— Richmond Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

Basic Information

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

  Located off SC 402 approximately 5 miles south of Cordesville
  

  35 miles from Charleston

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – Ellis, Girl Scout Camp, The Girl Scout Plantation

• Current status – Owned by the Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina
  

  Update: Due to financial woes, the Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina put the property up for sale at $7 million. (Read a full story Because of Lack of Funding, Girl Scouts Losing Part of their Past, published January 2011.)

— Gate at Richmond Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

Timeline

• ? – Earliest known date of existence - Dr. Martine owned a tract of land that included Richmond Plantation and Farmfield Plantation.
  

• 1769 – Colonel John Harleston purchased Richmond and Farmfield from Dr. Martine. Harleston made Richmond his home.
  

• 1793 – The property was divided after John Harleston death with Richmond becoming in posession of Harleston's daughter Jane who married Edward Rutledge. (South Carolina Historical Magazine)
  

• ? – Richmond then passed to Harleston's granddaughter Sarah Harleston and her husband Dr. Benjamin Huger (National Register, p. 3).
  

• 1900 – J. St. Clair White purchased a total of 4,500 acres which included Richmond along with Bossis, Farmfield, and the Villa plantations (Cooper River Historic District National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet).
  

• Sometime around the turn of the century, the house burned (National Register, p. 3).
  

• Late 1920s – George A. Ellis, Jr. purchased the property to develop into a hunting retreat and built the house that stands today. At this point, the combined plantations were called simply Richmond Plantation.
  

• 1956 – After the death of Mrs. Ellis, the property was sold to West Virginia Paper and Pulp Company, now MeadWestvaco Corporation (National Register, p. 7).
  

• 1963 – The Girl Scouts of Carolina Lowcountry, now Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina, purchased 153 acres including the acreage where the Richmond Plantation house stands. The plantation is used as a camp (National Register, p. 7).
  

• 2011 – Due to financial woes, the Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina put the property up for sale.
  

— Cemetery at Richmond Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

Land

• Number of acres – 4500 acres in 1900; 153 acres today

• Primary crop – Rice

• The Harleston-Rutledge cemetery remains on the property and contains the grave of John Harleston (National Register, p. 6).
  

Owners

• Chronological list – Dr. Martine (?-1769), Colonel John Harleston (1769-1793), Jane Harleston and Edward Rutledge (1793-?), Sarah Harleston and Dr. Benjamin Huger (?), J. St. Clair White (1900-late 1920s), Mr. and Mrs. George A. Ellis, Jr. (late 1920s-1956), MeadWestvaco Corporation (1956-1963), Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina (1963-present)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

— Rear of Richmond Plantation © Brandon Coffey —

Buildings

• ? – House built - There was a house at Richmond Plantation that Colonel John Harleston and family lived in. A 1803 paintings of the house depicts a large two and a half story frame building on a brick foundation with two chimneys (National Register, p. 3).
  

• Circa 1927 – House built - Present day house was built by George A. Ellis, Jr. It is a one and one-half story brick building in the Shavian Manorial Style (Cooper River Historic District National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet).
  

• Other buildings – While in the ownership of Dr. Benjamin and Jane Huger, stables, slave houses, and a barn, all painted white, were also on the property.
  

Web Resources

• National Register of Historic Places
  – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1980
  – Photographs, architectural overview
  

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

• South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. XIII January 1912

• Richmond Plantation pictures - The Post and Courier 2010
  

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

• Sankofa's Plantation Data Collection
  

Contact Information

• Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina
  7257 Cross County Road
  North Charleston, SC 29418
  

  Telephone: 843-552-9910
  Website: Click here