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Hampton Plantation State Historic Site

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

This South Carolina State Historic Site preserves a rice plantation that was established in the 18th century. Reflecting the way that historic interpretations change over time, the site has increasingly focussed on the experiences of the enslaved persons who built and operated the plantation in addition to the families that owned the property. The site features the Hampton Plantation Mansion, which was originally built between 1735 and 1750, the kitchen building, the remains of the slave quarters, a two-mile trail with interpretive signs, two cemeteries, and an abandoned rice field. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a National Historic Landmark. The mansion is a fine example of Georgian architecture and was one of the first homes in the country to feature a large portico, which was added in 1791. It was the home of several wealthy families, including the Horrys, Pinckneys, and Rutledges. A Rutledge family descendant, Archibald Rutledge, was South Carolina's first poet laureate and lived here from 1937 to 1969. The site opened to the public in 1982. Visitors are allowed to enter the house and kitchen and explore the grounds which now include signage that explores the lives of the enslaved persons who lived here and the larger historical context of South Carolina's economy and politics.

Images

Hampton Mansion is the centerpiece of the Hampton Plantation State Historic Site, which opened in 1982. The original part of the mansion was likely built around 1735. The site allows visitors to explore what life was like for wealthy rice planting families of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the lives of the slaves who worked at the plantation.

Sky, Building, Plant, Window

The Kitchen Building

Plant, Building, Window, Sky

This chimney is all that remains of the Alston family house. The Alstons were African American tenant farmers living and working at the plantation.

Cloud, Sky, Plant, Vegetation

Many of the walls and ceilings in the house have been stripped of plaster.

Fixture, Wood, Floor, Flooring

The house contains a number of fireplaces.

Building, Door, Wood, House

The grounds include signage that includes the names of the people who were enslaved here

Brown, Font, Material property, Technology

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The plantation was established by Daniel Horry Sr. whose family had arrived from France fleeing religious persecution (the Horrys were one of the many Huguenot—French Protestant—families that immigrated to the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries). Horry started buying land around 1730 and eventually owned nearly 6,000 acres over several plantations along the South Santee River.

Hampton Plantation was one of these properties and according to the South Carolina State Parks website, Horry acquired the land for the plantation in 1744. However, as noted above, the original part of the house may have been erected as early as 1735. Its builder was a Huguenot settler by the name of Noe Serre. The house was 40-feet long and 34-feet wide with two floors, four rooms, and two chimneys. According to the National Register Nomination form, Horry acquired the house and the surrounding property in 1757 through his marriage. He died in 1763 and his son, Daniel Jr., inherited many of his father's properties and proceeded to enlarge the house in the 1760s.

Rice was the most lucrative crop in South Carolina during the 17th and 18th centuries and it made rice planters very wealthy, including the families who lived at Hampton Plantation. This prosperity largely stems from the fact that slaves built and cultivated the rice fields. Daniel Jr.'s account books indicate that around 100 slaves lived at the plantation between 1770 and 1820 (around 200 more lived at the other plantations). Those who didn't work in the fields worked in the house and the kitchen. They were responsible for managing the house and cooking all of the meals. Some slaves, such as a woman named Daphne, worked at Hampton Plantation and at several other Horry family properties.

After the Civil War (1861-1865), rice cultivation continued for only a short time before subsistence agriculture and tenant farming replaced it. The former slaves who worked at the plantation became tenant farmers, acquiring land, equipment and a share of the crops. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were around 20 African American families, including the Alston family, still living at the plantation. Prince Alston was a childhood friend and later farm laborer of Archibald Rutledge. Archibald Rutledge modernized and restored the house and wrote a book about the process in 1941 called Home by the River. The Rutledge family sold the property to the state in 1971 in order to preserve it.

Sources

Dillon, James. "Hampton Plantation." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. April 15, 1970. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/22be36eb-fefd-439f-abe8-f0fe65444122.

"Hampton Plantation." National Park Service - National Historic Landmark Program. Retrieved from the Web Archive on February 25, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20121010025627/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=982&ResourceType=Building.

"History and Interpretation." South Carolina State Parks. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://southcarolinaparks.com/hampton/history-and-interpretation#jump.

"Two Hundred Years of History in the Hampton Mansion." Hampton Plantation State Historic Site. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://scsps-rmi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=43093809ec9949d5a43bd6b254f5d076.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

All images via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hampton_Plantation

Additional Information