Butler Island Plantation, Darien, Georgia

 

“I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up, and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom."

Rosa Parks

Driving south from Darien, we crossed the Darien River Bridge and noticed an ancient, tall brick chimney on the right side of Hwy 17. When we pulled over to check it out, and also spotted a round bricked tank which we read was a kiln. Way back off the road toward the marsh, we saw a large white paneled, stately home that looked abandoned and in disrepair with boarded up windows. There were three historical markers near the road stating this was an old rice plantation. Besides those markers, this place was not well marked.

We got out of the car and walked around. The extensive grounds appear to be on sunken ground and had salt marshes surrounding it. It seemed very desolate and quiet as we strolled around the property. The some of the grounds were overgrown but near the house it did look mowed. There were various palmetto trees and Oleander bushes scattered across the property. You could tell at one point, the owners wanted to beautify their property with lovely plants and trees.

The history of this rice plantation is fascinating as well as being shockingly sad. Major Pierce Butler who originated from Philadelphia took ownership of this property in 1790. He was known as one of the founding fathers of the United States, a signer of the Constitution, and a member of the U. S. Senate. Butler was known to be a no nonsense kind of guy and ran his plantations with a stern hand making sure his plantations ran smoothly. This plantation was self sufficient and had everything they would need from shoes, clothes, furniture, tools, and any supplies needed to run his plantation.

He owned some properties in South Carolina but after his wife, Mary Middleton died, he put all his money into the Sea Island Plantations and sold his lands in South Carolina. Major Pierce Butler owned three plantations in Georgia and was known to be a strong supporter of slavery. Hampton Plantation on St. Simon Island was developed into the islands largest cotton plantation, Butler Island Plantation was known for its rice fields, and Woodville Plantation which was further up the Altamaha River and was used to raise cattle and livestock for all the plantations.

After Major Butler sold his lands in South Carolina, he kept his South Carolina enslaved people. He also purchased 80 Virginia slaves in 1801 and later, a group of slaves shipped in from West Africa in 1802. Many slaves were from Ghana and they helped teach him how to make the most of the land for planting rice. Roswell King, his overseer, counted the slaves on the plantation in 1803 and listed 540 enslaved people by their names, and rated them by how valuable they were to the plantation.

The process of growing and harvesting rice during that time seemed mind boggling with so much labor intensive work involved. He found Butler Island was the perfect location to grow rice on the low ground where they could easily flood the fields with fresh water. Dikes had to be built to keep the brackish water out. The rice was harvested every August, which is the harshest, hottest month in Georgia. All the work was done by hand including severing the stalk, binding sheaves, stacking in racks to cure, and using pestle and mortar to loosen hulls. It was a tedious, difficult process and with the heat in Georgia, humidity, and insects, it is hard to imagine the work conditions.

They added a water powered mill in 1816 which pounded the rice. Later in 1832, they added the steam mill to pound the rice which was completed in 1933. Everything else was still done by hand. Now all that remains from the earliest plantation is the 75’ brick rice mill chimney and the brick kiln visible near the road in front of the house. It was an odd feeling looking at that chimney in the open unkempt field and visualizing what it was like here years ago with the brutal work conditions the slaves had to endure. It made chills run up my spine and a sadness came over me for what they had to endure.

Butler ran the plantation until he died in 1822 when his unmarried daughter, Frances took over with his overseer, Roswell King. When she passed, the plantation went to Major Butlers two grandsons in 1838. When the grandsons took ownership of the plantation, they inherited hundreds of slaves.

During the winter of 1838-1839, Pierce Mease Butler, one of the grandsons, brought his wife, Frances Anne Kemble and two daughters to the plantation from Philadelphia. Frances was a beautiful British actress and an abolitionist and Pierce thought he could change her mind by bringing her to the plantation. She became a confidant to many of the women slaves there who opened up to her about the conditions in which they lived. She didn’t like was she saw and wrote things down in a diary that she would later publish against her husbands wishes called, “Journal of a Resident on a Georgia Plantation”. She eventually divorced Pierce Butler. He got custody of her daughters as was normal for the day, and she went back to England alone. Some think her writings may have helped the British to oppose slavery and the Civil War.

Walking the grounds, we found no signs of any other buildings from that time. We were alone on the property with not a soul in sight. A sea bird flew over calling out to us. The wind blew the sea grass making it sway back and forth. We could hear the small waves lapping the shoreline. Besides that, there was only an eerie quietness. What a shame they couldn’t preserve this historic site better so people could see how it was on an 18th century southern plantation. With some loving care, this property could be a beautiful tribute to those who served here.

Butler Plantation became one of the largest plantation in the south and also had the distinction of having the largest amount of slaves. At one time, Pierce Butler owned 1000 slaves and owned 10,000 acres between the three plantations. Butler island had 1600 acres. There were four settlements of slaves on the Butler island with each settlement having 10 – 20 housing units. Many of the houses were 12’ x 15’, with small rooms where they would sleep off of a small main room. Two families stayed in each unit so it was tight quarters. The road leading to the houses at one time had rows of orange trees on either side. There was no sign of them to be seen now as they were long gone and never replanted.

Pierce live high on the hog and got himself in financial difficulty from gambling and poor investment choices. He had some serious debt issues and decided to sell off some of the slaves. He brought 436 slaves, men, women, and children to Ten Broeck Race Course in Savannah, Georgia on March 2nd and 3rd, 1859, by steamer and rail to be auctioned off. This was the largest slave auction ever held in the United States. Families were torn apart with children being sold away from their parents, husbands and wives separated, as well as friends and lovers separated. This was the first time these families had ever been separated. This became known as “The Weeping Time."  People said the sky opened up and Heaven wept on them for both days of the auction.

Many of the slaves that lived and worked on this plantation did come back to Butler Island Plantation to work as free men, getting paid wages after the Civil War. Many decided to settle in the area and still live around Darien.

The home intrigued us as we have always been interested in older homes and their architecture. We drove to the back back of the property to check out this large three story house, that is known as the Huston House. It was built in 1927 by Col. T. L. Huston who served in the Spanish-American War in 1898 as an engineer in Cuba. He later became one of the owners of the New York Yankees. When he retired, he sold his shares and bought this Butler Island property. He had this house built for him with many exceptional details including several beautifully wooden paneled large reception rooms, built in book shelves, intricate marble fireplace, six bedrooms, and three and a half bathrooms. There was also a porch on either side of the house, one being more enclosed and the other a screened in porch with electric fan.

He decided to give dairy farming a go first and the consensuses was it was the best milk they ever tasted. Conditions made dairy farming hard so he later turned the land into a lettuce farm and made it the biggest iceberg lettuce crop east of the Rocky Mountains. While he was there many professional baseball players came to visit him including, Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. Huston passed away in 1938 of a heart attack. The property was then sold to R. J. Reynolds Jr., a tobacco heir. By the 1970’s the lettuce production had stopped and the house and land became the property of the Natural Resources Wildlife Division.

We walked to the back of the house and saw the porch was overgrown with vines, the screen door was unhinged, and all the windows boarded up. The grounds had been mowed near the house which was nice to see. What once was the pride and joy of Col. Huston was in bad shape. All the detailed work he had done to the interior was now decaying. This house has been placed on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Places in Peril” list.

We walked over to the dock and viewed the Darien River. It looked beautiful and peaceful. Now this area is used for fishing, picnicking, and is a great place to bird watch.

As we drove out of the property, we noticed the dikes were still visible in the vast salt marshes after all these years. This history is long gone but not forgotten. There has been talk of making this property a restaurant or something commercial. Many feel it would be better as a historic site that should be reconstructed back to how it was to educate visitors of how life was during that time. We are not always proud of our history, but we must know our history to move on and make our future better. Till next time. Bye for now.