South Mulberry Plantation – Oakely – Berkeley County

— South Mulberry Plantation House © Chip Hall, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

• Location – Western branch of the Cooper River, Oakely, St. John's Berkeley Parish, Berkeley County

  Located off Old Highway 52 on South Mulberry Road
  

• Origin of name – The plantation got its name when it was created by subdividing Mulberry Plantation
  

• Other names – Mulberry Plantation

• Current status – Part of Mulberry Plantation and privately owned – In 2015, the plantation was put on the market with an asking price of $17,500,000 and was still for sale as of February 2017 with price reduction to $14,700,000. View the real estate listing here.

— South Mulberry Plantation Porch © Chip Hall, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Timeline

• 1809 – Earliest known date of existence (3, p. 92)
  

  South Mulberry Plantation was created when it was subdivided by Thomas Broughton from his Mulberry Plantation. Thomas Broughton gave the southern portion of his planation to his son Philip S. Broughton. Mulberry Plantation traces its history back to a 1679 grant (8, p. 66).
  

• Circa 1835 – Philip S. Broughton gave the plantation to his daughter Christiana Constantia Broughton who married Dr. Sanford William Barker (3, p. 92) (8, p. 66.
  

• 1835 – House built by Dr. Stanford Barker and his wife (8, p. 66.
  

• 1901 – Charles Washington Seignious's obituary stated he owned Mulberry Plantation at the time of his death. It is assumed he acquired the property through marriage. South Mulberry may have been also called Exeter at this time (10).
  

• ? – Robert Tucker acquired the plantation (3, p. 93).
  

• ? – Eversley Childs purchased South Mulberry from Robert Tucker (3, p. 93).
  

• Circa 1920s – Eversley Childs sold the plantation to Frederick A. Dallett. Both Childs and Dallett made changes to the house as it was used primarily as a hunting lodge (3, p. 93).
  

• Circa 1940 – F.A. Dallet was owner (5).
  

• Circa 1951 – M.E. Dodge Sr. owned the plantation. Under Dodge's ownership, South Mulberry was a working plantation raising beef cattle, operating a dairy and cultivating other agricultural products (5).
  

• Circa 1958 – Dodge sold the plantation (5).
  

• 1990 – Scenes from the movie Voodoo Dawn were filmed at South Mulberry Plantation (6).
  

• 1991 – S. Parker Gilbert, who once ran Morgan Stanley, and his wife Gail Gilbert purchased South Mulberry Plantation. They had purchased Mulberry Plantation in 1988 and combined the plantations again into one under the Mulberry Plantation name (7) (9).
  

• 2015 – After the death of her husband, Gail Gilbert put Mulberry Plantation up for sale with an asking price of $17.5 million. There are conservation easements with the Historic Charleston Foundation and Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust on the plantation (7) (9).
  

— Aerial View of Mulberry Plantation © Chip Hall, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Land

• Number of acres – Historically 2,600 acres; the plantation has recently (2012) been subdivided (5).
  

• Primary crop – Beef cattle, dairy and agricultural products under the ownership of M.E. Dodge Sr. (5).
  

— South Mulberry Plantation Living Room © Chip Hall, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

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. 30-14 Plantation File, South Carolina Historical Society
   –  Online Catalog

3. John Beaufain Irving, A Day on Cooper River (1842) (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010)
   

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

5. Information contributed by M.E. Dodge, Jr.
   

6. Information contributed by Brandon Coffey.
   

7. Information from the real estate listing developed by agent Chip Hall – view it here.
   

8. William P. Baldwin, Jr., Plantations of the Low Country; South Carolina, 1697-1865 (Greensboro, NC: Legacy Publications, 1987)
    Order Plantations of the Low Country; South Carolina, 1697-1865
   

9. Katy McLaughlin, Former Morgan Stanley Chairman S. Parker Gilbert's Plantation Lists for $17.5 Million (New York, NY: The Wall Street Journal, November 16, 2015).
   

10. Information contributed by Steven D. Ayres whose great-grandfather, Charles Washington Seignious, at one time owned the plantation.
    

— South Mulberry Plantation Game Room © Chip Hall, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)