Basic Information

• Location – Midway, Bamberg County

  On US 78, 4 miles east of Bamberg city limits, near the community of Midway
  

• Origin of name –
  

• Other names – Simms Place, William Gilmore Simms Estate
  

• Current status – Designated a National Historic Landmark, Woodlands is open by appointment and used by the Simms family for hunting and retreats. In addition, "many descendants of the enslaved people at Woodlands continue to live on or near original parts of the plantation" (Dryden).
  

Timeline

• Earliest known date of existence – "Starting in 1821, Roach began buying property in the Barnwell District that would become Woodlands Plantation" (Dryden).
  

• House built –

• House burned – 1862, 1865 by Sherman's troops
  

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Nash Roach, William Gilmore Simms
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – In 1830, Roach owned 23 male and 23 female slaves. In 1845, he wrote that he had 62 "Barnwell Negroes." Between the years of 1867 and 1874, the Woodlands Plantation Book records the "Births of Negroes" at 46. At the end of the Civil War, in 1865, Woodlands enslaved 70 black people (Dryden).
  

Land

• Number of acres –
  

• Crops – corn, cotton, potatoes, rice, sugar cane, wheat
  

• Livestock – sheep
  

Buildings

Web Resources

• National Register of Historic Places
  – Nomination form - submitted in 1970 by John D. McDermott - requires Adobe Reader
  

• Shared History: A site for those associated with the Woodlands Plantation - Felicia Dryden
  

• William Gilmore Simms, 1806-1870 - biography
  

• William Gilmore Simms Society
  

• Woodlands' Families Scholarship Fund
  

Print Resources

• Initial references: 17

Contact Information

• Telephone: 803-245-4624

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