National Register of Historic Places

Mansfield Plantation

Georgetown, Georgetown County, South Carolina
Listed
December 6, 1977
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
77001223

About this property

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. Spanning nearly 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) 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. perfecting irrigation techniques using tidal water and manmade dykes. After the American Civil War, rice production became too expensive and soon the plantations fell into bankruptcy and were sold off to new owners. Today, Mansfield Plantation is preserved as an authentic rice plantation, complete with the original plantation home, a schoolhouse, live oak avenue ("oak allée"), chapel, guest house, and grounds. It also has the only remaining winnowing barn in Georgetown County, where rice grains were processed for shipment. In March 2005 a restoration of a slave village of 7 slave cabins and a chapel had begun, completed shortly thereafter. 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. 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. National Register of Historic Places listings in Georgetown County, South Carolina 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. Mansfieldplantation.com: Official Mansfield Plantation website Mansfieldplantation.com: Interactive plantation map 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

Location

Georgetown, Georgetown County, South Carolina
33.43564, -79.25841

Categories

AGRICULTUREPOLITICS/GOVERNMENTARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Beneventum Plantation House
Industrial
0.7 mi
Keithfield Plantation
Listed
1 mi
Weehaw Rice Mill Chimney
Industrial
2.2 mi
Nightingale Hall Rice Mill Chimney
Industrial
2.7 mi
Fairfield Rice Mill Chimney
Industrial
3.7 mi

Questions about this property

When was Mansfield Plantation listed on the National Register?

Mansfield Plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 6, 1977.

What type of historic resource is Mansfield Plantation?

Mansfield Plantation is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Mansfield Plantation?

The period of significance for Mansfield Plantation is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Mansfield Plantation?

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