Summit Plantation – Adams Run – Charleston County

— Summit Plantation, 2001 © Brandon Coffey —

Basic Information

• Location – Swinton Creek, Adams Run, St. Paul's Parish, Charleston County

  Off County Road 390 (Toogoodoo Road) six miles southeast from Adams Run
  

• Origin of name – Amarinthia Jenkins Wilkinson named the plantation "Summit" because it expressed the summit of her happiness (1, p. 3).
  

• Other names – ?

• Current status – Privately owned

Timeline

• 1694 – Earliest known date of existence

  Originally granted to Landgrave Thomas Smith in 1694 and re-granted to Joseph Blake six years later
  

• 1730 – House built by John Bull
  

  The original house fell into disrepair and was known as "Rat Hall."
  

• 1813 – William Wilkinson married Amarinthia Jenkins. They moved into a small house on the estate of Amarinthia's father, Daniel Jenkins. The Jenkins estate was then divided with the Wilkinsons receiving 500 acres (1, p. 3).
  

• 1819 – A new home was built by William Wilkinson. He recorded the cost of constructing the house to be $2,358.44 (1, p. 3).
  

• 1829 – William Wilkinson received a silver loving cup from the Agricultural Society for the best five acres of cotton (1, p. 3).
  

• 1879 – Amarinthia Wilkinson died and the plantation was left to her sons Daniel and Francis (1, p. 6).
  

• 1892 – Daniel and Francis farmed the property together until Daniel's death left Francis the plantation's sole owner (1, p. 6).
  

• 1966 – Summit Plantation remained in the Wilkinson family until it was purchased by John H. Boineau (1, p. 6).
  

• 1982 – John Boineau built two one-room additions. Boineau is a fine craftsman and has restored and recreated much of the original woodwork. His wife owns Middleton's Plantation (4).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 500 in 1816 (1, p. 3)

• Primary crop – Rice, cotton

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Joseph Blake (1700-?), John Boineau (1966-?), Mary Middleton and Pierce Butler, John Dorsius, Daniel Jenkins, Daniel and Francis Jenkins (1879-1892), Francis Jenkins (1892-?), Landgrave Thomas Smith (1694-1700), Amarinthia Jenkins Wilkinson (1813-1879)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 75 in 1850 (1, p. 6)

Buildings

• Two-story frame house (1, p. 2)
  

References & Resources

1. National Register of Historic Places
   – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1983
   – Photographs, architectural overview
   

2. 30-15 Plantation File, held by the South Carolina Historical Society

3. Catherine Campant Messner, South Carolina's Low Country: A Past Preserved (Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper Publishing Company, 1988)
    Order South Carolina's Low Country: A Past Preserved

4. Information contributed by Brandon Coffey.