Basic Information

• Location – Pinopolis, St. John's Berkeley Parish, Berkeley County

  The plantation house and about 33 acres are within the town of Pinopolis.
  

• Origin of name – Derived from the Native American tribe in the area
  

• Other names – ?

• Current status – Owned by Santee-Cooper and used as part of their conference center
  

Timeline

• 1696 – Earliest known date of existence. John Stuart received a grant for 1,000 acres in return for his work reviewing the Fundamental Constitution by request of Sir James Colleton. Stuart had difficulty getting his promised land but eventually prevailed, receiving it in small increments. Stuart added additional lands to his holdings, ending up with several thousand acres. (Learn more about John Stuart and his land grant.)
  

• 1698 – Stuart conveyed 804 acres to Reverend William Screven. Screven would name his property Somerton Plantation (South Carolina Historical Magazine).

• 1698-1715 – Stuart sold additional pieces of his Wampee holdings during these years.
  

• 1715 – Stuart died, deeding the remainder of Wampee to his wife and two of his sons, John Stuart II and Charles Stuart.
  

• 1744 – James Stuart, the grandson of the elder John Stuart, died and left his portion of Wampee to his wife. It is unclear when and how James Stuart acquired his share.
  

• 1749 – Gabriel Guignard owned 870 acres of the subdivided Wampee Plantation and had a house on his portion. Guignard probably purchased the land from Reverend Screven and may have added additional acres via a royal grant.
  

• ? – Thomas Sabb purchased Wampee land.
  

• ? – Sabb sold 300 acres to James Courtonne, Jr.
  

• 1790 – Charles Johnston purchased the property and left it to his daughter and son-in-law, James Macbeth, upon his death.
  

• 1822 – Present house built (third dwelling to be erected there) for James Macbeth's widow by their son Charles Macbeth.
  

• ? – Richard Yeadon Macbeth inherited Wampee.
  

• ? – Richard Yeadon Macbeth's widow willed Wampee to their nephew William Cain.
  

• ? – William Cain's widow received property upon her husband's death.
  

• 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.
  

  The plantation house and about 33 acres were not flooded.
  

Land

• Number of acres – 1000+ acres in 1696; 870 acres in 1749; 300 acres in 1783; 33 acres in 2010

• Primary crop – Rice and indigo

• The plantation contains several Indian mounds.
  

Owners

• Alphabetical list – William Cain; James Courtonne, Jr. (1783-?); Gabriel Guignard; Hardcastle; Charles Johnston (1790-?); James MacBeth (?-1822); Richard Yeadon MacBeth; Rene Ravenel (1704-?); Thomas Sabb (?-1783); Reverend William Screven (1698-1704); Sinkler; James Stuart (1715-1744); John Stuart (1696-1715); Stroman; Wethbrick
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• ?

Web Resources

• Wampee Plantation: Porcher Family: Click here

• The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 2

• Waterman Report of 1939

Print Resources

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

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

• 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
  

• 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