Copahee Plantation – Mount Pleasant – Charleston County
Basic Information
- Location – Copahee Sound, Mount Pleasant, Christ Church Parish, Charleston County
Copahee Plantation is located off US 17, seven miles north of Mount Pleasant on Hamlin Road.
- Origin of name – Believed to derive from a Native American word Copa, meaning creek (1, VIII: 5)
- Other names – Copahee was called Hamlin's Farm during the Civil War (7). It now does business as O.D. Hamlin Farm. Note that Copahee Plantation is not the same as Hamlin Plantation, now a nearby subdivision.
- Current status – Copahee is an unusual plantation in that it survives as a working farm, owned and operated by the original family.
Timeline
- 1690 or 1696 – Earliest known date of existence
There are two theories on Copahee's origins. One says the plantation was granted to Thomas Hamlin by the King of England in 1696 (5). Another says Hamlin purchased it from a sea captain in 1690 (6).
- ? – The property was divided; one portion remained Copahee Plantation, and the other was called Contentment Cottage (2).
- 1861 – Confederate troops set up an encampment here under Colonel L.M. Hatch. The 23rd South Carolina Infantry Regiment (Coast Rangers) stayed at Hamlin's Farm, as it was then called, only briefly. While here, soldiers guarded the sound at night and ran drills (7).
- 1863 – In late August or early September, the 23rd South Carolina Infantry Regiment returned to Hamlin's Farm and remained until the first of November. (8).
- 1881 – The Hamlins sold 31 ten-acre lots to African-American farmers who founded the Hamlin Beach community (2).
- ? – Osgood ("O.D.") Darby Hamlin, Jr. inherited Copahee Plantation from his parents, Osgood Darby and Julia Welch Hamlin.
- Late 1930s-1960s – With the advent of tractors in the late 1930's, the Hamlins turned to truck farming. They would drive the produce to Charleston, where it would be loaded on a freight car and sent to New York.
- 2005 – Osgood Darby Hamlin, Jr. owned Copahee Plantation at the time of his death (3). Osgood had been married to Rosa Frampton Hamlin.
- 2014 – Osgood "Oggie" Darby Hamlin, III and his sister, Elizabeth "Liz" Hamlin McConnell, own Copahee. Oggie continues to farm the property (3).
Land
- Number of acres – At least 775 in 1973 (5); roughly 700 in 1997 (6)
- Primary crop – In 1973, the Hamlins planted 125 acres of tomatoes, 150 acres of snap beans, and 500 acres of soy beans (5).
- Cook's Old Field is a private cemetery formed from an acre of Copahee set aside by Mary Moore Hamlin on July 8, 1963. It contains 38 graves for members of the Hamlin, Hibben, and Leland families, as well as one grave for an African-American slave. This grave is inscribed simply, "Mike, a faithful servant" (10).
Slaves
- Number of slaves – ?
We are actively seeking information on the slaves who lived and worked at Copahee Plantation. If you find a resource that might help, please let us know. Thank you.
References & Resources
- 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
- Town of Mount Pleasant Historical Commission
- Obituary of Osgood Hamlin, II
- Contributed by Elizabeth Hamlin McConnell, co-owner of Copahee Plantation
- South Carolina Taxpayer's Association, A Farmer's Fight (Gaffney, SC: The Gaffney Ledger, October 26, 1973)
- The Associated Press, Greenbelt plan pondered to put brakes on sprawl in and around Charleston (Greenville, SC: The Greenville News, September 1, 1997)
- J. Grier White, Company K, 23D, SCV (Manning, SC: The Manning Times, May 27, 1891)
- Twenty-Third SCV (Manning, SC: The Manning Times, April 1, 1891)
- African Americans at Snee Farm, National Park Service, September 2001, Tyson Gibbs, PhD
- National Register of Historic Places
– Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 2003
– Photographs, architectural overview
