The Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation was a

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

on the

Altamaha River The Altamaha River is a major river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It flows generally eastward for 137 miles (220 km) from its origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Ocean, where it empt ...

, in

Glynn County, Georgia Glynn County is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 79,626. The county seat is Brunswick. Glynn County is part of the Brunswick, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. H ...

. Operated as a forced-labor farm until 1865, it produced rice from 1800 until 1915, when growing rice became unprofitable. Then it was primarily a

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...

until 1942. Since 1976, the Georgia

Department of Natural Resources This article lists subnational environmental agencies in the United States, by state. Agencies with a variety of titles and responsibilities are included, e.g. Department of Environment, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of E ...

has managed it as Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation State Historic Site.

History

The property that would become the Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation was originally named Broadface; in 1806, the land was purchased by William Brailford, who renamed it Broadfield. "The plantation was built in 1807 as a large rice producer with over seven thousand acres of land and more than 350 West African slaves," mostly from Senegal and Sierre Leone, according to historians Amy Lotson and Patrick Holliday. After Brailford died, the property passed to his son-in-law, Dr. James M. Troup, brother of Governor

George Troup George McIntosh Troup (September 8, 1780 – April 26, 1856) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. He served in the Georgia General Assembly, U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. Senate before becoming the 32nd Govern ...

. When Troup died in 1849, he held 357 people as slaves and 7,300 acres in land; the property passed on to his daughter, Ophilia Troup, and her husband, George Dent. The current main house was built in the early 1850s and they added "Hofwyl" to the name about that time. With the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, George Dent and his 15-year-old son James went to serve in the Confederate Army. Ophilia and her children moved to a refugee camp near

Waycross, Georgia Waycross is the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Ware County in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population was 14,725 at the 2010 Census and dropped to 13,942 in the 2020 census. Waycross includes two historic districts (Downtown ...

. After the war, large parts of the land was sold to pay taxes and by the time James Dent took over the property in 1880, the wealth was gone. When James Dent died in 1913 the family was still in debt. Rice farming had become unprofitable, largely because the owners were no longer allowed to enslave laborers. His son, James, and his daughters, Miriam and Ophilia Dent, operated the land as a dairy farm until 1942. At its peak as a dairy farm, it had about 35 cows and produced 100 to 150 bottles of milk per day. When the dairy was shut down in 1942, the property was finally out of debt. The two sisters (the fifth generation of the family to live there) lived at the house until the last survivor, Ophelia, died in 1973. She left the property to the state of Georgia. Since then, the marsh has reclaimed the rice fields. The plantation site was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1976 and is operated as a Georgia State Historic Site. The Georgia

manages 1,268 acres of land and 696 acres of marsh.Georgia Encyclopedia
/ref>

Photos

File:Hofwyl-Broadfield house front, Glynn County, GA, US.jpg, Front of the main house Hofwyl-Broadfield barn, Glynn County, GA, US.jpg, Barn on the plantation File:Hofwyl-Broadfield house, side, with detached kitchen, Glynn County, GA, US.jpg, Side of the main house, showing the detached kitchen GA Brunswick Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation servants01.jpg, Servant's quarters

References

* ''Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation - State Historic Site'', pamphlet by the state of Georgia

External links

Georgia State Parks
* {{National Register of Historic Places Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Glynn County, Georgia National Register of Historic Places in Glynn County, Georgia Plantations in Georgia (U.S. state) Slave cabins and quarters in the United States

History

Photos

References

Further reading

External links