— Oaks Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

Basic Information

• Location – Goose Creek (a branch of the Cooper River), Goose Creek, St. James Goose Creek Parish, Berkeley County

  130 The Oaks Avenue
  

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – ?

• Current status – The Oaks Plantation Golf and Country Club
  

— Oaks Plantation Historical Marker © Brandon Coffey —

Timeline

• 1678 – Earliest known date of existence

  Land grant of 1,630 acres to Edward Middleton (Historical Marker).
  

• ? – House built
  

• 1685 – Middleton died and the plantation was passed down to his son Arthur Middleton (Historical Marker).
  

• 1840 – The house was destroyed by fire (Historical Marker).
  

• 1892 – Edwin Parsons had the present house built (Irving, p. 16). It was designed by Ernest Flagg .
  

• 1930 – Mrs. Parsons sold the Oaks to Charles Sabin (Irving, p. 16). Sabin renovated the house and had the elaborate Georgian woodwork stripped and the six two-story Corinthian columns removed.
  

• 1956 – The Oaks was purchased by Charleston business men Nathaniel W. Cabell, Timothy Street, Louis H. McClain and William M. Schram who formed the Oaks Company, Inc.
  

• 1959 – Oaks Company, Inc. sold the property to the North Charleston Country Club.
  

• 1964 – Became part of The Oaks Golf & Country Club (Historical Marker)
  

• 2008 – An early morning fire on February 6 severely damaged the house (Gazette)
  

— Gate at Oaks Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

Land

• Number of acres – 1,630 in 1678 (Historical Marker), 39 in 2008

• Primary crop – Rice (Historical Marker)

• The avenue of the oak trees leading to the house that was planted by Edward Middleton in 1700s has suffered because of their age. Lots were sold under the trees in 1950.
  

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Izard, Jones, Arthur Middleton (1685-?), Edward Middleton (1678-1685) Harold L. Mims, North Charleston Country Club (1959-?), Oaks Company, Inc. (1956-1959), The Oaks Golf & Country Club (1964-present), Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Parsons (1892-1930), Charles Sabin (1930), Whitehead.
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

— Oaks Plantation Avenue of Oaks © Brandon Coffey —

Buildings

• The second house built on the plantation is still standing.
  

Web Resources

• Historical Marker

Print Resources

• 30-15 Plantation File, held by the South Carolina Historical Society

• 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

• The Post and Courier, 'The Oaks' was a Stately Mansion, February 21, 2004
  

• The Gazette, Oaks Ravaged by Fire, February 6, 2008
  

• Newspaper Article, New Life Planned for Old Plantation, no paper or date listed
  

• Michael J. Heitzler, Goose Creek: A Definitive History - Volume One: Planters, Politicians and Patriots (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2005)
  
  

Contact Information

• The Oaks Golf & Country Club
  130 The Oaks Avenue
  Goose Creek, SC 29445
  

  Telephone: 843-553-4141