Texas Sugar Plantation in Brazoria County

Miss Elodie, like her great-great-great-great-grandmother and namesake, is passionate about sugar. She likes to think that sugarcane juice runs through her veins as she thinks about sugar almost every waking moment and is the descendent of four generations of sugar planters. This heritage and a general fascination has inspired her to explore the subject extensively in both an academic and professional capacity.

As part of her sugar mania, Miss Elodie has visited several historic plantations and even a sugar refinery in Louisiana. Recently she had the opportunity to see a fairly intact property at the Varner-Hogg Plantation in Brazoria, Texas.

Over the years this property passed through several hands over the years from original "Old 300" settler Martin Varner to former Texas Gov. James Hogg and his daughter the philanthropist Miss Ima Hogg who willed the estate to the people of the state of Texas. Now a state park, Varner Hogg features the main house, a few outbuildings, family cemetery, and what is left of the sugar mill.

Included here is a picture of the house taken from the site of the sugar mill ruins. The fashionably dressed lady is Miss Elodie's friend Miss Laurie and a gentleman of her acquaintance.



The thumbnails below are of an iron kettle known as a "grande" used to boil sugarcane juice and the remains of the sugar mill foundations and chimneys.