— Orignial Bossis Plantation House Prior to Burning in 1909 © John St. Clair White —

Note: The Bossis Plantation house has been moved from Berkeley County to Richland County.

Basic Information

• Location of Land – Eastern branch of the Cooper River, Huger, Berkeley County

  Location of House – Hopkins, Richland County

• Origin of name – A speculative tradition holds that slaves called the plantation "Boss's" which was converted to Bossis (Cooper River Historic District National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet).
  

• Other names – Boss's

• Current status – The house, built in 1910, was moved to Hopkins in 2000 when it was purchased from Westvaco.
  
  

— Rebuilt Bossis Plantation House Circa 1911 © John St. Clair White —

Timeline

• ? – Earliest known date of existence

• ? – John Harleston emigrated and started the plantation (A Day on Cooper River, p. 162).
  

• ? – Upon John's death, his son Nicholas inherited the plantation (A Day on Cooper River, p. 162).
  

• 1736 – House built by Nicholas Harleston (A Day on Cooper River, p. 162).
  

• ? – Nicholas died leaving the plantation to his son Col. John Harleston (A Day on Cooper River, p. 161).
  

• ? – Nicholas' son Nicholas Harleston II was born after his father's death. John decided to give the plantation to his younger brother, Nicholas II. Nicholas II would spend his lifetime at Bossis and made many improvements to the house and property (A Day on Cooper River, p. 162).
  

  Bossis Plantation stayed in the Harleston family through the Civil War (A Day on Cooper River, p. 162).
  

• 1899 – St. Clair White lost his nearby house to fire and Olney Harleston of Bossis took the family in. Mr. White would go on to purchase Bossis from the Harleston family (A Day on Cooper River, p. 162).
  

• 1909 – House burned (Cooper River Historic District National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet).
  

• 1910 – House rebuilt by St. Clair White using the mantels from the damaged house at nearby Sarazins Plantation (A Day on Cooper River, p. 162).
  

• 1920s – George A. Ellis, Jr., who had other holdings in the area, including Richmond Plantation, purchased Bossis (Cooper River Historic District National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet).
  

• 1962 – Westvaco purchased the property from the estate of George A. Ellis, Jr. (Cooper River Historic District National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet).
  

• 2000 – House moved to Hopkins in Richland County
  
  

— Bossis Plantation Avenue in Huger, SC © Brandon Coffey —

Land

• Number of acres – ?

• Primary crop – Rice

Owners

• Chronological list – John Harleston, Nicholas Harleston, Col. John Harleston, Nicholas Harleston II, Olney Harleston, St. Clair White, George A. Ellis, Jr. (1920s-1962), Westvaco (1962-?)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

— Bossis Plantation House After Moved to Hopkins © Lori Wilhoit —

• St. Clair White built a two-story frame Colonial Revival style house in 1910; the original had burned the year before. The house was moved to Hopkins in 2000.
  

Web Resources

• Cooper River Historic District National Register Nomination

• Cooper River Historic District National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Print Resources

• John Beaufain Irving, A Day on Cooper River (1842) (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010)
  
  

• Records held by the Berkeley County Historical Society

— Bossis Plantation View from Pond in Hopkins © Lori Wilhoit —