Bulow Plantation Sugar Mill (#0466)

The size of the mill can be seen by noting that there is a park ranger in this picture under an arch, to the left and down a little from the center. The processing (by slaves) was dangerous since it involved cutting and crushing the raw cane to extract juice, the use of massive boilers to cook the juice and release its sugars as molasses, extended processes for separating sugar from the molasses, and the shipment of the sugar in large barrels (call hogsheads) that weighed up to 1000 pounds. At Bulow, 200 slaves were involved in this sweaty and back-breaking process.
I found most of the park to be under-documented, though the areas around the sugar mill had multiple and very instructive placards. I also found the park to be seemingly very-understaffed, but the ranger that in this picture was very helpful in describing what the area would have looked like when it was in operation, the other plantations that existed in the area, and the current status of the parks in the area. He noted that the time when I visited in May was already into the time when winter tourists, who typically filled the park, had headed home due to the encroaching heat.

(Part of a photo-essay series on personal history and race, with keyword FlaAla0518)