The Sugar Mill

The Sugar Mill. . , In the 1840s, the Patton family slaves built this factory to produce sugar and molasses from sugarcane. Today, you can still see the outline of its foundation., Only the wealthiest planters could afford the massive investment of a sugar mill and its steam-driven crushers. At its height, this sugar mill produced 275 barrels of raw sugar per year. They also sold the molasses, which they drained from the sugar into special cisterns. Later, after the Civil War, property managers updated the equipment and continued to produce sugar here. However, after slavery, production quickly declined., What Was It Like To Work Here? , The sugar harvest was a race against winter. The crop was ready in mid-October and had to be cut before the first freeze. Field slaves worked from sunup to sundown cutting and hauling the cane. At the Mill, slaves worked around the clock, feeding the cane into mechanized cane crushers. A few slaves worked as mechanics to keep the mill's cane crushers and boilers working properly., What Are Those Big Iron Pots? , Slaves boiled cane juice in a series of large iron evaporation kettles set in brickwork over a hot furnace. Slaves carefully strained away the impurities that floated to the top and ladled the syrup into the next kettle. The master sugar maker determined when it was time to move the concentrated syrup to cool in shallow wooden tanks.