Rice Trunk

Rice trunks were used to flood and drain rice fields. To flood a field, the gate on the river side was raised while the other was lowered, and water flowed into the field through the trunk at high tide. To drain the field, the gates were switched and water flowed out at low tide. Enslaved Africans brought this technology with them from the “Rice Coast” of West Africa.

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina · United States