Yeamans Hall Plantation – Hanahan – Berkeley County

— Gate at Yeamans Hall Plantation © Gazie Nagle, 2013 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

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

  900 Yeamans Hall Road
  

• Origin of name – Named for early owner
  

• Other names – Old Goose Creek, Westockan
  

• Current status – Private golf course

Timeline

• 1674 – Earliest known date of existence when Lady Margaret Yeamans, widow of Sir John Yeamans, received a 1,070 acre grant from the Lords Proprietors (5, p. 160).
  

• 1674 – House built and was called Old Goose Creek

• 1677 – James Moore became owner. He was married to Margaret Berringer, Lady Yeamans daughter by a previous husband (5, p. 160).
  

• 1694 – Thomas Smith became owner of the plantation. Smith increased the size of Yeamans Hall to 1,869 acres (5, p. 160).
  

• 1695 – New brick house built by Landgrave Thomas Smith II
  

• 1738 – Henry Smith, Thomas Smith's oldest son, inherited the plantation upon his father's death (5, p. 161).
  

• 1780 – Henry Smith passed away leaving Yeamans Hall to his son Thomas Smith (5, p. 161).
  

• ? – Thomas Smith willed the plantation to his son George Henry Smith (5, p. 162).
  

• ? – Yeamans Hall remained in the Smith family passing from George Henry Smith next to Thomas Henry Smith (5, p. 162).
  

• ? – Yeamans Hall was purchased by Charleston Consortium, which was headed by R. Goodwyn Rhett.
  

• 1915 – Architects were hired to build a golf course on the plantation as the owners of Yeamans Hall wanted to turn it into a winter resort development (1, p. 1).
  

• February 1926 – The golf course, Yeamans Hall Club, opened (1, p. 1).
  

• 1920s – Another golf course and several buildings, including a club house and private cottages, were constructed by the Yeamans Hall Company (1, p. 1 and 3, p. 108).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 1,070 in 1674; 1,869 circa 1700: 1,371 in 1908; 900 in 1996 (1, p. 1 and 5, p. 160, 162)
  

• Primary crop – Rice

Owners

• Chronological list – Lady Margaret Yeamans (1674-1677); James Moore (1677-?); Landgrave Thomas Smith II (1694-1738); Henry Smith (1738-1780); Thomas Smith (1780-?); George Henry Smith (?); Thomas Henry Smith (?); Charleston Consortium (?); Yeamans Hall Company
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 20 under Thomas Smith circa 1780 (5, p. 160)
  

Buildings

• ?

References & Resources

1. Yeamans Hall Club - Something Unique: PDF

2. 30-15 Plantation File, held by the South Carolina Historical Society

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

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

5. Michael J. Heitzler, Goose Creek: A Definitive History - Volume One: Planters, Politicians and Patriots (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2005)
   
   

Contact Information

• Yeamans Hall Club
  900 Yeamans Hall Road
  Hanahan, SC 29410
  

  Telephone: (843) 747-8855
  Website: Click here