Ophir Plantation – Lake Moultrie – Berkeley County

— Ophir Plantation 1939 © Library of Congress —
— Prints & Photographs Division HABS SC.8-PINOP.V2-1 —

Basic Information

• Location – Submerged under Lake Moultrie, St. John's Berkeley Parish, Berkeley County

  Plantation lands were originally located near present-day Pinopolis.
  

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – ?

• Current status – In 1939, work began on the Santee Cooper Hydroelectric and Navigation Project. This project displaced many families and communities, and many historic homes were lost as the area was flooded.
  

— Front of Ophir Plantation 1939 © Library of Congress —
— Prints & Photographs Division HABS SC.8-PINOP.V2-2 —

Timeline

• 1685 – Earliest known date of existence

• ? – Peter Porcher acquired the plantation. He also owned Peru Plantation and Mexico Plantation (7, p. 73).
  

• 1793 – Peter died and willed his three plantations to his three sons (7, p. 73).
  

• 1816 – House built by Colonel Thomas Porcher, Peter's second son (7, p. 73).
  

• 1836 – Colonel Porcher died leaving the plantation to his wife, Elizabeth Sinkler Porcher, and their sons. Thomas had 24 children (7, p. 73).
  

• 1939 – Ophir stayed in the Porcher family for generations. It was owned by Henry F. Porcher when work began on the Santee Cooper Hydroelectric and Navigation Project. Henry did not live at the plantation but leased it to a hunt club. All the buildings were destroyed and the land flooded (7, p. 73).
  

— Interior of Ophir Plantation 1939 © Library of Congress —
— Prints & Photographs Division HABS SC.8-PINOP.V2-5 —

Land

• Number of acres – ?

• Primary crop – ?

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Peter Porcher (?-1793); Thomas Cordes Porcher (1793-1836); Elizabeth S. Porcher and sons (1836-?); Isaac Porcher; Henry F. Porcher (?-1939)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 140 in 1836 (7, p. 73).
  

— Side of Ophir Plantation 1939 © Library of Congress —
— Prints & Photographs Division HABS SC.8-PINOP.V2-3 —

Buildings

• In addition to the plantation house, the complex had several outbuildings. One was a large church built for Ophir's slaves (7, p. 73).
  

References & Resources

1. Brief history of Ophir Plantation: Click here

2. Waterman Report of 1939
   

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

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

5. 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
   

6. Norman S. Walsh, Plantations, Pineland Villages, Pinopolis and Its People (Virginia Beach, VA: Donning Company Publishers, 2007)
    Order Plantations, Pineland Villages, Pinopolis and Its People
   

7. Douglas W. Bostick, Sunken Plantations: The Santee Cooper Project (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2008)