Back to top

Exploring the Rustic Life. Multidisciplinary Research at Millwood Plantation

Report Number
844
Year of Publication
1987
County
Abstract

Six hypotheses are presented and evaluated using archaeological, historical, and biocultural data collected from Millwood Plantation and two small satellite sites located within the flood pool of the Richard B. Russell Reservoir currently being constructed. Millwood Plantation, located along the Savannah River in Abbeville County, South Carolina and Elbert County, Georgia, was owned and operated by James Edward Calhoun from 1832 until his death in 1889. After Calhoun's death, a number of tenants and sharecroppers remained on the estate. The two small sites (38AB12 and 9EB253) are related to this settlement and perhaps to an earlier use of the property during the operation of the plantation. Detailed historical and archaeological analyses are used to address the hypotheses and a picture of Millwood Plantation as a social and historical entity during the nineteenth century is offered.