Marshlands was a cotton plantation and mansion outside of St. Matthews, South Carolina. It was owned by the Colleton family who had had it in their possession since at least the American Revolution.
In 1914 it hosted an art exhibition featuring modernist pieces by Marcel Duchamp and other French masters, which was visited by President Woodrow Wilson.
As the Great War conscripted white men into the army, a number of better paying factory jobs became available to the black population and a number of field hands and plantation hands deserted their posts for the factories. Many of the remaining black employees of Marshlands participated in the Red Rebellion, during which Jacob Colleton was killed. They also made up the junta governing the Congaree Socialist Republic. The mansion was burned to the ground whilst the fields of cotton were neglected.
Following the quelling of the rebellion, Anne Colleton returned and attempted to continue raising a crop which was not helped by higher levels of war taxation. Former hands Cassius and Cherry returned in 1916 in an attempt to assassinate Anne and burned down the cottage in which she was living in. After her escape, Anne relocated to St. Matthews and abandoned the estate, letting the fields grow with weeds. She continued to pay taxes on the property and considered selling it to the government as the financial crisis and hyper-inflation bit during the 1920s.
Note[]
Marshlands appears to be based on Langsyne Plantation near the Congaree River North-East of St. Matthews, South Carolina
