Texas-born divorcee Caroline Graham (Slaughter) became
the third wife of W.R. Coe in 1926. Caroline had a strong wit, and
shared with Mr. Coe a love of horticulture and travel. Roses, orchids,
and dahlias were favorites of Caroline, and Coe Hall was |
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always filled with flowers from the greenhouses. Caroline slowly won the
hearts of the Coe children, becoming especially close to Natalie.
In 1930, she and Mr. Coe purchased an 11,000 acre rice plantation in
Yemassee, South Carolina, from the Blakes, in whose family it had been
since the seventeenth century. Caroline renamed it Cherokee Plantation,
for the wild Cherokee roses that grew there. The Coes used it as a quail-shooting
preserve during the early spring of each year, for which they maintained
a kennel of hunting dogs, and continued to grow rice and (for the quail)
sesame seed. Caroline's tastes are reflected in the newly built plantation
house, with its sunny, English country style interiors. After W.R. Coe's
death in 1955, Caroline sold the plantation. At one time, it was owned
by Robert Evans, CEO of American Motors, who named the popular Jeep
Cherokee for it. Cherokee Plantation is now an exclusive club, with
its own golf course.
In her widowhood, Caroline hired architect Eric Gugler to design a
more manageable house on a five-acre parcel of land at Planting Fields.
Called the Manor House, a rose garden and gazebo grace the setting.
Inscribed on the gazebo are the words "With Fond Memories of Planting
Fields." Caroline died at the Manor House at Planting Fields on
October 12, 1960, at eighty-two of bone cancer.
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