Bonnie Doone Plantation Walterboro Colleton County

— Oil Painting of Bonnie Doone Plantation © Darlene Usry-Byrd, 2014 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)
Basic Information
- Location Horseshoe Creek, a branch of the Ashepoo River, Walterboro, St. Bartholomew's Parish, ACE Basin, Colleton County
Follow SC 64 to Ritter Road and turn left onto Bonnie Doone Road
- Origin of name ?
- Other names ?
Bonnie Doone includes Ashland Plantation, Chessey Plantation, Dehon Plantation, Neyle Plantation, and Sterling Plantation.
- Current status Owned by the Charleston Baptist Association, operated as a camp and conference center
Timeline
- 1722 Earliest known date of existence
Royal land grant given to William Hopton
- 1865 Original house, outbuildings burned by Union troops
- 1931 Rebuilt by New York stockbroker Alfred H. Caspary
The house is built in the Georgian style and has 32 rooms, including 12 bedrooms.
- Circa late 1960s Plantation purchased by the Charleston Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of the United States.
Laurie Hanna Jones shares, "The Charleston Presbytery purchased the plantation and did a tremendous amount of renovation of the Big House and the other buildings which still stand today. They also built the in-ground pool and a recreational building which stands behind the caretaker's house. A bridge was built to what is known as Vesper Island and benches were built there for worship."
Land
- Number of acres At one time, the plantation comprised 15,000 acres. The present acreage is 131.
- Primary crop Rice
Although Sherman's troops burned the house in 1861, rice continued to be grown on the plantation until 1911. The rice fields are visible today.
Owners
- Alphabetical list Bischoff, A. H. Caspary (1931), Charleston Baptist Association (present), Charleston Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of the United States (cira late 1960s-late 1970s), Chessey, Colcock, Dr. Theodore DeHon (1861), Delton, Eckhardt, Henry T. Ferguson (1846-1859), Fishburne, Wilmot S. Gibbes, Grace, Henderson, Sampson W. Leith, Neyle, Cotesworth Pinckney, Fishburne, Pringle, Rhett, Richmond, Paul Sanders (1931), Stokes, Wichman
Slaves
- Number of slaves ?
Buildings
- Current mansion used in the movie Scarlett
References & Resources
- Baptist Conference Center at Bonnie Doone: Click here
- 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
- Sankofa's Plantation Data Collection
- Lucius G. Fishburne, Plantation Notes, St. Bartholomew's Parish, 1960, held by the South Carolina Historical Society
- Sherry J. Cawley, Around Walterboro South Carolina: Postcard History
(Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 1998)
- Suzanne Cameron Linder, Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of the ACE River Basin - 1860
(Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1995), pp. 79-80.
Order Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of the ACE River Basin - 1860
Contact Information
- Baptist Conference Center at Bonnie Doone
5878 Bonnie Doone Road
Walterboro, SC 29488
Telephone: 843-893-3396
Website: Click here