Belle Isle Plantation – Pineville – Berkeley County

— General Francis Marion's Tomb at Belle Isle Plantation © Gazie Nagle, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

• Location – Pineville, St. Stephen's Parish, Berkeley County

  1 General Francis Marion Avenue
  

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – Black Out

• Current status – ?

— Belle Isle Plantation House © Audrey Keller Mann, 1927 —
— Contributed by Audrey's granddaughter, Elizabeth F. Carroll —
—(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Timeline

• ? – Earliest known date of existence

• ? – House built

• Circa 1755 – Gabriel Marion, Francis Marion's brother owned the plantation. He obtained Belle Isle through his marriage to Catherine Taylor. It is assumed that the plantation had previously been owned by Catherine's parents, or just father, Robert and Catherine Taylor (2, pp. 218, 277) (5).
  

• 1777 – Gabriel Marion passed away and was buried at Belle Isle (2, p. 218).
  

• 1790 – Robert Marion owned Belle Isle Plantation. He was the son of Gabriel and Catherine Marion and married Esther Deveaux (2, p. 205).
  

• 1868 – The plantation was owned by Stephen G. Deveaux and possibly his wife Ann B. Deveaux (d. 1868). Stephen was the step-son of Robert Marion (5) (6).
  

• Prior to 1889 – Walter Peyre Deveaux had inherited Belle Isle Plantation but it seems he was not residing there at this time (5).
  

• 1927 – The Belle Isle Plantation house was torn down (9).
  

— Belle Isle Plantation House © F.D. Kracke, 1925 —
(Charleston Museum Archives)

Land

• Number of acres – ?

• Primary crop – ?

• Belle Isle is the resting place of General Francis Marion who was buried in 1795. There was a large debate over moving the Francis Marion Grave to Francis Marion College, but it was decided to leave the body at Belle Isle.
  

• James W. Raybourne, Jr. shares the following information from the 1950s, "One of my fondest memories was discovering and being told about a long narrow depression in the earth between what had been the residence of Gen. Marion's brother Gabriel and the Santee Swamp to the north. The depression was what was left of the tunnel between Marion's brother's house and the swamp, through which Gen. Marion had escaped to avoid British capture in the 1700s (4).
  

— Belle Isle Plantation House © Circa 1927 —
(Charleston Museum Archives)

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Cordes; Peter Couturier; Stephen G. Deveaux (1868); Walter Peyre Deveaux (1889); Goudine; Dr. James Lynah; Gabriel Marion (Circa 1755-1777); Robert Marion (1790); Phelps; Simons; Singleton; Taylor
  

— Francis Marion's Grave Sign at Belle Isle Plantation © Darrell Parker, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

— General Francis Marion's Tomb at Belle Isle Plantation © Tom Connor —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

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. J. Russell Cross, Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley (Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan Company, 1985)
    Order Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley

3. Marion Salley, The Writings of Marion Salley, The Writings of Marion Salley (Orangeburg, SC: Orangeburg County Historical Society, 1970)
    Order The Writings of Marion Salley

4. Information contributed by James W. Raybourne, Jr.
   

5. Brandon Coffey, South Carolina Picture Project Facebook Group Article

6. Dorothy MacDowell Kelly, Reminiscences of St. Stephen's Parish - Samuel DuBose

7. Freedmen's Bureau Register of Destitutes (Rations Lists) by Plantation, Moncks Corner Subdistrict, SC, 1867 - scroll down to Belle Isle
   

8. Francis Marion Grave - SCIWAY's South Carolina Picture Project
   

9. Information contributed by Elizabeth F. Carroll, whose grandmother Audrey Keller Mann, along with Elizabeth's grandfather and 12 year-old-mother visited Belle Isle Plantation shortly before the house was torn down. The family traveled to the plantation after "word had been received in St. Stephen that Belle Isle was being taken down."