Howe Hall Plantation – Goose Creek – Berkeley County

Basic Information

• Location – Foster's Creek (a branch of the Back River), Goose Creek, St. James Goose Creek Parish, Berkeley County

  Historically, between Bloomville Plantation and Red Bank Plantation (3)
  

  Present day Liberty Hall Road
  

• Origin of name – For founder Robert Howe

• Other names – Hog Hall (2, p. 76)
  

• Current status – Has been subdivided (2, p. 76)
  

Timeline

• 1683 – Earliest known date of existence (4, p. 271).
  

  Robert Howe received a Proprietary grant of 290 acres (4, p. 271).
  

• ? – House built
  

• 1706 – Robert Howe increased the size of Howe Hall by receiving another grant of 800 acres plus acquiring another 100 acres in the same year (4, p. 271).
  

• 1724 – Robert Howe passed away and left the plantation to his son Job Howe (4, p. 272).
  

• 1734 – Job Howe placed the plantation up for sale (4, p. 272).
  

• Circa 1739 – James Irving purchased the plantation from Job Howe (4, p. 272).
  

• 1752 – Joel Huff purchased 1,397 acres which had been formed by combining part of Howe Hall Plantation and Boochowee. Huff bought the property as one piece and named it Bella Vista Plantation (4, p. 271).
  

• 1755 – James Irving sold the remaining 752 acres to Richard Dun Lawrence. This piece retained the name Howe Hall Plantation (4, p. 272).
  

• 1759 – It is believed Lawrence defaulted on the agreement as James Irving sold Howe Hall to Benjamin Smith (4, p. 272).
  

• 1775 – A plat drawn this year shows a house on Howe Hall Plantation (4, p. 80).
  

• 1790 – Benjamin Smith died and left Howe Hall Plantation to his son, Thomas Smith (4, p. 272-273).
  

• 1854 – A plat noted George Smith as owner of the plantation (4, p. 278).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 290 in 1683; 1,190 in 1706; 752 in 1755; 620 in 1775 (4)
  

• Primary crop – Rice
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 17 in 1759 (4, p. 272)
  

References & Resources

1. 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
   

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

3. Information contributed by Paula Buckley.
   

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