In the 1840s, enslaved people of the Patton family built this factory to produce sugar and molasses from sugarcane, and the outline of its foundation is still visible today. Only the wealthiest planters could afford the massive investment required for a sugar mill and its steam-driven crushers. At its height, the mill produced 275 barrels of raw sugar per year, and molasses drained from the sugar was sold from special cisterns. After the Civil War, property managers updated the equipment and continued producing sugar here, but production quickly declined after slavery. Work at the site was intense and seasonal, as the sugar harvest became a race against winter: cane was ready in mid-October and had to be cut before the first freeze, with field slaves laboring from sunup to sundown cutting and hauling cane while others at the mill worked around the clock feeding mechanized crushers. A few enslaved workers served as mechanics to keep the crushers and boilers operating properly. In the boiling process, enslaved workers heated cane juice in a series of large iron evaporation kettles set in brickwork over a hot furnace, strained away impurities, and ladled the syrup from kettle to kettle until the master sugar maker judged it ready to cool in shallow wooden tanks.