Photograph by Larry Gleason

Basic Information

• Location – 181 Redcliffe Road (1.5 miles northeast of Beech Island on SC Highway 125)
  

• Origin of name –

• Other names –

• Current status – In 1973 the property was deeded to the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. It is open to the public.
  

Timeline

• 1855 – Earliest known date of existence – James Henry Hammond purchased Dr. Milledge Galpin's residence near Beech Island and named it Redcliffe
  

• 1857 – Construction of house began – supervised by Hammond's sons
  

• 1859 – House completed

• 1886 – Hammond's son Harry removed the porches and replaced them with a one-story, 12-foot wide L-shaped porch that extended along the south and east sides of the house. The stairway was placed at the eastern end of the south porch.
  

• 1930 – House restored by John Shaw Billings

• 1973 – Property donated to the state

• ? – Property added to the National Register

Land

• Number of acres – 400

• Primary crop –

Owners

• Alphabetical list – John Shaw Billings, John Sedgwick Billings, Catherine Elizabeth Fitzsimons Hammond, Harry Hammond, James Henry Hammond
  

• Chronological list – Dr. Milledge Galphin (?-1855), James Henry Hammond (1855-1864), Catherine Elizabeth Fitzsimons Hammond (1873-?), Harry Hammond, John Sedgwick Billings, John Shaw Billings (?-1973)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 21 (Hammond owned at least 330 slaves including those on his other plantations: Beech Island, Cedar Grove, Silver-bluff, etc.)
  

  List of Surnames of Persons Enslaved
  

Buildings

• Slave cabins – 4

Web Resources

• National Register of Historic Places
  – Nomination form - submitted in 1973 - requires Adobe Reader
  – Photographs, architectural overview
  

• Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site

• Wartime Diary and Letters of Senator James Henry Hammond of South Carolina - excerpts

• A Belle of the Fifties, Memoirs of Mrs. Clay, of Alabama, covering Social and Political Life in Washington and the South, 1853-1866 - scroll down to page 212

Print Resources

• Initial references: 1, 4

Contact Information

• Telephone: 803-827-1473

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