 Plantations typically consisted of a nearly self-sufficient community including the head iron master, workers and their families, and other shopkeepers, blacksmiths, and agricultural workers needed to sustain mining and smelting operations as well as life on the plantation.Plantations were foremost land-intensive operations, commonly comprising thousands of acres.The grounds were typically defined by a conspicuous mansion, belonging to the iron master, which looked out on the charcoal furnace or iron forge from atop a geographically higher location.