In the days following the election of President Abraham Lincoln, South Carolina Gov. William Henry Gist was characteristically blunt: “The only alternative left, in my judgment, is the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.” The son of a Charleston merchant, William Henry Gist rose from modest beginnings to be elected governor of South Carolina in 1858. By then he had come to accept the belief that South Carolina could protect slavery only by withdrawing from the Union. Situated outside of Union, SC the Plantation once consisted of over 5,000 acres. Today it sits on 44 acres is located in what is now the Sumter National Forest. But on this rainy afternoon in May, the focus was on the flower gardens around the home.