Historic house in South Carolina, United States
United States historic place
Mansfield Plantation
is a well-preserved
antebellum
rice plantation, established in 1718 on the banks of the
Black River
in historic
Georgetown County
,
South Carolina
.
[2]
[3]
History
[
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]
Spanning nearly 1,000 acres (4.0 km
2
) of pine forest, rice fields and cypress swamps, Mansfield Plantation was once one of the largest rice producing
plantation
in the country. Mansfield, along with adjacent rice plantations up and down the Black River, provided much of Europe with "Carolina Gold" rice during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Rice growing was made possible by:
- perfecting irrigation techniques using tidal water and manmade dykes.
- experimentation with natural fertilizers.
- most notably, African American
slave labor
.
After the
American Civil War
, rice production became too expensive and soon the plantations fell into bankruptcy and were sold off to new owners.
Present day
[
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]
Today, Mansfield Plantation is preserved as an authentic rice plantation, complete with the original plantation home, a schoolhouse,
live oak
avenue ("oak allee"), chapel, guest house, and grounds. It also has the only remaining
winnowing barn
in Georgetown County, where rice grains were processed for shipment.
Restoration
[
edit
]
In March 2005 a restoration of a slave village of 7 slave cabins and a chapel had begun, completed shortly thereafter.
[4]
Media
[
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]
Mansfield Plantation has been featured in numerous films, documentaries and television shows. It served as the backdrop for scenes from Mel Gibson's 2000 film,
The Patriot
.
[5]
In 2006, the
Fox network
filmed two segments of their primetime television series
Treasure Hunters
at Mansfield and the Fine Living Network filmed a documentary at Mansfield Plantation for their television series
Windshield America
.
See also
[
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]
Gallery
[
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]
- Views of Mansfield Plantation
-
The main house decorated for the holidays
-
Mansfield's winnowing barn
-
The Old Kitchen Guest House, now a bed and breakfast
-
The old slave village, currently undergoing restoration
References
[
edit
]
- Agnes Baldwin; N. Jane Iseley; William P. Baldwin (1983).
Plantations of the Low Country: South Carolina 1697-1865
(Rev. ed.). Legacy Pubns.
- Alberta Morel Lachicotte (1989).
Georgetown Rice Plantations
. Reprint Co.
- Suzanne Cameron Linder (2001).
Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of Georgetown County and the Santee River
. South Carolina Department of Archives and History for the Historic Ricefields Association, Inc.
External links
[
edit
]
- Mansfieldplantation.com: Official
Mansfield Plantation
website
- Mansfieldplantation.com: Interactive plantation map
- Mansfield Plantation
Photos & History
- NPS.org:
When Rice Was King
?
a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
.
- Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) No. SC-476, "
Mansfield Plantation, U.S. Route 701 vicinity, Georgetown, Georgetown County, SC
", 4 photos, 1 photo caption page
- Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) No. SC-476-A, "
Mansfield Plantation, Winnowing House, U.S. Route 701 vicinity, Georgetown, Georgetown County, SC
", 1 photo, 1 photo caption page
- Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) No. SC-476-B, "
Mansfield Plantation, Rice Threshing Mill, U.S. Route 701 vicinity, Georgetown, Georgetown County, SC
", 6 photos, 1 photo caption page
- Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) No. SC-476-C, "
Mansfield Plantation, Schoolhouse, U.S. Route 701 vicinity, Georgetown, Georgetown County, SC
", 1 photo, 1 photo caption page
- Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) No. SC-476-D, "
Mansfield Plantation, Slave Quarters, U.S. Route 701 vicinity, Georgetown, Georgetown County, SC
", 3 photos, 1 photo caption page
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