Cotton Hall Plantation – Yemassee – Beaufort County

— Cotton Hall Plantation © Prior Powers, Circa 1970 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

• Location – Yemassee, Prince William Parish, Beaufort County
  

  Located on Cotton Hall Road off US 17
  

• Origin of name – Named by Daniel Heyward, an early owner
  

• Other names – Part of Tomotley Barony

• Current status – Privately owned

Timeline

• 1777 – Earliest known date of existence

• 1784 – McPherson was owner (3, p. 51).
  

• 1832 – Daniel Heyward purchased Cotton Hall (3, p. 51).
  

  It is believed the Heyward family built the original house on the property (3, p. 49).
  

• 1865 – Original plantation house was burned by General Sherman's troops.
  

• 1882 – Daniel Heyward conveyed Cotton Hall to his daughter Anne who was married to Charles F. Hanckel (3, p. 51).
  

• 1883 – Anne sold the 997 acre property to Charles C. J. Hutson and George G. Martin (3, p. 51).
  

• 1917 – Henry Rast bought the plantation and added an addition 372 acres that had been known as Laurium and another original McPherson holding (3, p. 51).
  

• 1930 – John K. Hollins purchased a tract of 1797 acres which included Cotton Hall and Laurium (3, p. 51).
  

• 1930 – Hollins sold the property the same year he acquired it to Harry Payne Bingham (3, p. 51).
  

  Bingham immediately begun construction on a 26-room house (3, p. 49).
  

• 1946 – Bingham sold Cotton Hall and Laurium to L. J. Williams (3, p. 52).
  

• 1948 – Cotton Hall and Laurium were sold by Williams to Harold W. Allen (3, p. 52).
  

• 1959 – Robert (Ed) Edward Turner Jr. purchased the joint properties from Allen. In 1963, he committed suicide at nearby Bindon Plantation, which he also owned (3, p. 52).
  

• ? – Ed Turner's son, Ted Turner, sold the plantation to Rural Land Company of Greenville, SC in an effort to secure his father's business entities (3, p. 125).
  

• 1961 – Colonel Edmund D. and Dorothy Griffin purchased Cotton Hall Plantation (5).
  

• 1971 – Lawrence and Sara Douglas purchased the property from Colonel Griffin (4).
  

• 1981 – The Douglases sold Cotton Hall to Joseph Harden (4).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 997 in 1883; 1,797 in 1930; 800 in 2004
  

• Primary crop – Rice in the 19th century. Corn, hay, sugar cane, and cattle today.
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• Plantation house, barn, several other small buildings

References & Resources

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. Sankofa's Plantation Data Collection
   

3. 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)
   
   

4. Information contributed by Patricia Douglas, daughter-in-law of owners Lawrence and Sara Douglas (1971-1981).
   

5. Information contributed by Noel D. Atherton who lived at Cotton Hall from 1969-1971 with her parents Robin Carrier and Col. Griffin.