Hofwyl Broadfield Plantation

Friday 24 May
This morning we visited Hofwyl Broadfield Plantation, near Brunswick on the mainland, on the banks of the Altamaha River. It’s not a grand plantation as you tend to think of with southern Plantations, in fact for much of its existence the family struggled to stay solvent, but it has an interesting history. The acres of moss laden Live Oak trees, remnants of rice levees and a dairy operation, and seven nineteenth century buildings, hint at the impactful story of Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation.
This beautiful plantation represents the history and culture of Georgia’s rice coast. In the early 1800s, using enslaved African laborers, William Brailsford of Charleston carved a rice plantation from marshes along the Altamaha River. Rice cultivation, however, is labor intensive, and so after the Civil war, with the loss of enslaved labour, the family struggled to keep it going.
Ultimately, the enterprising siblings of the fifth generation at Hofwyl-Broadfield resolved to start a dairy rather than sell their family home. The efforts of Gratz, Miriam and Ophelia Dent led to the preservation of their family legacy. Ophelia was the last heir to the rich traditions of her ancestors, and she left the plantation to the state of Georgia in 1973.
We started with a film at the visitor centre, the drove across to the house - normally you would walk, but the staff said, since the horse flies are out, they were allowing people to drive! We had an interesting and informative guided tour of the house, then you were free to explore the outbuildings on your own, with the aid of numerous information panels.
In the afternoon, we cycled virtually the length of the island down to St. Andrew’s Beach at the southern tip.