Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation — Attraction in Brunswick

A huge disappointment. Visiting Howfyl was an opportunity for us to learn more about the rice plantation, different than the sugar cane and the cotton ones. So we thought ! What a disappointment. Even thought the guided tour lasted an hour the content was very superficial focusing mainly on the last owners, not mentioning the shameful beginning of the story meaning slavery. Very little on the rice industry (a few comments on pannels at the end of the tour). The rest of the history is completely absent from the narrative! The guide who has the responsibility of sharing the knowledge and educate people about the history of the place should know better. Much better than this tiresome motto ! "Why would they treat badly their slaves ? They were expensive, they were given food, clothes and a place to live". Not the first time that I am hearing this nonesense distortion of the reality in the Southern plantations! Madame, as a guide you have the duty of giving factual information. The story you share was very romanticise even if the part focused on women was interesting. Not mentioning that this estate, its worth and its developement was made on the back of enslaved people. The history of the place should be complete otherwise this is just another pretty house ! This is not Disneyland where you work, but an historical place, a witness from the past. Denying the role played by the enslaved people is an insult to their memory. When asked even the basic questions about slavery and their work on the property, noone at the reception could answer any of the questions! My advice is that you seriously start learning the history of this country with proper sources of information especially while working in a...

Of all the wonderful things we did and saw visiting the Golden Isles, this was our favorite. Our 10 YO DAUGHTER agreed! Anyone with tweens knows that’s a magical occurrence 🤣👏. We are history buffs so the fact that this plantation is intact and its original form, including furnishings is really amazing. The fact that it was owned by five generations of the same family is also amazing. They left it to the State of Georgia and that was generous indeed. It’s wonderful. And who knew Jewish families were involved in plantation life? I didn’t, and I’ve visited and studied a great many and my husband has a Masters in History from a Southern University and he didn’t know either. How the generations of this family but particularly the women in the family chose creative, cooperative and logical ways to escape wars, financial collapses, changing agriconomy as well as natural disasters and disease is remarkable. Get this: First person to ever install window screens understanding mosquitos caused malaria? THIS FAMILY. Brilliance is when common sense leads to a massive breakthrough in my opinion. If their legacy isn’t proof this was weird and wonderfully different and brilliant bunch, the window screens confirmed it for me. Moreover, the cookbook they sell at the gift shop if just beautiful! It contains the history of the family, as well as their recipes and it does a beautiful job of translating historical measurements to modern cooking conventions. Well...

The people leading the tour we're great. The people in the house giving even more information on the house were good as well.... HOWEVER.. there were two people in back of the tour that kept pushing me like I was cattle.. . I was told one thing by the tour guides wife and the fat guy in back was telling me I couldn't, ( example - sitting on a tree branch ) .. after the tour. We were told we could stroll around on our own and look the place over ,( as far as I heard , no time limit was set ) being a history buff that's exactly what My fiance and I did.. . After exploring the dairy barn ,we went to see one one the huge oaks.. at which time the fat guy ( wish I had caught his name so I wouldn't have to use that description ) .. came out of the dark and asked in an accusation kinda way what we were doing with the water system.. what water system ? All we saw was a huge tank on the way to the huge oak. Then we were informed that we had to go and leave.. Can't help it that as history buffs we stayed longer than the others. But his rudeness the entire tour was seriously uncalled for ... I'm guessing he has a thing against long haired guys who are also 10 year Army veterans... Not to mention My fiance works for the Glynn county sheriff's Dept.. somebody needs to either put a leash on him and the woman with him or just remove them from the tour.. their attitudes sucked and at no time were they of any help.. Other than for those two.....