Carolina Gold Rice

The Ebb and Flow History of a Lowcountry Cash Crop

Richard Schulze

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781609496203
• eBook ISBN: 9781625844514
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Carolina Gold, the celebrated variety of rice established in the South Carolina Lowcountry, perhaps saved the fledgling colony at the beginning of the eighteenth century and remained integral to the local economy for nearly two hundred years. However, the labor required to produce it encouraged the establishment of slavery, ultimately contributing to the region's economic collapse following the Civil War. Richard Schulze, who reintroduced this crop in South Carolina after nearly a century's absence, provides this fascinating inside story of an industry that helped build some of the largest fortunes in America. Drawing on both historical research and personal experience, Schulze reveals the legacy of this once-forgotten Lowcountry icon.

Part I

The Rise and Fall of Carolina Gold

The story of Carolina Gold rice, from its introduction into the colony of South Carolina until the final demise of the industry and culture, is shrouded in mysteries and misconceptions. Certainly its origins are unclear. Rice, oryza savita, has been the principal cereal of mankind for uncounted years. The remains of cultivated rice dating from around 5000 BC have been identified in eastern China and northern India. Over the following seven millennia, rice spread throughout the world.

When and from where rice was initially brought into South Carolina is not at all clear. Sir William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia, first introduced rice to the colonies in 1647. Since there was an active trade between the colonies, it is reasonable to assume that some rice may have entered the Lowcountry of coastal South Carolina through that route. However, since rice cultivation in Virginia was not a success and there is no documentation of rice growing in the Carolinas before the end of the 1600s, any attempts would have been abortive. There is, however, ample documentation that the Lords Proprietors, the titled financial backers of the colony, desired the introduction of rice from the inception of the colony and early attempts at cultivation were made. Since rice is somewhat difficult to grow, harvest and process, a rice industry would not have suddenly flourished.

Traditionally, it has been thought that the first successful introduction of rice into the Carolina colony occurred in 1685, when a Liverpool-bound brigantine sailing from Madagascar was badly damaged by a storm and blown off course; it set into the port of Charles Towne for repairs. The ship, which was of American origin, was probably not legally trading, as the British law at that time forbade trade outside of the colonies and the British Isles. The vessel, a two-masted and square-rigged vessel, most likely encountered a tropical storm during the summer months. Dr. Henry Woodward apparently befriended the captain, John Thurber, because the records show that he gave a “gentleman of the name of Woodward” a peck of seed rice. According to A.S. Salley Jr., a historian who researched the subject, Woodward proceeded to grow this in his garden in the city and was able in a short time to produce a very good crop, which he then distributed to friends to plant.

Dr. Henry Woodward, a ship’s surgeon, was a man of remarkable achievements. Arriving in Barbados at the age of nineteen in 1665, he joined the Barbadians near the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. With Robert Sanford, he then sailed to Port Royal to explore the coast of South Carolina in 1666. After Sanford’s departure, he remained behind to live with the Indians for about a year until he was captured by Spaniards and taken to St. Augustine. There he was rescued, only to be subsequently shipwrecked. Finally he arrived back in Charles Towne Harbor in 1670 as a proprietor’s deputy. Understanding the importance of trade with the Indians, as well as wanting them to serve as an effective buffer between South Carolina and the Spaniards at St. Augustine, Lord Ashley Cooper, one of the Lords Proprietors, ordered Dr. Woodward to explore the interior and negotiate alliances and trade agreements. These efforts were viewed as of such importance that Dr. Woodward was even supplied with a secret code to report on his efforts.

For his successful service to the colony, Woodward was granted by the Lords Proprietors the title to two thousand acres of his choosing. He selected a tract on the Abbapoola Creek just off the Stono River on Johns Island. No trace remains of the Abbapoola Plantation.

The details of Dr. Woodward’s role in the introduction of rice is not at all clear. Assuming that Thurber’s ship entered the port during the summer months, a year would have passed before a new growing season would have allowed the seed to be cultivated. Although tradition holds that Woodward grew the rice in his garden in Charles Towne, it is more likely that it was, in fact, grown at his more suitable property on the Abbapoola Creek. During 1685, the year he was presented the rice, Woodward spent much of his time in the Carolina trading frontier. There he came down with the fever at an Indian village and was evacuated to his plantation, where he died at age forty. Thus, it is likely that he was involved with rice cultivation for only one or two seasons. He probably never had the opportunity to fully appreciate the new industry that he was so instrumental in spawning. Remarkably, no monument has ever been erected to Dr. Henry Woodward, nor has any significant site been named for him.

Giving credence to the theory that Captain Thurber may indeed have brought the first successful rice seed to Carolina is the fact that in 1715, according to Salley, a poorer Captain Thurber returned to South Carolina seeking a gratuity for “the great benefit that the province had derived from the rice seed which he had brought thereto.”The Commons House of Assembly of South Carolina recognized his contribution and granted Thurber a gratuity of one hundred pounds for bringing the first Madagascar rice into the colony. Two years later, Captain John Thurber, age sixty-eight, died and was interred in Warren, Rhode Island.

The second documented introduction of seed rice took place in the year 1696, when Charles Dubois, the treasurer of the East India Company, sent a moneybag to Carolina full of rice. Shortly thereafter, other varieties were introduced from throughout Asia, Europe and Africa, and it seems almost certain that slaves brought their own local varieties with them. Indeed, throughout the whole era of the Carolina rice industry, experiments were conducted with a wide array of varieties. For instance, President Thomas Jefferson presented the South Carolina Agricultural Society with ninety-eight different kinds of rice seed. In spite of the diverse varieties of rice introduced, it appears that the original seed, which had a golden hue when ripe, became known as “Carolina Gold,” though this is not at all certain. In fact, the term “Carolina Gold” was not in use until the period immediately preceding the American Revolution. Whatever its origin, whether the Madagascar seed or a variety derived from one of the multiple introductions that followed, Carolina Gold became the most celebrated variety. The very mystique of its origin adds to its allure.

Recently, research scientists have been able to crack the genetic code for rice. Armed with this knowledge, they soon may be able to trace the origin of Carolina Gold and either confirm or disprove its provenance as Madagascar seed.

Once established, rice became for a time the second most important source of revenue for the colonies behind tobacco. For the Lowcountry, it provided the basis for rapid economic expansion. Unfortunately, it also resulted in the commitment to one-crop agriculture, as well as to slavery—factors that later led to the industry’s demise. The colony had been established to make a profit, and profit-producing enterprises had to be found and developed. Rice certainly succeeded in that respect. Remarkably, historical statistics indicate that in 1698, 10,407 pounds of rice were exported; in 1699, 131,207 pounds; and in 1700, 394,130 pounds. This was an almost forty-fold increase in only three years. It is alleged that in 1700, the volume of rice waiting on Charleston docks for export overwhelmed the available ships.

Just as tobacco had given Maryland and Virginia the impetus for an explosive growth in population (both white and black), as well as their economies, so rice quickly became by far the most important segment of the local economy and provided South Carolina with the same vigorous economic growth. In 1747, for instance, rice accounted for 55 percent of the total export value from Carolina, with deerskins and indigo accounting for 22 and 10 percent, respectively. Very soon the industry matured, thoug...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• A Note on Illustrations
• Part I:
• Part II:
• Bibliography