Painting of Friendfield Plantation
Click here for more Friendfield pictures.

Basic Information

• Location – Sampit River, Georgetown, Georgetown County
  

  Located on Friendfield Road off US 17/521, just outside the city of Georgetown.
  

• Other names – Washington

• Origin of name – Francis Withers lacked money and a loan was offered by his brother James. When Francis attempted to redeem the note, his brother tore it up and refused a cent. Because of this transaction, the place was named Friendfield (Plantation Tour).
  

• Current status – Privately owned

Timeline

• 1733 – Earliest known date of existence. John Ouldfield received a 630-acre grant along the Sampit River. His brothers-in-law, Thomas and Daniel LaRoche, acquired the property shortly after he received the grant (Linder & Thacker, p. 541).
  

• 1734 – James Withers purchased the property from the LaRoche brothers.
  

• 1735 – James Withers received a 120-acre grant and added it to the 630 acres. The Withers family acquired additional acreage so that its holdings inlcuded Friendfield, Mount Pleasant, Canaan, and Midway (Linder & Thacker, p. 541-546).
  

• 1794 – According to tradition, Robert Francis Withers (grandson of James Withers) built a house on Mount Pleasant. The house was called Mount Pleasant or Silver Hill (Linder & Thacker, p. 542).
  

• 1818 – Friendfield House was built by Francis Withers, another grandson of James Withers (National Register).
  

• 1847 – Francis Withers (builder of Friendfield House) died and left his second wife, Elizabeth Warham Withers, Friendfield Plantation which included Mount Pleasant, Midway, and Canaan. Mrs. Withers allowed her daughter (Elizabeth Warham Forster) and son-in-law (Dr. Alexius Mador Forster) to live at Friendfield and run the plantation (Linder & Thacker, p. 545).
  

• 1879 – Mrs. Elizabeth Warham Forster began to sell off parts of Friendfield. Friendfield and Mount Pleasant were sold to B. Walker Cannon (Linder & Thacker, p. 546).
  

• 1897-1919 – Friendfield and Mount Pleasant had many different owners who farmed the land. Patrick McClary owned Friendfield and made attempts to renovate the Friendfield House (Linder & Thacker, p. 546).
  

• 1926 – Friendfield House was destroyed by fire, leaving only the raised brick basement ((National Register).
  

• 1930 – Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe Cheston, Jr. of Philadelphia purchased Friendfield. The Chestons built a Colonial Revival style house on the site of the orginal Friendfield House. They used the orginal brick basement for the foundation (1996, National Register nomination). For the next 25 years the Chestons proceeded to reassemble Friendfield Plantation by purchasing Mount Pleasant, Midway, Canaan, Bonnyneck, and Westfield (now Waterfield) (Linder & Thacker, p. 546).
  

• 2005 – Friendfield Plantation is owned by Frances Cheston Train and Daniel K. Thorne.
  

Land

• Number of acres – 629

• Primary crop – Rice

• Cemetery

Owners

• Alphabetical list – B. Walker Cannon (1897); Dr. and Mrs. Elizabeth Hunt Warham and Alexius Mador Forster; Thomas and Daniel LaRoche (1733); Daniel K. Thorne and Frances Cheston Train (2005); John Ouldfield (1733); Francis Withers; James Withers (1734)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 273 (1860 census)

Buildings

Web Resources

• National Register of Historic Places
  – Nomination Form - submitted in 1995 by Sarah Fick - requires Adobe Reader
  – Photographs, architectural overview
  

• 59th Annual Plantation Tour - information on Friendfield - requires Adobe Reader
  

Print Resources

• Initial references: 22, 40

• Suzanne Cameron Linder and Marta Leslie Thacker (with preliminary research by Agnes Leland Baldwin), Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of Georgetown County and the Santee River (Columbia: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 2001).
  

Contact Information

• Telephone:

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