Middleton Place Strikes Gold

Visitors are invited to take part in the centuries-old tradition of rice cultivation in the Lowcountry this Frifday and Saturdfay, April 24-25, as Middleton Place plants the demonstration rice field. Costumed interpreters will instruct guests in traditional methods of planting, discuss the history of the famed Carolina Gold rice, and explain the African origins of rice and its cultivation in South Carolina in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The interactive program will take place each day from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. both days. On the 24th, the field will be prepared and planted. Visitors may help with the actual planting of rice in the fields. On the 25th, costumed interpreters will be discussing and demonstrating the methods used in the growing and processing of rice during the 18th and 19th Centuries. Visitors are invited to try their hand at fanning the rice in a sweetgrass basket and pounding the rice with a mortar  and pestle.
While many associate cotton as the dominant crop in the antebellum South, for more than 125 years rice was the supreme cash crop in the Low Country. Rice propelled Charleston to be the richest city in the colonies, creating vast wealth for the Middleton family. The Low Country’s tidal rivers once produced millions of pounds of the golden grain. Rice fields lined both sides of the Ashley River and other tidal rivers on the southeast coast from the Cape Fear River, in North Carolina, to the St. John’s River in northern Florida. Middleton Place was the family seat and headquarters for a network of rice-producing plantations owned by the Middleton Family.
At the hands-on planting events, Middleton Place interpreters in period costumes will teach visitors the methods employed by enslaved field hands. Traditionally, planting took place between early March and mid-June. After the fields were prepared with a system of protective dikes and drainage ditches, slaves used specially-designed wooden rakes to drag shallow furrows into the dry soil. Rice seed was dropped into the furrows and covered with a thin layer of dirt, which was often done with bare feet.
“To know Low Country history, you must learn about Carolina Gold rice,” says Tracey Todd, Middleton Place’s chief operating officer. “A major goal is to shed light on the enslaved peoples’ contributions to rice cultivation. Rice was the cash crop that allowed Low Country planters to amass the greatest fortunes in the colonies.”
The growing season for the Middleton Place demonstration rice field runs through mid-September, ending with two days of rice harvest programming September 18-19. Throughout that time, visitors can view Carolina Gold rice growing in the flooded rice field and learn about the African origins of rice and its importance in colonial and antebellum South Carolina.
Middleton Place is located at 4300 Ashley River Road. For more information call
556-6020 or visit www.middletonplace.org.