Brown's Guide to Georgia

1807 rice plantation was worked by over 350 slaves who continued to work at same jobs for pay after emancipation. Features dwellings, servant quarters, museum with artifacts and photo exhibits. Audiovisual presentation

Rice plantations were an important part of the early plantation economy of coastal Georgia. Before the Revolution, the colony was shipping 20-to-25 thousand barrels of rice a year, and the Altamaha River delta was the center of this activity.

Selecting the site for a rice plantation was important. It had to be close enough to the ocean so that the level of the river was influenced by the tide, but far enough upstream so that the floodwater was not salty. Salt water was disastrous to the rice crop and the flow of salty water into the rice fields could ruin them for several growing seasons. Dikes, high enough to keep out the highest tide, were built along the riverbanks. Canals were dug within the diked area. At certain times of the growing season, water was let through the dike to flood the field and at other times allowed to run off. Each rice field was about 20 acres. The field was further subdivided by smaller canals.

Cultivating rice was a difficult, backbreaking job. Digging the canals, maintaining them and keeping them free of weeds required large amounts of cheap labor. When the Civil War brought an end to slavery, it also brought an end to the labor-intensive rice plantations. Some plantations tried to import Irish and English laborers to do the grueling work of ditching and banking, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

To this day, however, the canals used to flood the rice fields still line the riverbanks in some places and exploring them is a voyage into Georgia’s history as well as into the natural world.

Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation was a rice plantation from the early 1800s until the Civil War and was one of the only plantations to function for a short time around the turn of the 20th century.

Between Darien and Brunswick on US 17, one mile east of I-95 at Exit 9.

For a Do-It-Yourself Walking Tour of Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation, click here.

1858 plantation house with period furniture. Visitors may walk out on the rice field dikes. The Visitor Center includes a video about the Dent family and a museum includes a slide show explaining how rice was cultivated and an exhibit room.

Guided house tour
Gift shop
Nature trail
Picnic area
Bus parking

Tuesday-Saturday 9AM-5PM; Sunday 2-5:30PM; Last main house tour at 4PM Tuesday-Saturday, 4:30PM Sunday. Gate locked at closing. Closed Monday (except holidays), Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Closed Tuesday when open Monday.

$2.50-$5
Group rates available with advance notice.

Rates vary for state park lodging, campsites, shelters, golf courses and other facilities. Check with the individual park’s website or by telephone to confirm current prices.

$3 daily parking fee