Photograph by Terry Rowe of Georgetown, SC
Click here to see more pictures of Millbrook Plantation.

Basic Information

• Location – Minim Creek (a branch of the North Santee River), Georgetown, Prince George Winyah Parish, Georgetown County

  Located off US 17 about fourteen miles south of Georgetown
  

• Origin of name – Millbrook was named by Andrew Johnston who owned a pioneering rice mill operated by the tide.
  

• Other names – Annandale (1826-2001)

• Current status – Privately owned
  

Timeline

• 1732 – Earliest known date of existence

  Thomas Lynch received a grant for 4,500 acres on the North Santee River (Linder & Thacker, p. 617).
  

• 1737 – Thomas Lynch died and left his plantation to his son, Thomas Lynch II (Linder & Thacker, p. 617).
  

• ? – Property was sold to Andrew Johnston, a relative of Thomas Lynch II (Linder & Thacker, p. 617).
  

• 1791 – Andrew Johnston hired Jonathan Lucas Sr. to build a rice mill. Millbrook had the first tide-operated mill
  (National Register).
  

• 1795 – Andrew Johnston died and left the plantation to his son, William Andrew Johnston. William married Anna Maria Pinckney and they built a house near the rice fields (Linder & Thacker, p. 617).
  

• 1826 – William's son, Andrew, took over the management of the plantation. He changed the name to Annandale in honor of his ancestral home in Scotland. Andrew also changed the spelling of his last name to Johnstone (National Register).
  

• 1833 – Andrew constructed a Greek Revival house which still stands today (National Register).
  

• 1863 – George A. Trenholm, who was Secretary of the Confederate Treasury from 1864 until the end of the war, purchased the property from Andrew Johnstone. A year later, Johnstone was murdered in his home in the mountains by deserters of the Confederate and Union Armies (Linder & Thacker, p. 619-620).
  

• 1865 – Trenholm conveyed the plantation to his son-in-law, William Miles Hazzard (Linder & Thacker, p. 620).
  

• 1898 – William Miles Hazzard sold the property to the Santee Rice Company (National Register).
  

• 1911 – William Darlington purchased the plantation from the Santee Rice Company (Linder & Thacker, p. 620).
  

• 1919 – Darlington sold the plantation to Charles M. Reeves. The sale included Millbrook and Hopewell and Hopeland, adjacent properties. The Reeves family restored the house, converted the old rice fields for cattle grazing, grew soy beans and corn, and harvested shrimp and crabs from the wetlands (Linder & Thacker, p. 620).
  

• 1981-1986 – White Oak Forest Management purchases what was known as Millbrook Plantation.
  

• 1986-1989 – Louis Dunklin purchased Millbrook Plantation from White Oak Forest Management.
  

• 1988 – The house at Millbrook along with twenty-six acres was sold to Alexander Gregg, a descendant of the Johnstones. The Reeves kept 4,000 acres and retained the name Annandale. (Linder & Thacker, p. 620).
  

• 2001 – Dan Ray purchased Millbrook. It is protected under a conservation easement and the name Millbrook must be maintained (Linder & Thacker, p. 620).
  

• 2004 – Mr. and Mrs. John H. Parrish purchased Millbrook from Dan Ray.
  

Land

• Number of acres – 4,500 in 1732; 4,026 in 1919; 26 in 2001
  

• Primary crop – Rice

  Andrew Johnstone produced 900,000 pounds of rice in 1850 (Linder & Thacker, p. 619).
  

Owners

• Alphabetical list – William Darlington; Louis Dunklin; Alexander Gregg; William Miles Hazzard; Andrew Johnston; William Andrew Johnston; Andrew Johnstone; Thomas Lynch; Thomas Lynch II; Mr. and Mrs. John H. Parrish; Dan Ray; Charles M. Reeves; Santee Rice Company; George A. Trenholm; White Oak Forest Management
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• House – 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, 5000 square feet (2005)

Web Resources

• National Register of Historic Places
  – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1973 in the name of Annandale
  – Photographs, architectural overview
  

Print Resources

• Initial references: 5

• Alberta Morel Lachicotte, Georgetown Rice Plantations (Columbia, SC: The State Printing Company, 1955).
  

• 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).
  

• George C. Rogers, Jr., The History of Georgetown County, South Carolina (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1970).
  

More about Georgetown County

• Learn more about historic Georgetown County, including the lovely town of Georgetown SC. We have helpful guides to Georgetown SC history and Georgetown SC libraries and museums – plus Georgetown SC restaurants, Georgetown SC bed & breakfasts, Georgetown SC hotels, and Georgetown SC real estate.