Paul,

I concur completely and am glad you posted this. Like many of us on  
this list, we have all read hundreds if not thousands of wills and  
deeds and I find no difference between the term plantation and farm  
in the records from this era.  Thanks to Gone With The Wind, the term  
*plantation* has come to be synominous with Tara.

Craig Kilby

On Jun 30, 2009, at 9:07 AM, Paul Heinegg wrote:

> If the common usage of a term defines its meaning, then wills and  
> deeds prior to about 1850 refer to a plantation as any tract of  
> land which was planted. An 1806 will refers to a plantation of 19  
> acres, an 1807 will refers to a plantation of 15 acres, and the  
> words farm and plantation were used interchangeably in an 1844 will.
> One could determine the common usage by reading enough wills and  
> deeds from the period in question.
> Paul
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