Castle Hill Plantation - Beaufort County South Carolina SC

Castle Hill Plantation – Beaufort County



Castle Hill Plantation - Beaufort County, South Carolina
— The "Big House" at Castle Hill Plantation © Contributed by Elaine Gamble —
Owner Joseph T. Wearn on left with superintendent Dave Gamble and dogs Mike & Pete

Basic Information

  • Location – Beaufort County

  • Origin of name – Dr. James Cuthbert named the plantation in honor of his ancestral home in Inverness, Scotland (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • Other names – ?

  • Current status – Privately owned

Timeline

  • ? – Earliest known date of existence

  • ? – Original house built

  • ? – Dr. James Cuthbert came to South Carolina in 1737. The exact year he established Castle Hill Plantation is not known (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

    Over the next century or so, Castle Hill was passed down through generations of the Cuthbert family (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • 1838 – Col. James Cuthbert died from yellow fever. He had borrowed against the plantation in an effort to increase his crop production. The plantation was sold in an effort to reconcile his estate after his death. (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • ? – Nathaniel Heyward purchased Castle Hill (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • 1849 – G.M. Wilkins purchased the plantation for his daughter Ellen and her husband Col. John Screven (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • Early 1900s – The original house was lost to fire.

  • 1929 – Blair S. Williams, together with his son John S. Williams, purchased the plantation (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • 1935 – The Williamses hired architect Willis Irvin to design a house. John's family spent winters at Castle Hill (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • 1948 – The Williamses sold the plantation to P.O. Mead (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • ? – Fred C. Koch owned Castle Hill (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • ? – Dr. H.T. Weaver owned Castle Hill (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125).

  • Late 1950s-Early 1960s – Dr. Joseph T. Wearn owned Castle Hill.

  • 1984 – Dr. Wearn died and left Castle Hill to his daughter, Sue Wearn Drew.

  • 1986 – Sue Wearn Drew sold the plantation.

  • ? – Mr. Bostwick bought Castle Hill. He recruited 11 investors to develop the plantation into a hunting lodge.

Land

  • Number of acres – 1,784 in 1929 (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125), 2,200 in the 1980s

  • Primary crop – Rice (Northern Money Southern Land, p. 125)

  • Elaine Gamble grew-up at Castle Hill. Her father, Dave Gamble, was the plantation's superintendent for 20 years. Elaine shared the following with us: "Castle Hill's nine-tenths of a mile entry lane is lined with bunkers on either side from the Civil War. Several cannonballs were found on the property as well as medical bottles.

    "The plantation has a rather large pond, possibly up to 100 acres including wetlands, which is populated with alligators. There is an old rice field that was used for duck hunting and a slave cemetery next to the pond complete with very old headstones [from the] late 1800s.

    "When I grew up, it had a prize-winning camellia garden which my father and Dr. Wearn cultivated and won many blue ribbons with. Castle Hill Plantation was visited by many well-known figures including Henry Cabot Lodge and E.B. White."

Owners

  • Chronological list – Dr. James Cuthbert, Col. James Cuthbert (?-1838), Nathaniel Heyward, G.M. Wilkins (1849-?), Col. John and Ellen Wilkins Screven, Blair S. and John S. Williams (1929-1948), P.O. Mead (1948-?), Fred C. Koch, Dr. H.T. Weaver, Dr. Joseph T. Wearn (?-1984), Sue Wearn Drew (1984-1986), Bostwick

Slaves

  • Number of slaves – 111

  • Former resident Elaine Gamble remembers, "One of the gentlemen who worked on the plantation was George Days. He was born there and his family members had been slaves."

Buildings

  • The house was built in 1935. There are also older outbuildings including slave quarters that remain on the property.

Web Resources

Print Resources





SC Plantation Inns
SC Plantation Tours
SC Plantation Pictures
SC Plantations by Place
SC Plantation Weddings



Abbeville County
Aiken County
Allendale County
Anderson County

Bamberg County
Barnwell County
Beaufort County
Berkeley County

Calhoun County
Charleston County
Cherokee County
Chester County
Chesterfield County
Clarendon County
Colleton County

Darlington County
Dillon County
Dorchester County

Edgefield County

Fairfield County
Florence County

Georgetown County
Greenville County
Greenwood County

Hampton County
Horry County

Jasper County

Kershaw County

Lancaster County
Laurens County
Lee County
Lexington County

Marion County
Marlboro County
McCormick County

Newberry County

Oconee County
Orangeburg County

Pickens County

Richland County

Saluda County
Spartanburg County
Sumter County

Union County

Williamsburg County

York County


Flower photographs by Virginia Saunders, Columbia, SC. Please click flower for more info.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Are you able to correct
an error?
Please click here.


SouthCarolinaPlantations.com
is maintained as a public service by

South Carolina

Home Edit Info Contact

HomeCorrect InfoSearchContact