Cathwood Plantation – Aiken County

Basic Information

• Location – Aiken County, probably near the present day Kathwood community.
  

• Origin of name – James Henry Hammond renamed the plantation Cathwood for Catherine Elizabeth Fitzsimons Hammond (Bleser, p. 14)
  

• Other names – Originally called Cedar Grove (Bleser, p. 228). Sometimes called Kathwood for the cotton-seed oil mill company that was formed on the property in 1901 (Bleser, p. 139).
  

• Current status – ?

Timeline

• Earliest known date of existence – ?

• House built – ?

• ? – Catherine Elizabeth Fitzsimons owned Cedar Grove Plantation when she married James Henry Hammond in 1831. Hammond folded the property in with his many land holdings renaming the plantation Cathwood in honor of his wife (Bleser, p. 14).
  

• 1869 – Brothers Paul and Harry Hammond bought Cathwood from their father's estate and divided it between themselves. James Henry Hammond had invested heavily in the Confederacy leaving land as his only wealth at his death in 1864. The property was sold to pay off his debts (Bleser, p. 137, 158, 161).
  

• 1896 – Harry's wife received an inheritance. With the money, Harry built a cotton-seed oil mill, which he called Kathwood Manufacturing Company, on the plantation. Sons Kit and Alf ran the mill (Bleser, p. 139).
  

• 1901 – Under pressure, Harry sold the cotton-seed oil mill to Southern Cotton Oil Company for $30,000. Part of the agreement was that Kit and Alf would retain employment at the mill (Bleser, p. 341).
  

Land

• Number of acres – ?

• Primary crop – Cotton (Bleser, p. 228)
  

Owners

• Chronological list – Catherine Elizabeth Fitzsimons Hammond, James Henry Hammond (1831-1864), Estate of James Henry Hammond (1864-1869), Paul and Harry Hammond (1869), Harry Hammond (1869-1901), Southern Cotton Oil Company (1901-?)

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• ?

Web Resources

• ?

Print Resources

• Carol Bleser, The Hammonds of Redcliffe (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1997)