Elbow Hill Plantation – Fairfield County

Basic Information

• Location – Fairfield County

• Origin of name – The area was known as the 'Devil's Elbow' due to the deadly accidents that happened in the elbow of the hill (1)
  

• Other names – ?

• Current status – ?

Timeline

• 1798 – Earliest known date of existence (1)
  

  James and Sarah Gunning Barber moved to the area and purchased 545 acres. They subsequently increased the plantation's size by adding an additional 650 acres (1).
  

• ? – House built

• 1829 – Sarah Richmond Boulware, a Barber descendant, and her husband Benjamin owned the plantation (1).
  

• 1860 – The Boulwares owned Elbow Hill until Benjamin's death in this year. Sarah had passed away in 1858. It appears Sallie Boulware McMaster, the youngest child of Sarah and Benjamin, inherited the plantation (1).
  

• 1865 – Sherman's troops marched through the area and burned the house at Elbow Hill along with many of the outbuildings (1).
  

• 1935 – Col. Richard H. McMaster, son of Sallie Boulware McMaster, owned the plantation (1).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 545 in 1798; 1,195 in early 1800s; 472 in 1935 (1)
  

• Primary crop – Cotton (1)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

References & Resources

1. Information contributed by Cyndi Shull from: Fitz Hugh McMaster, Col. R. H. McMaster Writes of Old Fairfield County (PDF) (Columbia, SC: The State, January 13, 1935).