Eliza Lucas Pinckney: Colonial Plantation Manager and Mother of American Patriots, 1722-1793

by Margaret F. Pickett

In 1739, Major George Lucas moved from Antigua to Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and two daughters. Soon after their arrival, England declared war on Spain and he was recalled to Antigua to join his regiment. His wife in poor health, he left his daughter Eliza, 17, in charge of his three plantations. Following his instructions, she began experimenting with plants at the family estate on Wappoo Creek. She succeeded in growing indigo and producing a rich, blue dye from the leaves, thus bringing a profitable new cash crop to Carolina planters. While her accomplishments were rare for a young lady of the 18th century, they were not outside the scope of what was expected of a woman at that time. This biography, drawn from her surviving letters and other sources, chronicles Eliza Pinckney's life and explores the 18th century world she inhabited.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published July 21, 2016

Reviews

[Mary Pat Deutschmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished The Indigo Girl and found this to be an outstanding follow up. Just loved it!

Would definitely recommend this book be read before or after the reading of "The Indigo Girl". Excellent, I learned so much.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and fast moving biography of a very admirable lady. I picked this book up after reading her letterbook, being interested in getting a more complete story of this amazing woman's life, and this book did not disappoint. Eliza Lucas Pinckney was an intelligent, strong and accomplished woman from her teenage years with her experiments in indigo as a cash crop in colonial South Carolina. Over the course of her life, she raised three children, numerous grandchildren, and managed many different plantations, many on her own. I recommend this book to anyone interested in women's history or Eliza Lucas Pinckney herself.

[Sally Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book esp for those of us that are tired of her story only focusing on her efforts to manage 3 plantations and raise indigo in the low country of South Carolina in her teens. This was indeed heroic and notable but she lived a full life after these exploits. I enjoyed reading a more thorough biography of her.
The writing was quite good and readable especially for a non-fiction history. I can highly recommend.
Sally M. Duffy

[Maureen K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

History an incredible woman.

A detailed account of the woman who brought indigo to South Carolina. The history of revolutionary war is most interesting. I did not know much about S.C. and the revolution. An excellent account of Ms. Pincneys life. It was good to read after the Indigo Girl, as it gave the rest of the story...as Paul Harvey says

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great biography of an 18th century woman and American history from South Carolina's perspective. I enjoyed the book a lot up until about halfway when it started getting into too much details about the Revolutionary war, which is definitely interesting but not what I signed up for when I bought this book.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because I will be leading the discussion on the novel "The Indigo Girl" for my neighborhood book club near the end of this month. Since that novel was historical fiction about Eliza Lucas Pinckney, I wanted to know more about the "real" Eliza. This bio was rather dry but did confirm some things that had been in the novel.

[Carol Barker]

Great review of history and biography of a strong, brilliant woman.