Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation

     We left our beautiful cottage at Fort McAllister and drove to our new home in Crooked River State Park.  The drive is less than a hundred miles so we did some sightseeing along the way.  Georgia does not have many plantations still standing.  Dozens of them were burned during Sherman's march to the sea during the Civil War (remember Gone With the Wind?).  The Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation is one of the few remaining rice plantations that were along the Georgia coast.  William Brailsford acquired land in the Cypress swamps along the Altamaha River.  Eventually he owned 7,300 acres of land with over 350 slaves.  Rice growing was a very profitable business until after the Civil War when slave labor was no longer available.  The plantation eventually was turned into a dairy.

    The grounds are covered with huge live oaks - some of them over 800 years old - and blooming azaleas and wisteria.  The lady who identified the wisteria told us it is a nuisance vine and we don't want it in Minnesota.  We thought that the purple flowering vines were beautiful as they climbed the trellis outside the door to the summer kitchen.  The day was a bit overcast, but Connie and I both thought that the cool grey weather enhanced the ambiance of the moss draped oaks.  

     The house was left in good shape with all of the original beautiful wood furniture, including a priceless, handcarved four-poster bed.  Our tour guide told us that naps were to be taken only on the nearby upholstered "day bed" so as not to mash down the feather mattress on the "night bed."  High ceilings and large windows kept the air moving on the second floor.

     This home was more of a two-story farmhouse than the typical sprawling plantation home.  Our tour guide told us that the family lived in this house in the summer when it was extremely hot along the Savannah River.  He described the process of flooding the rice fields and growing and reaping the rice.  It was a very labor intensive process that was only economically reasonable using slave labor.  The brick wall in the photo was outside the laundry area and provided an enclosure in which to hang laundry away from cruious animals (and probably children).

     After lunch and some grocery shopping we arrived at our new cottage in Crooked RIver.  It is a three bedroom, two bath cabin with a big screen porch.  It is somewhat older and not as elegant as our previous cottage, but very roomy and comfortable.  Our view from the porch is the Crooked RIver.  There are lots of interesting water birds, as well as some turtles nesting in the area behind the cabin.  It is a cozy and comfortable spot for our next four days.  The weather is turning a bit cooler and bringing some rain with it, but we are happy not to be in the snow in Minnesota.