Mount Holly Plantation – Landsford – Chester County

— Mount Holly Plantation, Circa 1850 © Contributed by Nancy Biggs Thomas —

Basic Information

• Location – Landsford, Catawba River, Chester County

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – ?

• Current status – No longer exists

Timeline

• 1850s – Earliest known date of existence (1)
  

  Colonel Cadwallader Rives established Mount Holly (1).
  

• 1850s – House built by Rives (1)
  

• Early 1860s – James Harvey Smith purchased Mount Holly after Rives was unable to pay the taxes. James had many landholdings and did not live at Mount Holly. His sister Margaret Smith who was married to Rufus Marion Cross of Chester, managed and lived at the plantation (1).
  

• 1910 – The plantation passed to James' daughter Mrs. Robert Gage (1).
  

• 1950s – The house was vacant (1).
  

• Circa 1970 – Duke Energy had bought the plantation, planting pines on the property. The house was gone (1).
  

Land

• Number of acres – ?

• Primary crop – Cotton (1)

Owners

• Chronological list – Colonel Cadwallader Rives (1850s-?); James Harvey Smith (Early 1860s-1910); Mrs. Robert Gage (1910-?); Duke Energy (1970)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• The house was patterned after the plantation home built in 1813 at nearby Wyoming Plantation. The house was of hand hewn and pegged timber constuction (1).
  

References & Resources

1. Information contributed by Nancy Biggs Thomas.