True Blue Plantation, Archaeological Data Recovery at a Waccamaw Neck Rice Plantation

True Blue Plantation, a nineteenth century rice plantation in Georgetown County, South Carolina, currently lies within the on-going development area of Heritage Plantation, a recreational and residential resort community near Pawleys Island. Archaeological data recovery activites were undertaken at True Blue Plantation (38GE372) prior to the development of this portion of the Heritage property. Exploratory excavations were conducted in four separate areas within the site that were previously determined to contain potential intact cultural deposits through archaeological testing. Intact deposits were encountered in two of these areas. Two small prehistoric features were removed from the northwestern portion of the site; these features appear to represent shell fish disposal pits related to an Early to Middle Woodland occupation at 38GE372.
The remains of a small eighteenth century structure were encountered in a separate portion of the site. These remains consisted of a tabby chimney base, puddled clay and tabby floors, postmolds/holes, and a variety of eighteenth and early nineteenth century artifacts. The presence of a wide variety of colonial ceramics, Colono-Indian ceramics, and functionally specific artifacts suggested that this structure represented a kitchen that served the plantation during the early years of its operation. Remains recovered from this structure were compared to assemblages from other plantations on Waccamaw Neck in an effort to establish an archaeological characterization of the various components of the societies engaged in rice agriculture in the region throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.