— Retreat Plantation House © Brandon Coffey —

Basic Information

• Location – Battery Creek (a branch of the Beaufort River), Port Royal Island Beaufort, St. Helena Parish, Beaufort County

  Located off SC 280 at 130 Pinckney Retreat Road
  

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – Pinckney Retreat when the Pinckney family owned it in the late 1900s (Pinckney Retreat)
  

• Current status – House is a community clubhouse for Pinckney Retreat, a private housing community (Pinckney Retreat)
  

— Yard at Retreat Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

Timeline

• 1736 – Earliest known date of existence

• 1736 – House built using tabby construction by Jean de la Gaye for his wife Catherine Gautier (Pinckney Retreat).
  

• 1769 – de la Gaye returned to France (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 110).

• ? – Stephen Bull would be Retreat's next owner, purchasing the plantation at auction (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 108).

• ? – Bull quickly regreted the purchase as he already owned so much land in the lowcountry. He happened upon John Barnwell and asked if he wouldn't like to have Retreat. Retreat would remain in the Barnwell family until the 1939 (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 108).

• Reverend Edward T. Walker, his wife Ann Bull Barnwell Walker and their family fled to Walterboro during the Civil War. When Union soldiers arrived at Retreat, they pillaged the house. In doing so they found a bible hidden under the floorboards. Upon learning that the house belonged to a minister, the officer in charge reversed the order to burn the house. The bible disappeared but eighty years later a member of the Walker family received it in the mail. The package bore a Vermont postmark but no return address.
  

• 1939 – Retreat was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. James H. and Meredith Sturdevant from the estate of Heyward S. Walker. The house had fallen into disrepair except for the tabby which remained solid. The Sturdevants completely restored the house (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 110).
  

• 1949 – Bronson Lamb purchased the plantation (Pinckney Retreat).
  

• ? – Antonio Ponvert became the next owner and designed the plantation's formal gardens (Pinckney Retreat).
  

• 1965 – Local builder B. G. Pinckney and his wife Anne purchased the plantation (Pinckney Retreat).
  

• ? – Pinckney sold the plantation to developers that have built a 77 home, private community (Pinckney Retreat).
  

— Retreat Plantation © Library of Congress —
— Prints & Photographs Division HABS SC-860-1 —

Land

• A mile long drive, bordered by live oaks, leads to the residence.
  

• Number of acres – 100 in 1939 (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 110)

• Primary crop – ?

Owners

• Alphabetical list – John Gibbes Barnwell, Brinson, Stephen Bull, Delagall, Jean de la Gaye (1736-1769), Ford, Gautis, Bronson Lamb (1949-?), B. G. and Anne Pinckney (1969-?), Antonio Ponvert, Simons, James H. and Meredith Sturdevant (1938-1949), Edward Tabb Walker
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

— Chimney at Retreat Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

Buildings

• The house is the oldest on Port Royal Island (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 107). The house's 22-inch thick tabby walls and original fireplaces are still entact (Pinckney Retreat).
  

Web Resources

• Brief history of Pinckney Retreat: Click here

Print Resources

• Robert B. Cuthbert and Stephen G. Hoffius, editors, Northern Money, Southern Land: The Lowcountry Plantation Sketches of Chlotilde R. Martin (Columbia, SC: The University of South Carolina Press, 2009)
  
  

• News & Courier Newspaper (predecessor to the Charleston Post & Courier) February 26, 1933 issue reprint of Free South April 4, 1863 listing of St. Helena Island plantation sales prior to the Civil War
  

• Rupert Sargent Holland, editor, Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne: Written From the Sea Islands of South Carolina (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library, 2009)
  
  

• Lawrence S. Rowland, Alexander Moore, and George C. Rodgers, Jr. The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: Volume 1, 1514-1861 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1996)
   Order The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: Volume 1, 1514-1861

• 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

— Swing at Retreat Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

— Retreat Plantation House © Lynne Hancock —

— Side View of Retreat Plantation © Lynne Hancock —

— Fence at Retreat Plantation House © Lynne Hancock —

— Side of Retreat Plantation House © Lynne Hancock —

More about Beaufort County

• Learn more about historic Beaufort County, including the lovely town of Beaufort SC as well as Hilton Head. We have helpful guides to Beaufort SC history and Beaufort SC libraries and museums – plus Beaufort SC restaurants, Beaufort SC bed & breakfasts, Beaufort SC hotels, and Beaufort SC real estate.