Crab Hall Plantation – Georgetown – Georgetown County
Basic Information
- Location – Atlantic Ocean, Georgetown, All Saints Waccamaw Parish, Georgetown County
Original plantation lands were located on the Waccamaw Neck off US 17.
- Origin of name – Named for the many crabs that were in the surrounding marsh and creeks
- Other names – ?
- Current status – Owned by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation as part of Hobcaw Barony which is open to the public for guided tours.
Timeline
- 1718 – John, Lord Carteret, one of the Lords Proprietors, claimed 12,000 acres and called it Hobcaw Barony (3, p. 3).
- 1730 – Lord Carteret sold the property to John Roberts for £500.
John Roberts sold the land to three men: Sir William Baker, Nicholas Linwood, and Brice Fisher. The three men appointed two agents to sell off the land. Hobcaw Barony would eventually be divided into many plantations (3, p. 3).
- 1767 – Robert Heriot bought 2,177 acres of Hobcaw Barony.
Benjamin Huger bought another tract to the south of Heriot's consisting of 1,711 acres (3, p. 35).
- 1772 – Benjamin Huger sold his acreage to Robert Heriot (3, p. 35).
- 1792 – Robert Heriot died and his estate was divided into three tracts. The northern third became Rose Hill, the middle third went to Benjamin Huger, Jr., and the lower third was bought by Thomas Young who named his portion Youngville (3, p. 36).
- 1794 – Thomas Young divided his property into two tracts which became known as Oryzantia and Youngville. At the same time Young also purchased Bellefield Plantation which bordered his property (3, p. 36).
- 1804 – Thomas Young died and his property was divided into smaller tracts. The land along the seashore was sold to Colonel William Alston who called it Crab Hall (3, p. 43).
When Colonel Alston bought the place the newspaper advertisement said there was a good dwelling house on the property.
- 1839 – Colonel Alston devised Crab Hall to his son Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Alston who also owned Bellefield (3, p. 43).
- 1881 – Charles C.P. Alston died and left his estate to his three children: Joseph Pringle, Charles Pringle, and Susan Pringle Alston. The three never married or had children (3, p. 38).
- 1906 – Susan and Charles Pringle Alston sold the plantations to Bernard M. Baruch (3, p. 38).
Baruch was in the process of acquiring all the plantations that were created from the original Hobcaw Barony. He called all of his property Hobcaw Barony using the original name.
- 1935-1943 – Bernard M. Baruch conveyed most of Hobcaw Barony to his daughter, Belle Wilcox Baruch (1, p. 42).
- 1956 – Belle Baruch created the Bernard M. Baruch Foundation to manage the barony as an educational center focusing on forestry and marine science (3, p. 54).
- 1964 – Belle Baruch died and her father decided to change the name of the foundation to the Belle W. Baruch Foundation. The foundation still exists today and continues to provide educational opportunities in wildlife conservation and research (1, p. 42).
Land
- Number of acres – ?
- Primary crop – Rice
Slaves
- Number of slaves – ?
References & Resources
- National Register of Historic Places
– Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1994
– Photographs, architectural overview
- History of Hobcaw Barony: Click here
- Suzanne Cameron Linder and Marta Leslie Thacker, Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of Georgetown County and the Santee River
(Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 2001), pp. 40-45
Order Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of Georgetown County and the Santee River - George C. Rogers, Jr., The History of Georgetown County, South Carolina
(Spartanburg, SC: Reprint Company, 1990)
Order The History of Georgetown County, South Carolina
Contact Information
- Belle W. Baruch Foundation
22 Hobcaw Road
Georgetown, SC 29440
Telephone: 843-546-4623
Website: Click here
