Sea Island Plantatation Owners ... Read the American Agricultural Magazine

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Sea Island Plantation Owners    .....Read the American Agricultural Magazine

    Scientific land management is not term that lands easily on the ear when hearing about plantation life in the early 1800s.

     Contrary to many preconceptions, the sea island plantation owners had much more to do than sit on the porch and sip some form of " southern comfort".
    These owners needed to manage the condition of the land as well as the sale of crops produced on their 300-400 acre plantations.

    Plantation crop selection needed to accomplish the replenishment of the land, provide an inflow of cash and provide food for the table. This was not a simple task.

    Typically, Sea Island Cotton, the cash crop needed to be the primary crop to provide a source of cash. If needed, this cash could be used to buy food stuffs in case the "provisioning"  food crops suffered a poor yield.

    Commercial fertilizers were not generally used during these years and the owner would replenish the soil chemistry by rotating crops, laying acreage aside and by having mud and salt marsh grass tilled into the soil in the off season. Another innovative solution was to place movable cow pens in a field where straw, mud and the tendency of cattle to add fertilizer could be turned into the soil as the cattle move about.

    The owner kept at least two sets of books. One book was to keep track of the crop productivity, fertilizer applications, crop rotation and amounts of acreage planted with each crop. He also kept track of the temperatures, rain amounts, late and early frosts and the proper sequence of planting times for each crop.

    A second book was maintained to account for the transactions that were occurring with the owner's "factor". The "factor" was a representative for the owner typically in Charleston or Savannah. The factor charged a commission ( about 2 1/2% ) for selling the cotton. The factor would also charge for storage, shipment costs and interest and any credit operation that might occur in a lean year. This relationship was interesting in that the plantation owner was always of the opinion that the factor charged too much and the factor was always suspicious of the owner's management skills and crop quality.

    The owner paid great attention to the quality of seed being used, and constantly selected the best of his seed for next years crop.

    In addition to conversations with other owners to learn of any new ideas, there were trips to other areas to seek out new practices.

    After all this work was done the plantation owner could then sit on his porch, read his subscription to the "American Agriculturist" and sip on a beverage of choice.

Ref: A Social History of the Sea Islands

       By Guion Griffis Johnson
       UNC Press. 1930

At This Spot- The Old Post Office at Store Creek

     SC highway 174 is a two lane passageway through moss covered Live Oaks standing aside Palmetto trees and Edisto Island history as well. In the early days it served as a sandy pathway for those afoot as well as animal drawn wagons.
    
     Even before the early roads were developed, the low country rivers and tidal creeks served as a means of cargo and human transport. At the spot in 1825,
where one of the larger tidal creeks was crossed by this central roadway an early home and store was constructed which subsequently gave name to the waterway as "Store Creek" and the store, "Holmes' " store.

      Before the Civil War, slaves of some of the "good " plantation owners were allowed to grow gardens to provide for themselves, after plantation work was done. What they produced surplus to their needs could be sold for cash at a little market the plantation owners permitted near the intersection of the main road (now highway 174) and Store Creek.
     They sold corn, peas, beans potatoes, rice, okra and pumpkins but were forbidden to sell the long staple Sea Island Cotton since this was a highly profitable crop kept for the plantation owners.
     After the war during "Reconstruction" they were allowed to sell Sea Island Cotton at the market.

      A sawmill operator named Ackerman of Cottageville fabricated rafts and loaded them with lumber, then floated them down the waterways to the head of "Store Creek " where they were offloaded and then disassembled  to be sold to those building houses in the area. Nearby, a cotton gin was constructed and something of a 19th century business district began to flourish.
    
     Eventually a man named Stevens re-opened the store in 1881 and he and his two sons moved a house from Eddingsville with his sons taking over the cotton gin business.

     In the early 1900s  a Bailey married a Stevens and moved in the house and store became known as "Bailey's Store". Thereafter a small one room post office was opened, laying the groundwork for the naming of a restaurant in the distant future. Today a seasonal restaurant called "The Old Post Office Restaurant" is operated for the beach tourists to the island.

     My family has visited the gift shop there and when you walk down to the little Store Creek bridge  and look back, one can't help but consider all the changes that must have happened there yet it would seem to be unchanged somehow.

Reference:
1.  And I'm Glad ... An Oral History of Edisto Island 
     by Nick Lindsay and Julia Cart
2. Edisto Island  1861-2006  Ruin ,Recovery and Rebirth
     by Charles Sagett Spencer

The Low Country Phosphate Mines, rough crowd, rough work

     Many times, as I have traveled I-26 into Charleston SC, I would pass the sign " Ashley Phosphate Road" an give maybe 2 seconds thought to wondering what that was all about. Through no intent of my own I finally stumbled into the answer and hope my blog to follow may save my reader the burden of a life of wondering about this important issue.

     In 1867, with the discovery of phosphate deposits in the Edisto Marl, the state of South Carolina began to issue licenses to mining companies to extract the phosphate rock formations located beneath the flat overburden near the sea island rivers in the Edisto area.
     The state required a dollar per ton royalty for river mining and no royalty for land mining.
     This material was highly prized for fertilizer with crops in different regions of the country. Cotton in the south, fruits and vegtables in the east and grain crops in the west all benefitted from its use.
     Mining was economical to 10' of depth and this resource was critical to the areas recovery after the Civil War.
     There were at least 36 companies involved in mining in the low country, with 5 companies in the sea island area providing "convenient" work to those living on Edisto Island.  Convenient meaning using the Steamboat Landing, with a Monday Friday trip on the "Mary Draper" and camping out at the mines.

Five of the closest mines were:

     Bradleys Phosphate Mine  on Rantowles Creek
     St. Andrews Mining Company on Stono River
     Bolton Phosphate Mine on Stono Creek
     Pon Pon Phosphate Mine on the Pon Pon River
     Linstedt Mine on Rantowles Creek

     The mines attracted rough men to do the rough work. There were Irish, German, former slaves now freed, contracted convicts from the state penal system and gamblers attempting to harvest money from the work of the miners.

     These men worked in pairs in 6' x 12' pits, loading small guage rail cars with busted rock. They produced 200,000- 500,000 tons of phosphate a year in the 1880s. Two thirds of which was exported to Europe.

The work was hard, the times were hard but the pay was the best around; they did what they had to do.

Rural Train Passengers Should Be Reasonable

     Adams Run, South Carolina is not one off the major cities of the United States today and I suspect that in 1898 it was smaller, if that is possible.
     Yonges Island, South Carolina is about 15 road miles or 8 pelican miles from Adams Run, should such a creature choose to dine on pine forest beetles as opposed to low country sea food.
     Nevertheless, it appears that on or about March 6th, Mr. S.E. Barnwell was inconvenienced by the late or non arrival of a train from Yonges Island, operating on the Charleston and Savannah Railroad line.
     His complaint to the Office of the Railroad Commission of South Carolina offered the opinion that the "Railroad" didn't even pretend to keep to the schedule of service to the local stops on the line and further, that the poor people of the rural south were being neglected to the needs of the rich people of the north.
     The usual exchange of  "copy to" and "forwards"  occurred with a response finally coming from Mr. G. S. Gadsden, superintendent of the railroad.
     Gadsden forwarded a lengthy list and schedule of all "through" and "local" trains. He pointed out that there were 4 local service trains on the Charleston to Savannah run and 4 through service trains. He also listed in specific, train # 20 leaving Yonges Island at 8:36 AM arriving at Charleston at 10:38 AM (2 hours) and a return leaving at 3:55 PM and arriving back on the island at 4:20 PM (25 minutes).
     The letter then continued to to explain the effect that the hard winter and poor economy had had on railroad operations and schedules and yet how busy the through trains had been. He finished with a statement that the rural people should be reasonably satisfied with the service they were getting.
     I'm sure Dale Carnegie would have loved to have conducted a seminar in Charleston if he could have caught a train in time.
   

The Goose Creek Men

The Goose Creek Men
     The “Goose Creek Men” were English planters, some who came to S.C. from Barbados early in colonial times (1670-1690) . These colonists settled a few miles west of Charleston near a stream called Goose Creek.
    
     They soon became wealthy through the Indian trade, since a major Indian trade path ran nearby.The colonists were active in the deerskin trade and also traded guns, ammunition, cloth, rum, and other goods for furs. They traded with a number of Indian tribes as the Catawbas, Coosas, Westos, and Yamasees in the lowcountry and the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws farther in the backcountry.
    
     They later became involved in the conduct of  illegal trade in Indian slaves slaves and with pirates. This trade was met with the disapproval of the Lord's Proprietors who wanted an upright and Christian colony paying honest returns to them.
    
     By the 1690s many held important offices in the colonial government.
 "The Goose Creek Men" formed a political faction opposing the Lords Proprietors between 1670 and 1720. Two of them, James Moore, Sr. (d. 1706) and his son James Moore.[5][6][7]. (d. 1724) served as governor of the colony.

     They became well known for their independent and contrary ways. It is sometimes speculated by South Carolina historians that perhaps the independent attitude of our citizens is a genetic contribution of these Barbadian transplants.

     Although the area's history dates back many centuries the the city of Goose Creek was not established until 1961.

At This Spot- The Comings and Goings at Edisto's Steamboat Landing

 In the early 1890s at Steamboat Landing  Men would leave by boat to travel to the "rock mines" to work in 6'x12' pits mining phosphate rock deposits. They would leave from steamboat landing at the beginning of the week and return to the island landing at the end of the week.

After leaving Steamboat Landing the little steamer would travel a little north and east to the landing at Yonges Island.

 Travel from Steamboat Landing to Yonges Island

From Yonges Island landing the miners would catch a local train to Rantowles Station and then travel to the nearby phosphate mines.

Travel from Yonges Island to Rantowles Station

Steamboat landing

 Pilot Boy and Mary Draper carried passengers from steamboat landing at Edisto Island, then to Charleston, men bought fabric,furniture and other items for their homes on Edisto. Pg 52


The Steamer "Pilot Boy" at Steamboat Landing

The Stevens Line of Yonges Island operated the Mary Draper a steamer that carried mail between Edisto and Charleston via stops at Rockville, White  Point at Slanns Island and then to Yonges Island. After retirement the steamer would be activated to carry Edistonians to the sailboat races at Rockville.
Pg 81

The Mary Draper ...of The Stevens Line

Reference:
Edisto Island. A Family Affair
Amy S. Conner and Sheila L. Beardsley


February 11th 1862 the side-wheeler steamer Atlantic a transatlantic liner disembarked the 47th New York regiment at Steamboat landing and set up a headquarters at Point of Pines. About February 15th Company G of the First Massachusetts arrived and then March 6th the Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry arrived setting up a camp at Bailey's Plantation near Point of Pines wharf.
Pg. 24

From the Civil War to as late as 1920 the main wharf of Edisto became Steamboat landing. it had moved from the Point of Pines wharf. Inter-island steamers would carry people, mail and cargo between  Yonges Island, Rockville and Edisto. The Mary Draper was the steamer and it made the round trip every day.

Sometime around 1906 the inter island steamer " Marion" sank. It was later rebuilt and renamed the "Islander"

1914 the 4 Model T automobiles on Edisto Island ran on Naptha and this fuel was delivered at steamboat landing in 55 gal. drums.




Reference:
Edisto Island  1861-2006.  Ruin, Recovery and Rebirth
Charles Spencer


Reference:
And I'm Glad- An Oral History of Edisto Island
by Nick Lindsay and Julia Cart page 93

At This Spot- Jeremey Inlet

     Lena Williams, a slave born and raised on Seaside Plantation (near Eddingsvill Beach) related (1) that in order to free the slaves, the Yankee army gathered up the slaves from a number of plantations and transported them to Beaufort and then laid waste to the properties.
     At Beaufort however, no provision had been made to feed these people and extreme hunger and hardship prevailed.
     Left to their own devices, a number of slave "marauders" then started to scavenge the sea islands for animals and food stuffs.
     About 1862, two boats (bateauxs) about 20 feet long with simple sail and poles (no oars) attempted to land on Edingsville Beach in the midst of a storm.
The boats broached and spilled the occupants into the sea. These drowning victims washed up on the beach days later and were buried by a small tree on the side of Jeremy Inlet.

Jeremy Inlet just north of Edisto State Park

Reference:
(1)  And I'm Glad.. An Oral History of Edisto Island  (page 75)
by Nick Lindsay and Julia Cart