Fanner Basket

Early 19th century

From the early 18th century until the late 19th, South Carolina was the leading producer of rice in the southern Atlantic. The fertile low-lying land along the coast provided an ideal environment for its cultivation.

Much of the knowledge involved in growing and harvesting rice was brought across the Atlantic by enslaved people from the rice-producing areas of West Africa. Aside from the actual farming process, which was highly labor-intensive, the harvesting of the rice presented a protracted and laborious exercise in itself.

Rice was a delicate crop and needed careful handling during the milling process. Enslaved Africans, particularly women, first pounded the rice gently with a mortar and pestle to loosen the husks. Then it was transferred to a flat, coiled basket, made from bulrush and palmetto leaves, where it was shaken and tossed upward in a process called winnowing to allow the husks to fly away in the wind.

The basket in the Drayton Hall Collection was actually one used by enslaved people of African descent to mill rice grown on the plantation here. Charles Drayton, who together with his brother sold Drayton Hall to the National Trust in 1974, donated the basket to Drayton Hall in 1986.