This is an informative, short video about harvesting “Carolina Gold” rice at Middleton Plantation near Charleston, South Carolina. I used the grounds of Middleton Plantation as inspiration for the grounds of Leighlin Plantation in the Jack Mallory Chronicles, while I used Middleton’s plantation house as inspiration for Wildwood Plantation’s manor house in my stories.
Like Middleton Plantation, Leighlin Plantation grows rice as one of its staple crops (a new crop to the region in the late 17th century), though “Gold” rice specifically wasn’t introduced until the early 18th century. However, the growing/harvesting process would have been the same for any type of rice grown in the Charleston region at that time.
I wish this video went through the whole process from planting to growing to harvesting to polishing, etc., but the video is still awesome in its abbreviated form.
