Jarrell Plantation facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Jarrell Plantation
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 Location in Georgia (U.S. state)
Location in the United States
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| Location | 711 Jarrell Plantation Road, East Juliette, Georgia, U.S. |
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| Area | 200 acres (81 ha) |
| Built | 1847, 1895, 1920 |
| Built by | John Fitz Jarrell, Benjamin Richard "Dick" Jarrell, |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000624 |
| Added to NRHP | May 9, 1973 |
The Jarrell Plantation State Historic Site is a special place in Juliette, Georgia, United States. It used to be a large farm, known as a cotton plantation, where cotton was grown. This farm was started by John Jarrell, and enslaved African American people were forced to work there.
Today, the Jarrell Plantation is one of the best examples of a "middle class" Southern plantation that has been kept in great condition. All the buildings and items you see there belonged to the Jarrell family. They farmed this land for more than 140 years. The site is located in the red clay hills of Georgia's Piedmont region. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is also a Georgia state park in Jones County.
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The Jarrell Family Farm
Before the Civil War, John Jarrell's farm was one of many cotton farms in the Southern United States. Together, these farms grew two-thirds of the world's cotton. John Jarrell, like many smaller farmers, benefited from the invention of the cotton gin in 1793. This machine, invented by Eli Whitney, made it much easier to clean cotton. This meant farmers could grow cotton even in hilly areas of Georgia.
John Jarrell's Beginnings
John Fitz Jarrell built the first main building on the farm in 1847. Like many cotton plantations before the Civil War, John Jarrell ran the farm with his family. He also used the forced labor of enslaved African people. By 1860, John Jarrell forced 39 people to work on his 660-acre farm.
Even though it was mainly a cotton farm, they also grew food crops. They also had land for their farm animals to graze. The 1860s were a very difficult time. The farm survived a serious illness called typhoid fever. It also went through events like General Sherman's march, the end of slavery (called emancipation), and the period after the war known as Reconstruction.
After the Civil War, John Jarrell continued to farm. He worked with people who had been enslaved on his farm and were now free. He even made his farm bigger, to nearly 766 acres. However, the formerly enslaved people began to leave the farm in John Jarrell's last years.
Dick Jarrell's Improvements
John Jarrell passed away in 1884. One of his sons, Benjamin Richard "Dick" Jarrell, decided to leave his teaching job. He came back home and built his own family house in 1895. The farm had been processing sugarcane since 1864. Dick Jarrell made the farm even more modern. He added a mill complex. This complex eventually included a sawmill run by steam, a cotton gin, a gristmill (for grinding grain), a shingle mill, and a planer (for smoothing wood).
In 1920, Dick Jarrell finished building a second house for his large family. He built it with the help of his five sons and two nephews. This house is 5,000 square feet in size. It was built in an 1850s style using strong heart pine wood.
Becoming a Historic Site
In 1974, Dick Jarrell's nine children who were still alive decided to donate the plantation to the State of Georgia. They wanted to make sure the farm was kept safe. They also wanted future generations to learn about their family's history.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources now manages the historic site. It is 200 acres in size. The site is open to the public from Thursday through Sunday. You can see many buildings and structures there. These include the farmhouse, a sawmill, a cotton gin, a gristmill, a shingle mill, a planer, a sugar cane press, a syrup evaporator, a workshop, a barn, and other smaller buildings.
Images for kids
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Site map
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Panoramic view
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Visitor's Center
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The 1847 House
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The 1895 House
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The barn
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The Gin House
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Floor plan of the mill complex
