Daisy Bank

    During the early part of the nineteenth century, Daisy Bank Plantation was the home of a former sea captain. He had given up life on the high seas for the love of a Georgetown belle. In order to win her hand, he traded the responsibilities of a ship and crew for those of a rice plantation. However, their happiness was shattered when the mistress of Daisy Bank died in childbirth. Her husband was distraught. A six-foot grave was dug beneath the branches of a live oak tree. Obsessed with the need to preserve his wife’s exquisite beauty, the captain ordered a form-fitting casket for her body. After she was lovingly placed in the custom coffin, a glass cover was laid on top. All of the air was drawn out of the casket before the glass lid was permanently sealed shut. When they laid the casket in the ground, a slab of marble was laid across the top of the tomb. If the marble slab was removed, the mistress of Daisy Bank was visible in her final resting place. Sitting by the vault where he could view his wife’s preserved form was the way he ended each day for the rest of his life. After the planter's death Daisy Bank was incorporated into neighboring Annandale Plantation.   It was not long before black folks from Annandale began avoiding the Daisy Bank gravesite after dark. Danky, a black gentleman born in 1872, was one of the few black people who would walk through Daisy Bank at night. Any evening that Danky passed close to the gravesite, he never failed to see the spirit of the old master of Daisy Bank sitting by the tomb of his wife. Other people from Annandale, however, would walk quite a bit out of their way to avoid passing anywhere near the Daisy Bank gravesite after dark. As the years passed, the Daisy Bank plantation house fell into disrepair and was torn down. According to local tradition, a young man and woman who had strayed from a visiting hunting party stumbled upon the overgrown gravesite at Daisy Bank. Seeing a bracelet on the arm of the corpse, the couple decided to break the glass and steal the jewels. Under the influence of whiskey and youthful foolishness, they reached down and thrust their rifle through the glass cover.  But when the heavy glass shattered, the lady’s entire body instantly dissolved into dust.  As if a spell had been broken, the young intruders immediately regretted their action. Disturbed and ashamed, they left the old gravesite. Several years ago a young man arrived at the Annandale Plantation seeking permission to move the old grave.  Permission was granted, and the grave was moved. It now lies near Charleston, in Mount Pleasant’s lovely Christ Church Cemetery.  Since the spirit of the master of Daisy Bank has not been seen for a long time now, perhaps seeing his wife at rest in such a peaceful place has allowed his soul to rest also.