This historic site isn’t preserved because of any famous event that occurred there or any important person that lived there. The site was an ordinary rice plantation in the 1800s and stayed in the family for 5 generations. In the 1900s it was converted to a dairy farm and finally give to the State of Georgia in 1973 by its last heir Ophelia Dent.
As we toured the grounds and the plantation house we got to see the family’s original furniture, tools, artwork, blankets, and china – all things they made and used for over a century.
What are now salt marshes on the plantation were once massive rice fields. Prior to that they were cypress marshes which hundreds of slave laborers cleared by hand to begin planting rice.
I was a bit disappointed that we weren’t allowed to take photos in the plantation house, but keeping our squirmy 2 year-old away from the antiques took most of our energy!
William! Did you crazy tour guide happen to be an overweight gentleman who (at one point) weiled a sword? Allison and I have been to this place and we were TOTALLY OBSESSED with this genius / psycho tour guide.