Water Buffalos Return to Historic Middleton Place

For Immediate Release, May 2007
www.middletonplace.org
Water Buffalos Return to Historic Middleton Place


Visitors to Middleton Place National Historic Landmark will now be able to see and learn how water buffaloes once worked in the rice fields of the 18th century plantation. Two water buffalo calves have been added to the other agricultural animals at Middleton Place this month, adding yet another dimension to the historical accuracy of the site.

Prior to the Civil War, water buffaloes worked to prepare the rice fields on the Middleton family plantation near Charleston, SC. The presence of water buffaloes were documented in several letters written by Williams Middleton. The water buffaloes at Middleton Place were from Constantinople (now Istanbul)and are likely to have been the first brought to the United States.

“We are excited to expand our interpretive program here at Middleton Place,” said Shon Rainford, V.P. Operations. “Visitors now will be able to learn about the importance of the water buffalo in rice production and how agriculture was performed more than a century and a half ago here on the plantation.” Rainford’s research on the usage of water buffaloes at Middleton Place led him to several letters written by Williams Middleton. The earliest, written in 1854 to his sister in Philadelphia, documents an attack by a water buffalo bull on a mare. In another letter, written in 1870 to his cousin Jane, Middleton writes about the water
buffaloes taken by Union troops during the Civil War. He writes, “I believe I informed you of the fact that the water cattle or ‘buffaloes de Valachie’ now in Central Park in New York are my property, having been driven off … from M.P. when that portion of our country was invaded…”

The two new water buffaloes at Middleton Place were donated by the President of the American Water Buffalo Association (AWBA). Until recently, when the AWBA learned of the existence of the Middleton letters, it was believed that the first water buffalo were imported in 1975. The Middleton letters prove an earlier existence and add another chapter to the history of water buffalo in the United States.

The new Middleton Place water buffaloes, both males, have been given the Turkish names of Adem, which means “Earth” and Berk, meaning “Solid.” Visitors can see the water buffalo from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. daily. For additional information, please call (843) 556-6020 or visit the website at www.middletonplace.org.