Ford Plantation
Richmond Hill, Georgia
Federal, state and local laws require public agencies and private developers to mitigate, or lessen, the impact of development on cultural resources. Creative mitigation often involves using exhibits, books, popular reports, and brochures. At Henry Ford's former plantation, an intensive educational curriculum served as part of a mitigative initiative.
In 1925, Henry Ford purchased a large tract of land in Bryan County, Georgia. He built a lovely home and workshop and developed an experimental farm. His contributions to the local community included a carpentry shop, lumber mill, kindergarten, schools, restoration of a Civil War battery, and even health care for the residents.
Currently, his former plantation is being developed as a restrictive high-end residential community with riding trails, championship golf courses, and other recreational venues. The first stages of development included archaeological investigations at four colonial and antebellum plantation sites. Excavations focused on the slave villages and, along with intensive archival research, concluded with the production of three significant archaeological reports.
The Ford Plantation educational materials provide a series of lessons about archaeology and history to Bryan County's fourth- and sixth-graders. Each series includes PowerPoint presentations, a plantation history booklet, lesson plans, student handouts (and answer sheets for the teachers), and a complete bibliography. Supported by a set of classroom books about archaeology and plantation life, the materials meet many of the objectives required under Georgia's social studies and science curriculum guides. Three poster-size panels create a table-top classroom display.