Pluff Mud

Pluff mud is a South Carolina low country term for the marshlands’ oozy, slippery, viscous, slimy, shiny brown-gray, sucky mud.  It apparently has a distinctive smell of sea salt, decaying grasses and decomposing shellfish (or, as a local author put it, “is a sweet, pungent, distinctive odor that emanates and combines with the damp, salt air...—a comforting symbol of home.”).  Pluff mud was the “ground” in which South Carolina rice (“Carolina Gold”) was raised, and the reason rice is no longer grown here.

We left the lovely Georgetown, SC (population less than 10,000) this morning during low tide (so we can ride the rising tide to Myrtle Beach).  While in Georgetown, we met Steve and Kathy (MV “Red Pearl”) for a lunch of Southern cuisine at the “River Room” restaurant (Shrimp and Grits, Creole Shrimp and New Orleans Bread Pudding for dessert!) followed by a tour of the Georgetown Rice Museum (our tour guide was from Wisconsin!). 

From the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s, Georgetown was the major port in the US for exporting and shipping rice (thus, Wealth with a capital W!).  The rice industry developed through the skills, knowledge and labor of enslaved people (Gullah) who came from the rice-growing African country of Senegal (as well as through the vision and business acumen of land owners/investors).  Rice fields were created by removing cypress tree forests, tilling through the pluff mud (Oxen wore special “shoes” to plod through it), creating irrigation canals with gate systems, harvesting stations, markets and shipping lanes (despite the threat of pirates).  Establishing a rice field was a 10-year process and plantation owners could cashflow such a project through their indigo crop (another high value crop for creating navy dye; grown on higher ground; sold mainly to Great Britain’s aristocracy and military).  After the Civil War, the rice industry began to disappear.  Mechanization to plow through pluff mud couldn’t be developed to replace the physical labor of oxen and slaves.

It’s a sunny, calm and comfortable day to cruise to Myrtle Beach.  We have reservations to stay at the Barefoot Marina tonight and look forward to some shopping time at “Barefoot Landing.

As we cruise the ICW, we are more aware of the cypress trees and land around us...it was this kind of environment from which rice fields were developed, despite the water, humidity, insects, snakes, pluff mud, and other obstacles and risks.

Velsignet was anchored in the harbor of Georgetown.  Our anchors-- having been set in the soft pluff muddy bottom, needed a good washing when lifted.

Next to the "River Room" restaurant was the Francis Marion Park, honoring a man who led others in fighting the British in the Revolutionary War.  Francis Marion is the inspiration behind Mel Gibson's film "The Patriot."

Georgetown's Clock Tower is an icon of the town's skyline
(as well as the rusting but thriving paper mill located to the west of the town).

At the Rice Museum, our Wisconian guide explained very well the history of the rice industry in Georgetown and its surrounding areas.

The diorama's at the Rice Museum were well done!  Rice fields were irrigated with fresh water using the power from the rising tides (salt water tide pushed fresh water back into the rivers, rising levels multiple feet).  This diorama depicts workers (slaves) constructing the gate in one of the irrigation canals.  

The Rice Museum is located in the former Kaminski Hardware Store; the Kaminski family was a wealthy and influential family in the town.

On the 3rd floor of the Rice Museum/Hardware Store is this skeleton of the Brown's Ferry Vessel which was recovered from the Black River.  Built in the early 1700s and sunk in approximately 1730, this is the oldest vessel of colonial manufacture on exhibit in America.  It measured 50 feet long and was carrying bricks and grinding stones (34 ton).

A window view towards Georgetown's pleasant Harborwalk.

Looking into nearby neighborhoods, streets from most every direction were canopied with live oak trees.  

As we left Georgetown this morning, the harbor was calm and peaceful.

Passing the marina, Kathy came out of "Red Pearl" to wave us a farewell.  We've enjoyed our time with the Hollenbergs in Charleston and Georgetown:  Good food, easy conversation, and fierce card games of pinochle!

As we pass the grasslands along the ICW, we recognize canals that served what was once rice fields.
The waterway was calm this morning, reminding us of home at Long Lake. 
What a beautiful place this is and what a beautiful place we live at home in Minnesota!