Georgetown SC Rice Fields - Forgotten Fields by Aerial Videographer Steve Tanner

Beginning in the colonial era, Georgetown was the commercial center of an indigo and rice-producing area. Rice replaced indigo as the chief commodity crop in the antebellum area. Georgetown County was home to some of the largest slave-holding plantations in the state, averaging between 200 and 500 slaves each.
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Steve Tanner / Aerial Videographer
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[@GeecheeMuslimah5]

Great photography. I descend from the enslaved people from Georgetown, Kingstree, and further south along the coast.

[@hiddennature]

Thanks. I don’t think people realize the sacrifice it took to cultivated those fields and to think it was all a forest before it was cleared

[@planetcoasterboycj7274]

With today's technology and modern equipment these rice fields could be revived WITHOUT slaves. Someone should eventually try to revive one of them just for historical purposes and make it into a museum.

[@williamnewell7784]

Played golf around an old plantation there. Willbrook? Beautiful place.

[@hiddennature]

I haven’t heard of that one! Maybe you meant Wedgefield!

[@mmaples4203]

the ground was way too soft to industrialize the rice production.. after the slaves left it was a lost business. I learned this just today at the Rice Museum in Georgetown SC. If you ever get the chance you would love the education.

[@hoodoo_taco]

Nicely accomplished! Stunning views and professional drone piloting skills that capture the forgotten times and history of the area.

[@hiddennature]

Thanks Bird's Eye. Those rice fields are truly beautiful in summer.

[@dvrmte]

The slaves fleeing the rice fields isn't the reason for the decline in rice production in South Carolina. It started when Europe opened the Asia rice markets in the early 1800s. By the 1840s the federal government began buying rice and passed legislation for protective tariffs on rice in order to save the industry. The Civil War had the biggest impact on rice production, mainly the lack of money needed to repair and update the infrastructure.

[@hiddennature]

Thanks for the insight. Interesting! I didn’t mean to imply that slavery was the defining factor for the decline. As you pointed out there were others. Why didn’t plantation owners hire people to tend the fields after slave labor was abolished?

[@dvrmte]

@@hiddennature They did hire people after Emancipation. They were still growing small amounts of rice 100 years ago in South Carolina. Other crops didn't grow well in rice growing areas. Black laborers moved on to other areas and crops. After rice failed those regions became some of the poorest in the US.

[@suryaputrasumarno3755]

is that a saltwater canal? anyway, there is a beautiful South Carolina landscape.... good job Steve.

[@hiddennature]

Yes, the rice canals rise and fall with the tide. Cheers!

[@eddiebarnett2217]

It was a hurricane that ended the rice industry.. marsh lands got slammed with salt water..

[@zygo44]

The hurricane of 1910 was the final nail in the coffin but they would have recovered. The end of slavery is what caused the rice industry in the south to fail. They couldn't the labor cost without slaves.