About Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation State Historic Site
Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation State Historic Site is located on the banks of the Altamaha River in Georgia, preserving the history of Georgia’s rice coast. In the early 1800s, William Brailsford established a rice plantation using enslaved African laborers, cultivating rice in marshlands for decades. After the Civil War, rice cultivation declined, but the family continued farming until 1913, when the fifth-generation siblings transitioned to a dairy operation to preserve their home. Ophelia Dent, the last heir, bequeathed the property to the state of Georgia in 1973.
The site includes seven 19th-century buildings, remnants of rice levees, and acres of moss-draped live oak trees. A museum displays family silver and a model of the original estate, while a short film introduces the plantation’s history. Visitors can take a guided tour of the antebellum home, furnished with family heirlooms, 18th- and 19th-century furniture, and Cantonese china. A nature trail winds along the edge of the marsh where rice once grew, leading back to the Visitor Center. Leashed pets are permitted on trails but not in buildings.