Basic Information

• Location – Wateree River, Eastover, Richland County, Richland District
  

  Located southeast of the City of Columbia off US 76 on Goodwill Road
  

• Origin of name – Named by Daniel Huger II, who bought 13 original 1760 colonial land grants to form the plantation
  

• Other names – ?

• Current status – Privately owned
  

Timeline

• 1795 – Earliest known date of existence
  

  Daniel Huger II purchased and consolidated about 3,500 acres of unimproved land to form Goodwill. He began to construct a canal irrigation system to drain the land for agriculture.
  

• 1827 – Daniel Elliott Huger (son of Daniel Huger II) acquired Goodwill after his father's death. He continued to plant cotton and subsistence crops like his father.
  

• 1854 – Goodwill Plantation consisted of 7,465 acres
  

• 1858 – Edward Barnwell Heyward purchased Goodwill from Daniel Elliott Huger. He continued to plant cotton but also grew sweet potatoes, peas, beans, and corn. During the Civil War Heyward sent his slaves from his other plantations to Goodwill to wait out the War.
  

• 1869 – George Wickes purchased the plantation. He operated a grist mill and a sawmill and produced some crops.
  

• 1874-1888 – Goodwill Plantation changed ownership many times.
  

• 1888 – Julia Clarke purchased Goodwill. She used convict labor to improve the property.
  

• 1910 – Samuel B. McMasters purchased the plantation. Under his ownership the plantation was used by tenant farmers, for timber production, and as a hunting and fishing preserve. Farming continued until the 1950s, and the grist mill ran until about 1944.
  

• ? – Larry Faulkenberry purchased the plantation with the intent to sell it. However, he fell in love with Goodwill and has been caretaking and restoring the plantation instead (McGill).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 3,500 in 1795; 7,465 in 1854; 3,285 in 1986
  

• Primary crop – Cotton

Owners

• Chronological list – Daniel Huger II (1795), Daniel Elliott Huger (1827), Edward Barnwell Heyward (1858), George Wickes (1869), Julia Clark (1888), Samuel B. McMaster (1910), Larry Faulkenberry (2010)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – Approxiamtely 1,000 during the Civil War
  

  Edward Barnwell Heyward sent his slaves from his other plantations to Goodwill to wait out the War. Other relatives sent their slaves to Goodwill as well.
  

Buildings

• Several buildings that were constructed over the history of the plantation, remain on the property.

• Slave Cabin Project Moves to the Privately-Owned Goodwill Plantation - Joseph McGill, a program officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, documents his overnight stay in a slave cabin at Goodwill Plantation in July 2010.
  

Web Resources

• National Register of Historic Places
  – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1986
  – Photographs, architectural overview
  

• Heyward Family Papers, 1790-1893

• Slave Cabin Project Moves to the Privately-Owned Goodwill Plantation - Joseph McGill, a program officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, documents his overnight stay in a slave cabin at Goodwill Plantation in July 2010.
  

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

Print 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
  

More about Richland County

• Learn more about Richland County, including the historic city of Columbia SC. We have helpful guides to Columbia SC history and Columbia SC libraries and museums – plus Columbia SC restaurants, Columbia SC bed & breakfasts, Columbia SC hotels, and Columbia SC real estate.