Field Trip #2 - Kinglsey Plantation

6/4/2011 – Kingsley Plantation

                Kingsley Plantation is truly amazing.  While following a dirt road to reach the destination of the plantation it seems you are totally surrounded by marsh, water, and vegetation.  It feels like you are so far away from civilization. It was settled by Zephaniah Kingsley in 1814 but was already established into a plantation.  The Kingsley Plantation is about 1,000 acres and is almost like an island in the way it is situated.   The front of the plantation home faces the Fort George River.  The waterway is the easiest way to get the crops to the market or to bring in supplies so most plantations were situated near one. 

 The first items you see when you reach the plantation is the slave quarters.  During the time there were 60 – 80 enslaved men, women, and children.  Each of these “homes” had a fireplace which is considered the main room.  There is another room that is considered the sleeping area.  The homes were built with tabby which is cooked oyster shells mixed with water and sand to make a cement mixture.  From the slave quarters to the main house are the fields that the slaves worked the crops.  Sea Island cotton is the main crop for this plantation; however sugar cane, corn, beans, and potatoes were also being tended to.        

There is a garden on the plantation that is in use during the spring, summer and the fall.  This garden provides crops such as the Sea Island cotton, indigo, sugar cane, peanuts, peas, pumpkins, potatoes, and okra.  They were marked with posts in ¼ acres.  The plantation tasks were measured in ¼ acres for the field workers.  Sea Island cotton was the biggest crop for money.  It is picked daily from late in July to December.  The slaves had to remove the seeds from the Sea Island cotton by hand and packing bales for shipment.

                They have a barn on the property in which they used for multiple uses, such as storage, the animals, and a work place.  The kitchen is a separate building because the plantation owners didn’t want to have the heat, the noise, smells, and the possibility of fires.  Kingsley Plantation was such a learning experience as to how they used the land and the animals they kept.