Rice, Chicora Wood Plantation and One Woman

by Elva Cobb Martin

"They harnessed the moon," one writer wrote of Carolina Low Country rice planters, "and turned the marshes into fields of gold." 

South Carolina rice planters used the power of the moon through the action of the tide to irrigate fields where they grew Carolina Gold rice. This variety derived its name from the color of its outer hull, but also brings to mind the "gold" it brought to South Carolina.

Rice cultivation began in the state in the late-seventeenth century. For more than a hundred years it brought great wealth 
and power to Low Country plantation owners.
  
From the clearing of the cypress swamps to the planting and flooding of the fields to the harvesting, rice required intensive labor. African slaves are due most of the credit for the successful rice production in South Carolina.

The Civil War changed this economy dramatically. No where is the rice story and this change recorded more succinctly than in the history of Chicora Wood Plantation. The house is still standing majestically on the Pee Dee River between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown, South Carolina. I toured its grounds in March during a downpour.

In the 1730's an early settler of Georgetown, John Allston, received land grants of 4,000 acres that made up this estate. A later owner, Robert F.W. Allston turned it into one of the most productive rice plantations in the South, and he also served as Governor of South Carolina for a time.

But it was his daughter, Elizabeth Allston Pringle, who gave us the most vivid picture of rice plantation life following the Civil War.
She wrote a book, actually a diary of her day to day duties as  A Woman Rice Planter.

Elizabeth grew up in the era of massive slave holdings over the South, but also when the patriarchal system was firmly entrenched in southern families. Women were expected to exemplify feminine virtues of nurturing and self-sacrifice and to accept male domination and opinions without question.

But after her father's death, and later, her husband John Pringle's death from malaria after only six years of a happy marriage, widow Elizabeth took on the mammoth and "unwomanly" task of managing Chicora Wood plantation and growing rice with a greatly reduced labor force that must now be paid. Her story is one of courage, compassion for the freed slaves and tenacity to keep holding on to a "man's job" when times grew very hard indeed.

 It's been great visiting with you today. Hope you leave a comment and tweet this article for your history lover friends.

  

Elva Cobb Martin is president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have published her articles. She has completed two inspirational novels currently being considered for publication, Summer of Deception and In a Pirate's Debt. A mother finally promoted to grandmother, Elva lives with her husband Dwayne and a mini-dachshund writing helper (Lucy) in Anderson, South Carolina. She and her husband are retired ministers. Connect with her on her web site www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com on Twitter @Elvacobbmartin and on Face book.

Carolina Rice Plantations - Part 1 by Elva Cobb Martin

Before the Revolutionary War, rice made the Low Country of South Carolina, and particularly, Charleston, the richest colonial town and area in America with twice the wealth of Philadelphia and New York. This was why the grain became known as Carolina Gold.

The above two statements piqued my interest and research, so last month, March, 2014, I reserved my place for the Annual Rice Plantation Tour sponsored by the Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church in Georgetown, South Carolina. This wonderful old church itself was established in 1721.

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I hope to share several blogs about this tour and the thirteen rice plantations and town houses we toured over two days. All of them have their own exciting stories to tell.

For background, Georgetown is the third oldest city in South Carolina, following Charleston and Beaufort, and is located at the mouth of five rivers which flow into the Atlantic. This made the area most conducive to rice growing and shipping. From Cape Fear, North Carolina, to St. Mary’s River, Georgia, several rivers had ocean tides of at least four feet needed for rice production. But for nearly 200 years this 300 mile coast land and rice production centered in the South Carolina Low Country, a land where waters mingle with the sea in a confused tangle of marshes, streams, and swamps.

My tour embodied a lot of the same, as it rained both days. But I decided the historical expedition must go on while the plantations were opened by their owners. Here are a couple of photos. Most of  my 212 photos were taken with my left hand holding an umbrella and my right hand snapping the camera. Ha!

More on these exciting plantations in future blogs!

Have you ever visited a rice plantation? Would love to read your comments.

Elva Cobb Martin is president of the South Carolina Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College. Decision, Charisma, and Home Life have published her articles. She has completed two inspirational romances. In a Pirate’s Debt is being considered for representation. Summer of Deception is being considered by a publisher. A mother finally promoted to grandmother, Elva lives with her husband Dwayne and a mini-dachshund writing helper (Lucy) in Anderson, South Carolina. She and her husband are retired ministers. Connect with her on her web site www.elvamartin.com, her blog http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com on Twitter @Elvacobbmartin and on Face book.

 

Charleston's Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon by Elva Cobb Martin

Today I want to share one of my favorite historic places to visit and photos I took while there. This was part of my research for a pirate novel I am polishing.

In 1718 Stede Bonnet “The Gentleman Pirate” and his crew were imprisoned in the Court of Guard prison which once stood on the site of the current Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon in Charleston, South Carolina. It’s a great place to visit located at 122 East Bay Street at Broad Street.

A brass plaque on the back wall of the current building attests to the fact the site was once the place of arms or guard-post of the early colonists of South Carolina and where pirates were detained.

Inside the museum area you can see a great 1711 plan and map of the Charles Town harbor as illustrated by Edward Crisp.

Between the 1690’s to the 1730’s ten to thirteen foot walls protected Charles Town, with the harbor being the most heavily fortified. Here, a brick seawall was defended with cannons to oversee the safety of the harbor. The half-moon battery, as semi-circular protrusion located at the center of this seawall provided the formal entrance to the town from the sea. A segment of this brick wall is visible to visitors to the lower level of the Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon today.

As Charles Town continued to grow and prosper the north, west and southern walls of the city were gradually demolished to allow for expansion of the city. The construction materials were eventually dumped into the Cooper River harbor to expand the land mass which now includes at least a block which used to be under water. The current Exchange Building marks a spot where the waters once came to.

Walls in the museum area depict information about Major Stede Bonnet (1717-1718) and list his crew members who also stood trial with him. Bonnet, once a planter in Barbados, became a pirate, it is said, to escape a nagging wife. With his ship Revenge he joined Blackbeard, and preyed upon coast wise shipping off the Carolinas. He was captured, tried and hanged in Charleston in 1718.

The museum area also boasts a number of paintings and photos of the American Revolution and the Civil War related to Charleston.

The Provost Dungeon, on the lower level of the Exchange building, is a sight you don't want to miss. One can well imagine the days of pirate prisoners and later patriots, during the American Revolution, who were kept in this cold, dark place.

Visitors step down into a real dungeon! With barred window slits which opened onto the street above, one can well imagine escape was impossible for pirates or patriots.

       

I love to visit places like this, but heavens to Betsy, I'm glad I was born in the current century. How about you? Thanks for stopping by.

Elva Cobb Martin is a freelance writer, Bible teacher and grandmother. She is president of the American Christian Fiction Writers new South Carolina Chapter. She has been published in Decision, Charisma, and Home Life and is currently polishing an inspirational romance novel. Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina, with her husband and high school sweetheart, Dwayne. You can connect with her through her web site at www.elvamartin.com , her blog at   http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com, on Face Book and Twitter @Elvacobbmartin.  

The Carolina Brookgreen Venture - Part 1 by NEW CQ Contributor Elva Cobb Martin

Fighting Stallions at Entrance to the Gardens

Message from Carrie Fancett Pagels, CQ Administrator:  Please join me in welcoming Elva Cobb Martin, our newest member of Colonial American Christian Writers and a brand new Colonial Quills contributor! Her bio follows at this end of this, her debut post with CQ!


Article by Elva Cobb Martin

I love visiting and researching Low Country gardens, especially gardens with a history that might become an interesting novel setting. Such a garden is Brookgreen Gardens located just past Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina.

In 1931 sculptress Anna Hyatt Huntington co-founded Brookgreen Gardens with her husband Archer Milton Huntington. Then they began to fill it with her large animal sculptures and all sorts of exotic plants, live animals, and even poetry.

Anna has been described as tall, stately, aristocratic, and friendly by people who knew her. She was also talented, benevolent, and beloved by her husband. And she was rich.

In 1923 she married Archer Huntington, heir to a railroad fortune. Mr. Huntington had already founded a number of museums and two wildlife refuges, one in the Adirondacks in New York consisting of thirteen thousand acres and another at Newport News, Virginia, devoted to the study of the sea.

Since he married a talented sculptress who specialized in spirited animal pieces—some as tall as fifteen feet, it is no wonder Huntington began to dream of a new type of garden to display his wife’s sculptures combined with an animal refuge.

A few years later while returning on a yacht to New York from a vacation in the Caribbean, the Huntingtons came into the coastal waters of South Carolina. They were inspired by the overwhelming natural beauty of the Waccamaw Neck region. Their first thought was of a winter home and a milder climate for Anna who suffered from tuberculosis.



Old Gate and Sculpture

The venture began when they purchased four adjoining former rice plantations, Brookgreen, The Oaks, Springfield, and Laurel Hill. The only way to reach the properties was by water or by an old sand road, which at times became totally impassable.

However, the Huntingtons were visionaries and planners and they had money to back their vision and time to plan. They decided their desire included a lot more than a winter home. And whatever they did, they wanted to safeguard the beauty of the area and its history and make it accessible to others. In Archer’s own words describing their plan to make a special garden museum and wildlife refuge, he told friends it would be “a quiet joining of hands between science and art.” 

Historic Rice Trunk



They decided to build the winter home on the ocean side of the property. The castle, as it became known, was named Atalaya, which means “watchtower” in Spanish, and it is reminiscent of the Moorish castles Anna and Archer had seen on their Granada excursions.



Aerial view of Atalaya



Entrance to Atalaya

Archer Huntington designed the entire structure. Its outer walls are in a square, two hundred feet on each side, the front facing the ocean. A large open inner court delights the visitor inside the walled enclosure. Thirty rooms, once providing living quarters, fill three sides of the perimeter. I could feel characters and stories breathing in these rooms!

Inner Court Yard of castle

A forty-foot tower bisects the inner court. It is called the “Marrakesh Tower” because it is said to resemble a tower in Marrakesh, Morocco.

There’s quite a bit more about Brookgreen Gardens, Atalayla and the Huntingtons I would like to share but will write it up in a later blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bio: Elva Cobb Martin is a freelance writer and president of the Upstate SC American Christian Writers' Chapter. Her research for this article was collected for an inspirational novel she has just completed set in the Colonial/Pirate era of Charleston. She has been published in The State Magazine, Decision, and Charisma. She blogs on the Golden Age of Piracy and other topics at http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com Elva lives in Anderson, South Carolina with her family. She can be reached through her web site  www.elvamartin.com.