Cotton Press, Cotton processing machine in Latta, United States.

The Cotton Press is a wooden, mule-powered screw press built around 1798 for baling ginned cotton. It is made of pegged and doweled oak, with a hand-chiseled oak screw 16 inches (406 mm) in diameter. Four beams form a pyramidal frame around the screw, and two long shingled booms called "buzzard wings" extend outward; mules or oxen turned the screw to compress cotton into a wooden frame. A small rectangular shingled hip roof protects the machinery.

Built around 1798 at Berry's Crossroad south of Latta, the press was made for baling ginned cotton, either by or for Stephen Berry or "Buck Swamp" John Bethea. A descendant of Stephen Berry moved it about 2.5 miles west in 1950 to private land on the south side of South Carolina Highway 38. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 1972.

Local accounts tie the press to two names: it was built around 1798 for "Buck Swamp" John Bethea, a cotton planter, and later belonged to Stephen Berry, whose family moved it in 1950. The long hinged poles are called "buzzard wings", and mules or oxen walked in circles to turn them.

The site stands in open countryside and is easily reachable from nearby roads. Visitors should expect an outdoor location exposed to weather, so plan accordingly for sun, rain, or wind.

The press is the only surviving cotton press of its era in South Carolina. A comparable wooden press stands on the Town Common in Tarboro, North Carolina, and another antebellum press at Magnolia Plantation near Derry, Louisiana, lacks the buzzard wings and instead rotates its base to compress the cotton.