— Montpelier Plantation © Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress —

Basic Information

• Location – Anderson County

  Located off of Old Greenville Highway/SC 88 east of Pendleton

• Origin of name – Samuel Maverick named Montpelier, after his paternal grandmother, Catherine Coyer Maverick's, hometown in France (4).
  

• Other names – Maverick

• Current status – Privately owned

Timeline

• 1787 – Earliest known date of existence (4)
  

  Samuel Maverick received in a land grant for 126 acres (4).
  

• 1800 – House built around this time by Samuel Maverick to be his summer home. The house had tall columns and iron balconies (4).
  

• 1810 – Samuel Maverick moved his family from Pendleton and made Montpelier their permanent residence (4).
  

• 1850 – House burned (4)
  

  Samuel's wife died before the house burned. He along with his daughter Elizabeth and her husband William Van Wyck rebuilt the house (pictured above) that is still standing on a knoll near the original homesite (4).
  

• Circa 1928 – Christopher Riggins purchased Montpelier (5)
  

Land

• The family burying ground is on the property on a knoll 3/4 mile from the house.
  

• Number of acres – 126 in 1787 (4)
  

• Primary crop – Cotton and grapes; the first bail of cotton to sail to England from Montpelier was returned because it still contained the seeds (4)
  

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Anderson, Laughton, Samuel Maverick, Christopher Riggins, William and Elizabeth Van Wyck

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• Second house built on property still stands today.
  

References & Resources

1. National Register of Historic Places
   – Nomination form - Pendleton Historic District - PDF - submitted in 1970
   – Photographs, architectural overview
   

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

3. 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
   

4. Information contributed by Ellen Maury Cassidy
   

5. Information contributed by R. Aaron Riggins