Tours of Beaufort County’s Frank Lloyd Wright house gone within 5 minutes. Here’s why
Tucked away in Beaufort County is one of the lesser-known creations of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright — at least it was until recently.
Auldbrass Plantation, located just outside Yemassee and owned by Hollywood movie producer Joel Silver, is the only Southern Plantation designed by Wright.
And although the plantation is a private estate, it opens its doors to the public every two years as part of a fundraiser for the Beaufort County Open Land Trust.
On Tuesday, tickets to the 2017 Beaufort County Open Land Trust Plantation Tour sold out within five minutes, causing the Trust’s website to crash and leaving many hopefuls empty handed, according to Cindy Baysden, executive director of the Open Land Trust.
“It used to be a little secret in Yemassee, but now you just cannot overestimate the interest,” Baysden said.
In May 2015, “CBS Sunday Morning” featured Auldbrass Plantation and interest in the limited plantation tour exploded.
As a result, ticket sales for the 2015 tour also sold out within minutes and caused the site to crash for the first time, Baysden said.
“We were assured by our web host that it would not crash again this year, but no one can estimate how many people will try to get these tickets,” she said.
The 2017 tour will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 4 and Nov. 5, but there are no longer tickets available.
Tickets were sold for $150 this year, up from $110 last year.
Due to the fragile nature of the home, only about 500 tickets were available each day, or 1,000 total, but thousands more attempted to buy a ticket, Baysden estimated.
Due to ticket sale issues over the last few years, the Open Land Trust may not handle the sale online in the future, Baysden said.
Starting Jan. 1, 2018, those interested in attending the next tour can email info@openlandtrust.com to find out if there will be a tour in 2019.
Maggie Angst: 843-706-8137, @maggieangst
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This story was originally published August 2, 2017 at 11:13 AM with the headline "Tours of Beaufort County’s Frank Lloyd Wright house gone within 5 minutes. Here’s why."