Slaves from family plantations near Tallahassee were brought to work Robert Gamble's plantation along the Manatee River. Gamble bought modern machinery from New Orleans for the sugar refinery. The annual capacity was about 1500 "hogshead," or barrels of sugar.
Sugar cane requires lots of sun and water. Situated near the Manatee River, Gamble's Plantation was perfectly located. Once the sugar cane was harvested, large rollers (like those pictured here) were used to extract the cane juice. Then the juice would be refined into sugar.
The sugar cane rollers pictured above were donated to the Gamble Plantation State Park by the Manatee County Historical Society in 2002.
