From the 18th century until c. 1920, African American farmers grew rice in nearby fields. While not a major cash crop in this part of S.C., rice was a staple on local plantations, where enslaved people grew it using African methods. After the Civil War, most freed people here worked as tenants and sharecroppers, and some continued to grow rice for household consumption and sale to merchants. Freed people and their descendants grew rice on at least 18 fields, most less than 1 acre in size. Most Mars Bluff farmers cleared fields where rainwater accumulated and watered as needed from wells and ditches, rather than rely on canals and reservoirs. Grown on land unsuited for cotton, rice provided African Americans in Mars Bluff a measure of economic and community independence.