime with contemporaneous melodies. 

Striking Beauty will be the first large-scale exhibition of its kind, exploring the experiences of the artisans and apprentices, free and enslaved, who contributed to this unique craft. Explore the five-gallery exhibition to see clocks from cities and towns such as Elizabeth, Newark, Burlington, Flemington, and Salem, and more. 

Lenders to the exhibition will include: Boxwood Hall, Brown University, Buccleuch Mansion Museum, Burlington County Historical Society, Gloucester County Historical Society, Hunterdon County Historical Society, Monmouth County Historical Association, Trenton Museum Society,  as well as loans from numerous private collections.