Belleville Plantation – Fort Motte – Calhoun County

Basic Information

• Location – Congaree River, Fort Motte, St. Matthews Parish, Calhoun County

  Original plantation lands were located off US 601 near where the road crosses the Congaree River.
  

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – Thomson's

• Current status – ?

Timeline

• ? – Earliest known date of existence

• ? – House built

• 1780 – The British created a fortified outpost on the property.
  

• 1781 – From February 22-24 the Americans tried to take the outpost but were unsuccessful. General Thomas Sumter led the attack but was forced to lift the siege when reinforcements for the British arrived (1, p. 10).
  

  The Americans did win the Battle of Fort Motte at nearby Mount Joseph Plantation, and after that victory the Bristish evacuated Belleville (3, p. 594).
  

• 1786 – An Episcopal chapel was built on the property
  (3, p. 162).
  

  Belleville was considered as a possible site for the new capital of South Carolina (3, p. 594).
  

• 1794 – Colonel William Russell Thomson began to experiment with growing cotton on the plantation (3, p. 594).
  

• 1804 – John Paul Thomson sold about 110 acres of Belleville to Andrew Heatly (3, p. 305).
  

• ? – John Paul Thomson died and his wife, Caroline Elizabeth Theus, inherited the plantation. She later married Dr. John Louis Raoul (3, p. 391).
  

Land

• Number of acres – ?

• Primary crop – Cotton

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Dr. John Louis and Caroline Thomson Raoul; John Paul and Caroline Elizabeth Theus Thomson; William Russell Thomson
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• ?

Web Resources

1. Belleville Plantation - PDF - pp. 10 and 19
   

2. 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
   

3. Daniel Marchant Culler, Orangeburgh District, 1768-1868: History and Records (Spartanburg, SC: The Reprint Company, 1995)
    Order Orangeburgh District, 1768-1868: History and Records