Short answers, pulled from the story.
A common definition requires a property to have 50 acres or more and produce one or two cash crops for sale. Other scholars define it by the number of enslaved persons held on the land, with historians generally defining a planter as owning property and keeping 20 or more people enslaved.
In 1860, there were an estimated 46,200 plantations across the South. Of these, 20,700 had between 20 to 30 enslaved people, while only 2,300 had a workforce of a hundred or more.
The most common structures to survive are the plantation houses because they were more substantially built and architecturally interesting. The rarest survivors are agricultural and lesser domestic structures, especially those dating from the pre-Civil War era.
Sugar plantations were most commonly found in Louisiana. From one-quarter to one-half of all sugar consumed in the United States came from these plantations, which utilized steam-powered mills to crush sugarcane stalks.
On larger plantations, an overseer represented the planter in matters of daily management and was responsible for distributing food, tools, clothing, and medical care. They ensured production quotas were met and eliminated social disorder through rigid discipline and frequent punishment.