Basic Information

• Location – Santee River, Eutawville, St. John's Berkeley Parish, Orangeburg County

  Original plantation lands were located seven miles northeast of the Town of Eutawville off SC 6.
  

  The Rocks was originally in Berkeley County, but in 1908 the county lines were redrawn and the plantation became part of Orangeburg County.
  

• Origin of name – Named for the large number of marl rocks located on the property
  

• Other names – ?

• Current status – Part of the property was lost when the area was flooded. The house no longer exists.
  

Timeline

• 1794 – Earliest known date of existence

  Peter Gaillard, Sr., known as Captain Peter, bought the property. Captain Gaillard was born on Wambaw Plantation (Cross, p. 14).
  

• 1799 – Captain Peter Gaillard produced a very successful cotton crop. He averaged $340.00 per hand for his Santee long cotton (hybrid between Upland cotton and Sea Island cotton) (Porcher and Fick, p. xxvii).
  

• 1803-1805 – Peter Gaillard built a house on the property.
  

• 1816 – Captain Gaillard retired to Charleston and divided the plantation among his eight children (Porcher and Fick, p. 111).
  

• 1832 – Captain Peter Gaillard made his will. At this time, one of his sons (Samuel) had died. His share of the plantation was to go to his daughter, Elizabeth.
  

• 1843 – Captain Peter Gaillard died.
  

• 1907 – Elizabeth (Samuel's daughter) and her husband, James Gaillard, Jr., sold the plantation to T.L. Connor.
  

  T.L. Connor later gave the plantation to his son, J. Rutledge Connor.
  

• 1927 – Plumbing and electricity were added to the house.
  

• 1942 – The house at the Rocks was moved 1.6 miles to escape the flood waters of the Santee Cooper Hydroelectric and Navigation Project. The rest of the property was inundated.
  

  The house was established on a part of Belmont Plantation once the home of David Gaillard, a son of Captain Peter Gaillard.
  

• 1976 – Part of the land that was not flooded was operated as Rocks Pond Campground (National Register, p. 3).
  

• 1992 – The house was destroyed by a fire.
  

Land

• Number of acres – ?

• Primary crop – Santee long cotton

Owners

• Alphabetical list – J. Rutledge Connor, Jr.; T.L. Connor; Captain Peter Gaillard; Elizabeth and James Gaillard
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• House
  – Floor plan - rough sketch, 1940
  – Photograph of front - probably taken in 1939 or 1940
  – Photograph of back - probably taken in 1939 or 1940
  

Web Resources

• Waterman Report of 1939 - transcription - includes history of region, architectural analyses of homes
  – Rocks Plantation: Gaillard Family: Click here
  – Rocks Plantation House photographs, drawing: Click here
  

• The Rocks - historical sketch written by Mrs. A.P. Leise Palmer Gaillard, August 11, 1942: Click here
  

• Will of Captain Peter Gaillard - scroll down
  

• National Register of Historic Places
  – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1976. Removed from the National Register in March 2000 since house had been destroyed by fire.
  – Photographs, architectural overview
  

Print Resources

• Initial references: 1

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

• Anne Sinkler Fishburne, Belvidere (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1949).
  

• Peter Gaillard Papers, 1811-1847. Located at the South Carolina Historical Society in File 1033.01.02
  

• Richard Dwight Porcher and Sarah Fick, The Story of Sea Island Cotton (Charleston: Wyrick & Company, 2005).
  

• South Carolina Highway Historical Marker Guide (Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1998) p. 182.