Oak Allée

 oaks, entrance, trees

The Mepkin Plantation became Mepkin Abbey in 1949 when Henry and Clare Boothe Luce donated the property to the monks.
The allée of live oaks which welcomes all visitors to Mepkin speaks of the history and legacy of this plantation. Only large, well cared for and historic properties could have kept intact so grand an entrance over several centuries. Plans of the Mepkin property during the time of Henry Laurens' ownership [1761-1792] already show the allée leading, as it does today, to the bluff overlooking the river. The river outlook may provide clues to the meaning of the word "Mepkin." In the earliest plat of this region, right after the founding of the city of Charleston in 1671, and before 1700, this property is named "Mebken," surely an early form of the Indian name, while "Mebshoo" lies directly across the river where Pimlico is today.

In our time, the allée functions as a gracious introduction to a monastery whose tradition stretches back 1700 years into the Christian past. This "Cathedral of Nature" speaks in an immediate and dramatic way of the meditative and spiritual lifestyle carried on by the monks of Mepkin Abbey.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GmZ1QYJ0jY