Long before planters arrived in the region East of the Cooper and up the Hammock Coast directly to our north, Native Americans roamed the land. Today, the voices of our ancestors are echoed in the names of Winyah Bay, along with four of the five rivers that flow through Georgetown County: the Waccamaw, Pee Dee, Sampit and Santee; as well as Wampacheone Creek in Mount Pleasant. Additionally, many plantations in our area are named after hallowed places such as Hobcaw, meaning “between the waters” and Hopsewee, translated as “high point on the water.”
Between 1718 and 1860 that sacred land was altered, according to seventh generation South Carolinian and historian Paige Sawyer of Old Georgetown Walking Tours, when an influx of elite planters encroached on this Lowcountry terrain and established approximately 150 working plantations that produced crops such as indigo and rice, the latter the cash king also known as Carolina Gold. Sawyer added that by producing 50 percent of all the rice supplied throughout the Colonies, and later America, Georgetown became one of the richest counties in the country. Further, in and around Mount Pleasant, then known as Christ Church Parish, plantations such as Boone Hall prospered from cotton and brickmaking.
This wealth would have been impossible to generate without the often backbreaking work of the enslaved. With tasks such as engineering and building dikes that controlled the tides of rice fields swamped with alligators, water moccasins and invisible Cypress stumps caked in pluff mud beneath murky waters, the enslaved worked from sunup to sundown, day in and day out, before returning to the village. At Boone Hall Plantation, true descendants of the Gullah people present the history of this culture through storytelling, song and dance that is at once educational and at times moving and emotional. These Gullah ladies share uplifting spiritual messages of love and understanding, conveying how overcoming the hardships of the past have brought them to a better place today. In the words of Ms. Gloria Ford, Gullah presenter at Boone Hall, “We must leave the divisiveness of the past behind in order to move forward and claim the future.”
During the plantation era, according to John Bentley, owner of Cap’n Rod’s Lowcountry Boat Tours, roads hadn’t yet been connected by bridges, and so the rivers were the highways. Boats, barges and ferries were the simplest ways to import and export visitors, supplies and the enslaved, who, according to Mary Boyd, volunteer at the Georgetown County Museum, were bought and transported from the markets in Charleston. Consequently, plantation manor houses are built facing the waterways, and cloaked behind avenues of oak trees, are invisible from modern streets.
Following the emancipation of the enslaved in 1865, no one was left to work the fields or keep up the mansions. As a result, many plantation homes and their surrounding land fell into disrepair. Others were lost to fire, hurricanes or earthquakes. By the 1960s, according to Sawyer, those defunct properties were sold to developers to be repurposed as golf courses or suburban gated neighborhoods. Of the manor houses that remain, many have been converted into event spaces or are privately held by descendants. Of the fraction that are open to visitors, each plantation has its own haunting and vainglorious history, which current owners, caretakers, curators, volunteers and nonprofits strive to honor and preserve.
This summer, take the time to stroll the plantations’ sandy pathways lazing beneath oak trees shrouded with Spanish moss and listen for the soulful voices of the ancestors revealing the real stories behind the oft-romanticized facades of the following manor houses. Also, cruise our rivers to see how Native Americans, Africans and the planters who exploited them approached these lands. For their legacies are your true plantation tour guides. Additionally, throughout your tour of Lowcountry plantations, be aware that bug spray is essential in case the “flying teeth” are out for attack.
Boone Hall Plantation
Start your plantation journey by carving out at least an entire day to spend at Boone Hall and absorb visitor favorites, which include the “Exploring the Gullah Culture” presentation; the Historical Dwelling History Talk, discussing enslaved life at Boone Hall and the architectural significance of the cabins; a self-guided tour of the historical enslaved village (circa 1790-1810); a stroll through the gardens and so much more. As Willie McRae, who lived at Boone Hall from the time his family purchased the property in 1955 until he passed away in 2020, and who established a conservation of the grounds, once said, the plantation is a “magical, mystical place where history, beauty and grace exist altogether.” As Boone Hall’s marketing director Rick Benthall also related, “The Avenue of Oaks stand as sentinels over a diverse tapestry of cultures and traditions stitched together by time.”
Purchase tickets at boonehallplantation.com.
Hampton Plantation
A grand six-room house built in 1734, Hampton Plantation was home to the affluent Serre, Horry, Pinckney and Rutledge families. Of note, it was here that Eliza Pinckney introduced indigo to the South. Additionally, George Washington visited the property on his way to Charleston. And the back facade was used as the image for the cover of Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone With the Wind.” Walk the grounds and cemetery, enjoy a picnic under the magnolias and regard rice trunks protruding out of a brackish field. Take a tour of the house but be prepared for stifling heat as it is un-air conditioned and there is zero circulation. It’s worth the time spent if you wear something light and airy and bring a small battery-operated or paper fan and a bottle of water.
Guided tours of the mansion are at noon and 2 p.m. from Friday through Tuesday and tickets can be purchased at the onsite office located at 1950 Rutledge Road in McClellanville.
Hopsewee Plantation
Built in 1733 by Thomas Lynch, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the eight-room manor of Hopsewee Plantation is situated on a bluff overlooking the North Santee River. Enjoy a tour of the air-conditioned house and museum; explore the restored enslaved cabins equipped with benches where you can sit and reflect on the history of the space; and make sure to stop for lunch or high tea at the Tea Room. As a bonus, every Wednesday at 4 p.m. owner Raejean Beattie curates Wine on the River, followed by a haunted tour of the house at 5 p.m. with acclaimed author Elizabeth Huntsinger wearing period dress. Both experiences are musts on this tour of plantations.
Visit hopsewee.com to book your tickets and reserve a table and ghostsofgeorgetown.com to secure your spot on Huntsinger’s ghost tour.
Mansfield Plantation
Mansfield Plantation is a privately-owned property that is not open to the public and is only accessible to its bed and breakfast guests by boat or car. Set two miles off the highway, the manor, built in 1756, is surrounded by an enslaved village with a chapel, a kitchen house, stables, a winnowing house, a schoolhouse for the planter’s eight children and tutor and old rice fields backing up to the Black River. Unique to Mansfield is a network of roads that once linked the property with neighboring plantations as a means for socializing and sharing supplies and labor. Bike or hike these historic trails or relax with a good book in the hammock while enjoying a peaceful breeze coming off the marsh.
Visit mansfieldplantation.com to reserve your room.
Hobcaw Barony
Plan to spend at least a day at Hobcaw Barony visiting its two mansions, Bellefield and Hobcaw House, as well as Friendfield Village, an intact former slave village, along with a stretch of the old King’s Highway which connected Boston to New York and Charleston. Once divided into 11 different plantations, the Barony now boasts 16,000 acres of forests, swamps, wetlands and ecological systems, which are all in conservation easement. Before you visit, learn about the intricate history of the property by reading “Baroness of Hobcaw: The Life of Belle W. Baruch,” by Mary E. Miller.
Tickets sell out well in advance, so secure your spot now by visiting hobcawbarony.org.
To view the plantations from the rivers and dive deeper into the histories and mysteries of the region, Cap’n Rod’s Lowcountry Tours’ third generation storytelling captains are your best resource. Their covered boat departs from the dock behind the old bell tower in historic Georgetown and sails into the Sampit, Pee Dee and Waccamaw Rivers and out into the Intracoastal Waterway. Along the way, observe properties such as White House Plantation, which still grows and sells rice by way of implementing modern systems; Direlton; Weymouth, now a woodpecker sanctuary; Springfield and Arundel, currently wedding and event venues; as well as several others, including a waterside view of conservation easements such as Hobcaw Barony. Enjoy the river breeze and be sure to bring sunscreen, a water bottle and a cooler with snacks or a picnic if you think you might feel peckish during the three-hour trip. A bonus is that the boat has a bathroom on board.
Book your tour at lowcountrytours.com and make sure to generously tip your knowledgeable captains.
By Sarah Rose
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