Fork Plantation – Eastover – Richland County

Basic Information

• Location – Near Weston's Pond, Eastover, Wateree River, Richland County

  Old Camden Road near the Wateree Swamp
  

• Origin of names – Fork probably for its location in a large bend of the Wateree River; Bynum for the Bynum family that owned the plantation; Orange Hill for the native Mock Orange shrub in the area (1, vol. XIII-XVIII)
  

• Other names – Bynum; Orange Hill

• Current status – No longer exists

Timeline

• Before 1852 – Earliest known date of existence (1).
  

• Before 1852 – House built (1)

  The house was a large two-story wood structure built on a raised brick basement. It was built of typrus, and several of the rooms were wainescoated in walnut (1, vol. XIX-XXVI).
  

• ? – Mathew Richard Singleton owned Fork Plantation (1, vol. XIII-XVIII).
  

• 1854 – Mathew Richard Singleton gave Fork Plantation to his daughter, Angelica Singleton Van Buren, in his will (1, vol. XIII-XVIII).
  

• Circa 1859 – Nathaniel F. Bynum purchased the plantation from an Equity Court auction. The plantation was auctioned off to settle debts owned by Abram Van Buren, Angelina Van Buren and Frances Coles Van Buren. Bynum merged Fork Plantation with other property he owned and called the combined tract Orange Hill Plantation (1, vol. XIX-XXVI).
  

• ? – Nathaniel Bynum's wife, Emma Jamison Bynum, became the plantation's owner after her husband's death (1, vol. XIII-XVIII).
  

• 1930s – The house was lost to fire (1, vol. XIII-XVIII).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 4,000 in 1859 (1, vol. XIX-XXVI).
  

• Primary crop – Cotton

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 50+

  The slave quarters were known as Bynum Street (1, vol. XIII-XVIII).
  

References & Resources

Information contributed by Cyndi Singletary Shull from:

1. Claude Henry Neuffer, editor, Names in South Carolina, Volume I through 30 (Columbia, SC: The State Printing Company)
    Order Names in South Carolina, Volumes I-XII, 1954-1965
    Order Names in South Carolina, Index XIII-XVIII
   

2. Transcript of the will of Richard Singleton
   

3. Singleton Family Papers, 1759-1905
   

4. Harriett Kershaw Leiding, Historic Houses of South Carolina (Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1921)