Basic Information
- Location – Eastern branch of the Cooper River, Huger, St. Thomas and St. Denis Parish, Berkeley County
Located off Cainhoy Road on Middleburg Lane
- Origin of name – Named after the city of Middleburg, Zeeland, Netherlands where the builder, Benjamin Simons, spent a portion of his youth.
- Other names – Pimlica Maptica, Indian name for the area (Timmons)
- Current status – Privately owned and is the oldest wooden house in South Carolina
Timeline
- 1693 – Earliest known date of existence (Timmons)
A 100 acre tract of land was marked for Benjamin Simons (Timmons).
- 1697 – House built by Benjamin Simons (Timmons)
The original house had two-stories with two rooms on each floor. Sometime before 1717, an addition, with one room on each floor, was added to the house (Timmons).
- 1704 – Simons received a grant for 350 acres (Cross).
Simons continued to increase the acreage of Middleburg and amassed 1,545 acres by 1717 (Cross).
- 1717 – Benjamin Simons died leaving the plantation to his 4 year-old son Benjamin II (Timmons).
- 1772 – Benjamin Simons III inherited the plantation upon his father's death and increased the tract to 3,342 acres (Timmons).
Revolutionary War battles surrounded Middleburg. British Colonel Banastre Tarleton targeted the house to be burned. It is unknown why the house was spared this fate but scars remain. Colonel Tarleton's saber left a lasting mark in a column by the front door (Timmons).
- 1785 – Benjamin Simons III sold some of the property to John Bryan. This piece became Camp Vere Plantation (Cross).
- 1787 – Benjamin Simons III had 10 children but only three daughters remained at his time of death. He divided the plantation among the girls: (Cross)
– Sarah Lydia Simons [Lucas] inherited 774 acres which included the house
– Catherine Simons [Hort] inherited 768 acres which became known as Simonsville and Horts. It would later be purchased by William J. Ball who changed the name to Halidon Hill Plantation
– Mary Simons [Maybank] inherited 1,056 acres which was known as Smoky Hill
- 1799 – Sarah Lydia Simons married Jonathan Lucas, Jr. Jonathan built the first public toll rice mill at Middleburg (Timmons).
- ? – Sarah and Jonathan's children would jointly inherit the plantation (Timmons).
- 1840 – Jonathan Lucas III purchased Middleburg at auction from his brothers and sisters (Timmons).
- ? – The plantation passed to Jonathan Lucas III's children, Thomas Bennett Lucas and Simons Lucas, at his death (Timmons).
- 1858 – Thomas Bennett Lucas died leaving the management of the plantation solely to his brother Simons (Timmons).
- ? – Dr. Benjamin Huger leased the plantation (Timmons).
- ? – The Simons descendants used Middleburg as collateral for a loan from John Coming Ball (Timmons).
- 1872 – Ball foreclosed on the loan for lack of payment and took possession of Middleburg. He had previously acquired Halidon Hill Plantation and Smoky Hill and merged all three back into one. He married a Simons descendant and once again turned Middleburg into a profitable rice plantation (Cross).
- 1927 – Ball passed away and with him died the cultivation of rice at Middleburg. Marie Guerin Ball Dingle inherited the property upon her father's death (Timmons).
- 1963 – Marie Dingle died leaving the plantation jointly to her nephews John, Charles, Coming and James Gibbs (Timmons).
- 1976 – John Gibbs was owner of record (National Register, p. 1).
- 1981 – Jane and Max Hill purchased the property from Gibbs and worked to restore as much of the property and buildings as possible.
- 2007 – The property and house were for sale.
Click here to read an article concerning the sale. Update: The auction did not receive a bid for the minimum reserve price so the plantation was not sold.
Land
- Number of acres – 100 in 1693; 450 in 1704; 1,545 in 1717; 1,659 in 1772; 2,599 in 1785; 744 in 1787; 2,599 in 1872; 326 in 2007
- Primary crop – Timber, pine tar, turpentine, and cattle by Benjamin Simons I; rice by Benjamin Simons II
- The garden is known as the oldest original garden in America being laid out in the early 1800s. In 1997, the current owner was working to retain as many of the original plants as possible (Munday).
- The lands are slowly being returned to their pre-1926 appearance. All 326 acres of the plantation have been granted to the Lowcountry Open Land Trust.
Owners
- Chronological list – Benjamin Simons (1693-1717); Benjamin Simons II (1717-1772); Benjamin Simons III (1772-1787); Sarah Lydia Simons and Jonathan Lucas (1787-?); Jonathan Lucas III (1840-?); Thomas Bennett Lucas and Simons Lucas; Simons Lucas (1858-?); John Coming Ball (1872-1927); Marie Guerin Ball Dingle (1927-1963); John, Charles, Coming and James Gibbs (1963-?); John Gibbs (1976); Jane and Max Hill (1981-?)
Slaves
- Number of slaves – 87 in 1772; 89 in 1789 (Real Estate Listing).
Buildings
- A complete structural restoration of the 2,500 square foot house has been accomplished (Timmons).
- The original Carolina heart pine flooring is still in the house (Vila).
- The kitchen was built around 1786. It had been restored but was subsequently destroyed. It is now being restored again (Timmons).
- Short term stabilization of the surviving outbuildings is underway with hopes of long-term plans for restoration of remaining outbuildings and pond (Timmons).
- Other buildings found on the plantation are the commissary, carriage house, slave cabins, and rice mill. There is a two cell jail located under the commissary.
- There are remnants of a stable, servant's quarters, toll office, and threshing yard (Real Estate Listing).
- Brandon Coffey shares the legend of a woman who fell down the stairs in the middle of the night and died. Her ghost is said to be wandering the house.
Web Resources
- Ray Timmons, Brief History of Middleburg Plantation: Click here
- National Register of Historic Places
– Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1976
– Photographs, architectural overview
- Russell Cross, Middleburg Plantation and the Benjamin Simons Family: Click here
- Dave Munday, At the Crossroads Middleburg Owner Seeks to Save Garden (Post & Courier Newspaper: September 28, 1997)
- Real estate listing
- Video of Bob Vila's tour
- Pictures of the interior of house
Print Resources
- 30-15 Plantation File, held by the South Carolina Historical Society
- William P. Baldwin Jr., Plantations of the Low County: South Carolina 1697-1865
(Westbrook, ME: Legacy Publishing, 1994)
Order Plantations of the Low County: South Carolina 1697-1865
- 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
- John Beaufain Irving, A Day on Cooper River (1842)
(Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010)
- J. Russell Cross, Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley
(Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan Company, 1985)
Order Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley
Related search terms: saint southern farm location place history lands crops owner planter planters surname surnames family families slavery life rules building big house home homes slave quarters picture pictures
Common misspellings: southcarolina sc. planation planations plantion plantions
