We're planning on moving to the Charleston area of South Carolina in about 18 months. In preparing for this, we've decided over the next year we will be visiting and really getting to know the area, so I'm looking at things to do. Which basically is...plantations, old civil war cemetaries, and military museums.

Many plantations offer a "slave quarters tour" as well as tours of the rest of the grounds and the main house. The civil war cemetaries are mostly memorials for confederate soldiers.

The history buff in me would love to see these places! But another part of me feels apprehensive. Is it disrespectful to visit a place that played a huge part in slavery, knowing how they were treated? Is it better or worse that they preserved the slave quarters and do show that side of things, instead of keeping to the main house/masters? Should we really be visiting memorials to confederate soldiers?

Would you visit these places? Why or why not? Is there a respectful way to preserve sites like this vs disrespectful?

(Feel free to answer what you'd like, I know I asked a lot of questions)