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This rice mill chimney is significant as one of seven known extant rice mill chimneys in Georgetown County, for its unusual construction, and for its association with Fairfield, one of several productive plantations on the Waccamaw River. Fairfield was originally one of the holdings of Joseph Allston, one of the wealthiest and most successful planters on Waccamaw Neck. One of the first pounding mills in South Carolina, run by water power, was built at Fairfield ca. 1790. It is not known whether this extant rice mill chimney served an early mill which was converted from water power to steam power. The chimney is one of two extant rice mill chimneys in Georgetown County which is not square shaped (The other is located at Brookgreen Gardens), but is octagonal. The chimney is approximately 35’ high, an average height for this property subtype. The original corbeling and a portion of the bricks at the top are missing. An arched opening for the firebox is located at the west side of the chimney. In the 1930s the Fairfield rice mill, with its steam engine, boiler, and other machinery, was dismantled and removed from its site on the Waccamaw River. It was taken to Dearborn, Michigan, reassembled, refurbished, and put back into operation as a museum exhibit in Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village. Fairfield is now part of Arcadia Plantation. Listed in the National Register October 3, 1988.

View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property. In addition, the Historic Resources of the Georgetown County Rice Culture, ca. 1750-ca. 1910 includes historical background information for this and other related National Register properties.

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