Poplar Grove Plantation — Attraction in North Carolina

First, I will say that southern hospitality is definitely a real thing felt around here when visiting. All the staff were friendly, knowledgeable and very kind but I was most impressed with the woman who took our call to book our reservation and the tour guide Alex. My boyfriend and I just finished with getting a tattoo and were trying to figure out something to do because the weather was not going to be great for the beach and it was already early afternoon and most things zeed to be closing quite early to our surprise. We looked up the times for touring this place but reservations online weren't available so I suggested calling to find out if they still had any tours available. When we called the lady on the phone said that they were already sold out for their last tour of the day that would start at 2pm. However, much to our surprise, she asked if we were close enough to come immediately so she could get us in on the next tour starting at 1pm but it was already 1245p. We then explained that we were from out of town and only here on vacation and we wouldn't be able to get there until close to 2pm. During our conversation with her we mentioned that this was something we wanted to do because we had never seen a plantation before and someone had suggested it to us. She then told us to just come and she would make it work so that we could come do the tour. When we arrived, we went to pay for our tickets which were $15 each plus tax. Alex, the tour guide, did an amazing job and knew so much about the history of this plantation. It was fascinating learning all about this place and seeing the original stuff scattered about throughout the home. Of course, most of it has been restored/replaced due to aging, but there are still quite a lot of original things all around the plantation to take a look at to get an idea of what life was like during that time period. His recollection and description of that time period and how the plantation was run by the family who owned it and what the slaves lives were like was incredibly interesting. Outside, the grounds are beautiful as well with lovely fruit trees and bushes, flowers and herbs as well. There are stables with horses, goats and cats (but they are a bit skiddish) and there is also equipment on display to check out that would have been used on the plantation to harvest the peanuts which was pretty cool to see. This is definitely a place I would recommend stopping at to learn about the history of the plantation and gaining a true appreciation for your freedom and way of life...

I really enjoy the nature preserve for walks and have yet to do a tour of the plantation/zoo during the daylight, but I didn't care much for the Christmas event they had. It was neat that they provide many areas with fires with sticks and marshmallows, but overall everything was too spread out and the lights were underwhelming. The wagon ride was neat, but costs extra which it didn't mention on the site. They had movies playing in a few areas, but the only one people were actually watching was the polar express. Also it was right by the road even though there was plenty of room elsewhere. The only place for the kids to really play was one fairly small bounce house with no supervision. There were kids in there who were wayyyy too big (like preteens) to be in there, being super rambunctious and ruining it for the smaller kids. They should really have more than one bounce house and have someone keeping an eye out. Even one person for 2-3 bounce houses would be plenty. Also the store with crafts could have a bit more. My suggestion is only playing the polar express and Christmas music videos on the screens, making everything a bit more dense so it's not so spread out, and also concentrating the lights to certain areas versus all over the place. And get a couple more bounce houses or something more activity wise for kids so it's less boring and more safe. So overall it was ok, but I won't be going back to the Christmas thing anytime soon. Hopefully it's better when I do decide to go back when my...

I searched for a place to take my family for halloween, this was about the only event that I could find. The website made the place out to be very fun and games and food, sadly it sucked. I was very interested in the costume contest since I made our costumes. Supposedly this was the 29th annual halloween festival, you would think they would be more organized. The contest stage was very tiny, and no one knew where to stand. I was told when I signed us up that we were in the family contest, after waiting for an hour they never called that catagory. It ended with teenagers then adults. I was so disappointed in the whole thing. There were three little game boothes with kids running them and they gave away crap stuff from gumball machines. I was expecting maybe some candy for my child but there was none. The food was burnt funnel cakes and jersey mikes subs that were cold with old lettuce. The drinks were 2 bucks for a tiny cup full. The only good think was the inflatable bouncy houses which we could not enjoy because our child is too young at the present time. This was just a very bad...