Farmfield Plantation – Huger – Berkeley County

Basic Information

• Location – Eastern branch of the Cooper River, Berkeley County

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – ?

• Current status – In 1962, Farmfield Plantation was part of a large land tract purchased by Westvaco Corporation (now called MeadWestvaco Corporation). MeadWestvaco Corporation sold all of its forestland holdings to Plum Creek Timber Company in 2013.
  

Timeline

• ? – Earliest known date of existence - Dr. Martine owned a tract of land that included Farmfield Plantation and Richmond Plantation.
  

• 1769 – Colonel John Harleston purchased Farmfield and Richmond from Dr. Martine.
  

• ? – The property was divided with Farmfield becoming in posession of Harleston's daughter Elizabeth "Eliza" who was married to Thomas Corbett. (2)
  

• 1840s – Eliza Corbett owned Farmfield. Her widowed daughter, Margaret Harleston Corbett Laurens, was living with her and managing the affairs of Farmfield at this time. Read the letter Margaret penned in 1840 as she talks about new curtains for Farmfield, page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (5).
  

• 1900 – J. St. Clair White purchased a total of 4,500 acres which included Farmfield along with Bossis, Richmond, and the Villa plantations (1).
  

• Late 1920s – George A. Ellis, Jr. purchased the property to develop into a hunting retreat. At this point, the combined plantations were called simply Richmond Plantation.
  

• 1962 – Westvaco Corporation (now called MeadWestvaco Corporation) purchased the property.
  

• 2013 – MeadWestvaco Corporation sold all of its forestland to Plum Creek Timber Company (6).
  

Land

• Number of acres – ?

• Primary crop – rice - in a 1885 letter Olney Harleston comments on the adversity of planting rice on Farmfield (3).
  

Owners

• Chronological list – Dr. Martine (?-1769); Colonel John Harleston (1769-?); Eliza Harleston Corbett (?); Margaret Harleston Corbett Laurens (1840s); J. St. Clair White (1900-late 1920s); George A. Ellis, Jr. (late 1920s-1962); MeadWestvaco Corporation (1962-2013); Plum Creek Timber Company (2013-present)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

References & Resources

1. Cooper River Historic District National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

2. South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. XIII January 1912

3. William Sinkler Manning Papers - South Caroliniana Library
   

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

5. Information contributed by John Strobel including details found in the Reports of Cases in Equity, Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals and Court of Errors of South Carolina 1854, Page 303.
   

6. MWV Closes on Land Sale to Plum Creek (Mount Pleasant, SC: Charleston Regional Business Journal, December 9, 2013)

Contact Information

• Plum Creek Timber Company