— Medway Plantation, East Elevation © Brandon Coffey —

Basic Information

• Location – Back River (a branch of the Cooper River), Goose Creek, St. James Goose Creek Parish, Berkeley County

  Located three miles east of US 52 on Medway Road
  

• Origin of name – Wanda W. Smith shares, "It has always been my understanding that the plantation was named "Medway" after the Medway River that flows near Exeter, England, the home of Thomas Smith, the first Landgrave [a Landgrave was the head of a territory]."
  

• Other names – Jan Van Arrsen's House

• Current status – Privately owned, not open to the public; timber business and home to many bird colonies
  

  The plantation was listed for sale with asking price of $15,000,000.00 as of July 2011. Click here to view the real estate listing.
  

— Medway Plantation, West Elevation © William Means Real Estate —

Timeline

• 1686 – Earliest known date of existence

  John D'Arrsens, from Holland, was granted land and all the rights of Barony by the Lords Proprietors (National Register, p. 2).
  

• 1686 – House built by John D'Arrsens (National Register, p. 2)
  

• ? – John D'Arrsens died a short time after acquiring the grant and his widow married Thomas Smith. D'Arrsens' land holdings were granted by the Lords Proprietors to Thomas Smith, Landgrave (a Landgrave was the head of a territory) (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• ? – Thomas Drayton owned the plantation and sold it to John Bee Holmes (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• 1797 – Theodore Samuel Marion purchased Medway from John Bee Holmes (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• 1827 – Theodore Samuel Marion died willing his estate to Theodore Samuel Dubose, his grandson (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

  Marion added a second story to the house and his wife, Jane Porcher, is credited for planting the large trees around the house (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• ? – "Carolina Grey" brick was produced at Medway, and was used to help build Fort Sumter.
  

• 1833 – Peter Gaillard Stoney purchased Medway (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• 1855 – Stoney added a wing to the house (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• 1906 – Samuel Gaillard Stoney bought the plantation (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• 1930 – Medway was sold to the Legendres who added extensively to the outbuildings and improved the interior of the house (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• Medway Plantation has been declared an Important Bird Area by Audubon for the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Bald Eagles, Wood Ducks, and wintering Ring-necked Ducks that make the plantation their home.
  

• ? – Bokara Legendre inherited the plantation and was owner in 2010.
  

— Medway Plantation, West Elevation © Brandon Coffey —

Land

• Number of acres – 12,000 in 1689; 6,728 in 2010

• Primary crops – Rice until 1865. It then became a cotton plantation.
  

• The plantation boasts two avenue of oaks.
  

• An old race track can still be traced on the grounds from when Peter Stoney raised thoroughbred horses (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• The cemetery is very close to the old house, which is now shaded by giant oaks and climbing ivy. The graves of Thomas Smith, Sabina Smith, Sidney Hennings Legendre, Reverend Elias Prioleau, and Samuel Prioleau are located there (SC TriCounty Genealogy Site).
  

• Many ghosts are said to walk inside the low-ceiling rooms with the large fireplaces and narrow windows. At one of the windows, it is said, one can see the shadowy image of a lady who sits and waits for the return of her husband. Some have claimed to have seen an old gentleman seated in front of the fireplace smoking his pipe.
  

• The plantation contains a formal garden laid out in the early 1900s.
  

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Ball, Chapman, John D'Arrsens (1686), DeVignon, DeWeivnhoudt, Thomas Drayton, Theodore Samuel Dubose (1827-?), Durant, Frank, Fripp, James Hasell, John Bee Holmes (?-1797), Elizabeth and Edward Hyrne (1705), Bokara Legendre (2010), Sidney and Gertrude Legendre (1930-?), Aaron Loocock, Theodore Samuel Marion (1797-1827), Philbrick, Prioleau, Abraham Satur, Thomas Smith, Thomas Smith, Jr., Thomas Smith II, Spears, Stevens, Peter Gaillard Stoney (1833-?)), Samuel Gaillard Stoney (1906-?), Sabina de Vignonm (1686), James Wathen, John Wright
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

— Statue at Medway Plantation © William Means Real Estate —

Buildings

• The house remains and is reported to be the oldest masonary house in South Carolina. A second floor addition and wings were later added (National Register, p. 2).
  

• The plantation contains a number of 19th century auxiliary buildings, including a plantation school and servants' houses.
  

• Brandon Coffey shares that lore suggests the reason the roof line was designed with a stair-step gables to allow evil spirits to be able walk away from the house easily and leave it in peace.
  

Web Resources

• Brief history of Medway Plantation from the South Carolina TriCounty Genealogy Site: Click here

• Audubon Site Profile: Click here

• National Register of Historic Places
  – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1970
  – Photographs, architectural overview
  

Print Resources

• 30-15 Plantation File, South Carolina Historical Society
  –  Online Catalog

• William P. Baldwin Jr., Plantations of the Low County: South Carolina 1697-1865 (Westbrook, ME: Legacy Publishing, 1994)
   Order Plantations of the Low County: South Carolina 1697-1865
  

• Virginia Christian Beach, Medway (Charleston, SC: Wyrick and Company, 1998)
  
  

• Claude Henry Neuffer, editor, Names in South Carolina, Volume I through 30 (Columbia, SC: The State Printing Company)
   Order Names in South Carolina, Volumes I-XII, 1954-1965
   Order Names in South Carolina, Index XIII-XVIII
  

• John Beaufain Irving, A Day on Cooper River (1842) (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010)
  
  

• SC Highway Historical Marker Guide - online database by the SC Department of Archives & History
  

• Catherine Campart Messmer, South Carolina's Low Country - A Past Preserved Text (Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper Publishing, 1988)

• J. Russell Cross, Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley (Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan Company, 1985)
   Order Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley

• News & Courier Newspaper (predecessor to the Charleston Post & Courier) February 26, 1933 issue reprint of Free South April 4, 1863 listing of St. Helena Island plantation sales prior to the Civil War
  

— Guard House at Medway Plantation © William Means Real Estate —

— Medway Plantation Porch © Brandon Coffey —

— Medway Plantation, South Elevation © Brandon Coffey —

— Fountain at Medway Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

— Medway Plantation Avenue of Oaks © Brandon Coffey —