Tombee Plantation – St Helena Island – Beaufort County

— Tombee Plantation © William Means Real Estate —

Basic Information

• Location – Station Creek (a branch of the Beaufort River), St. Helena Island, St. Helena Parish, Beaufort County

  21 Whooping Crane Lane
  

• Origin of name – Named for founder "Tom B." Chaplin or his grandson, who had the same name (Story of Sea Island Cotton, p. 396)
  

• Other names – Palmetto Point, T.B. Chaplin Place, Tom Chaplin Place
  

• Current status – Privately owned
  

  The plantation was listed for sale with asking price of $3,250,000.00 as of December 2011. Click here to view the real estate listing.
  

— Tombee Plantation Bedroom © William Means Real Estate —

Timeline

• 1790 – Earliest known date of existence

• 1795 – House built by Thomas Benjamin Chaplin (Story of Sea Island Cotton, p. 396). It is the oldest existing house on St. Helena Island.

• ? – Saxby Chaplin inherited the plantation from his father, Thomas Benjamin Chaplin (Story of Sea Island Cotton, p. 396).
  

• 1828 – Saxby's son, also named Thomas Benjamin Chaplin, inherited the plantation upon his father's death. Thomas was a young child so his uncle, Benjamin Chaplin, managed Tombee until he was of age (Story of Sea Island Cotton, p. 396).
  

• 1861 – The Chaplins left Tombee with the advancement of Union troops (Story of Sea Island Cotton, p. 398).
  

• 1863 – The federal government purchased the plantation as part of the Port Royal Experiment (Story of Sea Island Cotton, p. 398).
  

  Tombee was divided into tracts during this time, with much of the land being owned by the descendants of freed slaves until 1971 (National Register, p. 3).
  

  Althea Natalga Sumpter shares, "... listed in Beaufort County property records, those formerly enslaved on the plantation bought and still own the land surrounding the main house since the 1860s. We call it Tombee Community. As one of those descendants and current property owner of land bought by my formerly enslaved forbearers during Reconstruction Era, the community is still strong as descendants continue to maintain land ownership throughout St. Helena Island."
  

• 1890 – Title to the house and 300 acres were returned to Thomas B. Chaplin a few months prior to his death (Story of Sea Island Cotton, p. 398).
  

• Circa 1937 – A map of the area by Arthur Christenson shows Tom B. Chaplin as owner (National Register, p. 3).
  

  [ ? – We are uncertain which generation owned the main house of Tombee in 1937, but we assume it was the fourth-generation Thomas Benjamin Chaplin. ]
  

• 1971 – James A. Williams was owner and restored the house (National Register, p. 1).
  

  Jim Williams restored a number of historic homes but will be most remembered as the only person ever to be tried four times for the same crime in the state of Georgia. The book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil traced this period of Williams' life.
  

• 2010 – The house was restored to its original floor plan.
  

— Tombee Plantation Parlor © William Means Real Estate —

Land

• Number of acres – 376 in 1828; 406 in 1850 (History of Beaufort County, p. 390); approximately 20 in 2011
  

• Primary crop – Sea island cotton plus corn, potatoes, and peas (National Register, p. 3)
  

Owners

• Chronological list – Thomas Benjamin Chaplin (1795-?), Saxby Chaplin (?-1828), Thomas Benjamin Chaplin, grandson (1828-1863), Federal Government (1863-1890), Thomas Benjamin Chaplin, grandson (1890), Thomas B. Chaplin, probably fourth generation (1937), James A. Williams (1971)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 65 in 1790 (National Register, p. 3); 25 in 1850 (History of Beaufort County, p. 390)
  

— Tombee Plantation Cottage © William Means Real Estate —

Buildings

• The main house has been restored at least twice. It is a two-story clapboard house on a tabby foundation (National Register, p. 2). There is also a guest cottage with two bedrooms and three baths.
  

Web Resources

• National Register of Historic Places
  – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1995
  – Photographs, architectural overview
  

Print Resources

• 30-15 Plantation File, held by the South Carolina Historical Society

• Lawrence S. Rowland, Alexander Moore, and George C. Rogers, Jr. The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: Volume 1, 1514-1861 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1996)
   Order The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: Volume 1, 1514-1861

• Catherine Campant Messner, South Carolina's Low Country: A Past Preserved (Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper Publishing Company, 1988)
   Order South Carolina's Low Country: A Past Preserved

• Richard Porcher and Sarah Fick, The Story of Sea Island Cotton (Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2005)
  
  

• John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (New York, NY: Vintage-division of Random House, 1999)
  
  

— View from Garden at Tombee Plantation © William Means Real Estate —

— Rear of Main House at Tombee Plantation © William Means Real Estate —

— Interior of Cottage at Tombee Plantation © William Means Real Estate —