Brick House Plantation – Cordesville – Berkeley County

— Brick House Plantation © Thia Beniash, 2016 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

• Location – Western branch of the Cooper River, Cordesville, Berkeley County

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – Burnt House, Goatfield, Retreat, Turnbull Place

• Current status – Privately owned; two small structures on the property can be rented for short stays - 2016 (6).
  

Timeline

• Circa 1715 – Earliest known date of existence

• Circa 1715 – House built

  House built by Gabriel and Esther Cordes Marion. Esther's father, Anthoine Cordes owned Chachan Plantation. Goatfield was referred to as "an inland part of the Chachan so it appears that Anthoine Cordes may have given part of his plantation's property to his daughter and son-in-law near the time of their marriage circa 1715 (4, p. 277) (5).
  

  In 1732, Gabriel and Esther Cordes Marion's youngest child was born. Francis Marion, nicknamed the Swamp Fox, would became a legend for his military skill (1, pp. 40-41) (4, p. 116).
  

• Circa 1737 – The Marions left Goatfield, moving to a plantation near Georgetown so the children could attend an English school (5).
  

• Circa 1747 – The Marions moved back to Goatfield Plantation where Gabriel died in 1747 (4, p. 277).
  

• 1757 – Esther Marion passed away as a resident of Berkeley County and is assumed she was still residing at Goatfield at the time (4, p. 277).
  

  Sometime after the Marion ownership, the plantation began being called Brick House Plantation.
  

• 2014 – The Brick House Plantation consisted of a main house plus three guest cottages on 506 acres and was for sale with an asking price of $4 million (7).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 506 in 2014

• Primary crop – ?

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

References & Resources

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

2. Virginia Christian Beach, Medway (Charleston, SC: Wyrick and Company, 1998)
   
   

3. Records held by the Berkeley County Historical Society

4. J. Russell Cross, Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley (Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan Company, 1985)
    Order Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley

5. Mark Woodard, Francis Marion, Swamp Fox

6. Information contributed by photographer Thia Beniash.
   

7. 2014 Real Estate Listing