Frogmore Plantation – St. Helena Island – Beaufort County
Basic Information
- Location – Harbor River, St. Helena Island, St. Helena Parish, Beaufort County
Located off Seaside Road on Frogmore Manor Drive
- Origin of name – John Grayson, an early owner, named it Frogmore after his ancestral home in England.
- Other names – ?
- Current status – ?
Timeline
- ? – Earliest known date of existence
- ? – Lieutenant Governor William Bull was original owner of the land.
- 1750 – Bull willed the property to his son.
- 1790 – John and Elizabeth Stapleton acquired the property.
- 1810 – House built by John and Elizabeth Stapleton.
- ? – Thomas Aston Coffin purchased Frogmore Plantation. He was also manager of his father's estate on behalf of the six siblings. The Coffin family holdings also included nearby Cherry Hill Plantation, Coffin Point Plantation, and McTureus Plantation.
- 1861 – The Coffins were among the sea island plantation families who fled in advance of Union troops, abandoning all their Beaufort County holdings.
- 1868 – Northern missionaries Ellen Murray and Laura Towne purchased Frogmore and enlarged the house.
- 1908 – Ellen Murray died (Laura Towne had passed away in 1900), and Frogmore was purchased by James Ross McDonald.
Land
- Number of acres – 2,139 acres when Thomas Aston Coffin purchased, 18.4 acres in 1988
- Primary crop – Cotton
Owners
- Alphabetical list – William Bull (?-1750), Thomas Aston Coffin (?-1861), John Grayson, James Ross McDonald (1908-?), Ellen Murray and Laura Towne (1868-1908), Sanders, John and Elizabeth Stapleton (1790-?)
Slaves
- Number of slaves – 170 when Thomas Aston Coffin purchased
Buildings
- Remaining today is the house built in 1810 along with a tabby construction barn. An additional house and other structures have been built on the property in the 1900s.
Web Resources
- National Register of Historic Places
– Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1988
– Photographs, architectural overview
Print Resources
- Initial references: 21, 33, 38, 67
