Tall Oaks Plantation – Bishopville – Lee County

— Tall Oaks Plantation • National Register of Historic Places, 1981 —

Basic Information

• Location – Bishopville, Lee County

  811 West Church Street / SC Highway 341

• Origin of name – Dr. John Edward Dennis named the plantation Tall Oaks when he constructed the house near many large oak trees (1, p. 1)
  

• Other names – S. McLendon House (1, p. 1)
  

• Current status – ?
  

— Kitchen Building of Tall Oaks Plantation —
— National Register of Historic Places, 1981 —

Timeline

• Circa 1830s – Earliest known date of existence (1, p. 1)
  

  Dr. John Edward Dennis acquired property north of Bishopville and began farming (1, p. 1).
  

• Circa 1847 – House built (2)

  The two-story vernacular Greek Revival house was constructed by Dr. Dennis. As of 2015, the original brick kitchen building was still standing (1, p. 1) (2).
  

• 1855 – Dr. Dennis passed away; his wife, Adeline Muldraw Dennis, and son, Dr. Robert E. Dennis, took over management of the plantation (1, p. 2).
  

• 1904 – Dr. Robert E. Dennis lived at Tall Oaks until his death in this year. The plantation was then sold to the Lane family (1, p. 2).
  

• Early 1940s – The Lane family sold Tall Oaks to the McLendon family (1, p. 2).
  

• 1981 – Sherian K. McLendon was the owner of Tall Oaks (1, p. 1).
  

• 2017 – As of January 2017 the plantation house was for sale with an asking price of $350,000. In May 2017, the price had dropped to $290,000 (2).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 4.1 acres in 2015 (1, p. 2) (2)
  

• Primary crop – Cotton

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

References & Resources

1. Information contributed by Cyndi Shull from:
   National Register of Historic Places
   – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1981
   – Photographs, architectural overview
   

2. Information contributed by Cyndi Shull from:
   Real Estate Listing - 2015