Belfair Plantation – Beaufort County

— Belfair Plantation Avenue of Oaks © Gazie Nagle, 2012 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

• Location – Colleton River, four miles north of Bluffton, St. Helena Parish, Beaufort County
  

• Origin of name – Thought to be a combination of the names Bellinger and Telfair, a married couple who owned the plantation (1)
  

• Other names – It was called Barnwell Plantation under the ownership of William Wigg Barnwell (2, p. 12).
  

• Current status – Residential community

Timeline

• 1718 – Earliest known date of existence

  Sir John Colleton was granted 12,000 acres which he called Devil's Elbow Barony (2, p. 12).
  

• 1777 – Sir John Colleton died. The large land holding had remained together up until his death. (2, p. 12).
  

• ? – The Colleton family sold 6,000 acres of the barony (2, p. 68).
  

• 1811 – William Telfair married Betsey Bellinger and it is believed they combined their names to form Belfair when they made the plantation their home (1).
  

• ? – William Wigg Barnwell was an owner in the nineteenth century (2, p. 12).
  

• 1920s – William Mosely Swain owned Belfair. He planted the oaks which still stand along the avenue today, and he built a magnificent tabby home which has since crumbled. Swain purchased approximately 2,000 acres which included Belfair Plantation, Glover Plantation, and the H.A.M. Smith place (2, p. 11).
  

• 1994 – Belfair Plantation, LLC purchased the property and developed it into a private golfing community (1).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 2,000 in the 1930s when Swain was the owner (2, p. 11).
  

• Primary crop – ?

Owners

• Chronological list – Sir John Colleton (1718-1777), William Telfair and Betsey Bellinger (1811-?), William Wigg Barnwell, William Mosely Swain, Belfair Plantation, LLC (1994-present)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?
  

Buildings

• The tabby Swain used for construction of his four-story house consisted of local oyster shells and a small amount of concrete. Unfortunately, the mixture contained too much saline which lead to the disintegration of the tabby (2, p. 9).
  

References & Resources

1. Belfair History at a Glance: Click here

2. Robert B. Cuthbert and Stephen G. Hoffius, editors, Northern Money, Southern Land: The Lowcountry Plantation Sketches of Chlotilde R. Martin (Columbia, SC: The University of South Carolina Press, 2009)
   
   

Contact Information

• Belfair
  200 Belfair Oaks Blvd
  Bluffton, SC 29910
  

  Telephone: 843-757-0701
  Website: Click here