Middleton's Plantation – Combahee River – Colleton County

Basic Information

• Location – Chehaw Neck, Combahee River, St. Bartholomew's Parish, Colleton County

• Origin of name – For founder Oliver Hering Middleton

• Other names – ?

• Current status – In 1929, Middleton's was part of several large land purchases in the area which combined created the Cheeha-Combahee Plantation (2, p. 343).
  

Timeline

• ? – Earliest known date of existence

• ? – House built

• ? – Dr. Robert Trail Chisolm owned three tracts on the Chehaw Neck that totaled 1,600 acres (2, p. 341).
  

• 1828 – Dr. Chisolm's daughter, Susan Matilda Harriet Chiolm, married Oliver Hering Middleton. The Chehaw Neck property was part of her marriage settlement (2, p. 341).
  

• 1850 – Oliver Middleton purchased two tracts, Buckner Plantation and Oak Hill, from the heirs of William Murray. Middleton combined these two tracts along with property from wife Susan and called the large plantation Middleton's Plantation (2, p. 341).
  

• Middleton was one of the few planters along the Combahee River that was able to retain ownership of his property after the Civil War (2, p. 343).
  

• 1892 – Oliver Middleton passed away leaving the plantation to his four daughters; Mary Middleton Read, Eleanor Middleton Rutledge, Olivia Middleton Blake, and Emma Middleton (2, p. 343).
  

• 1904 – The Middleton sisters sold the property to J.T. Deal (2, p. 343).
  

• 1929 – Charles Pratt purchased Middleton's Plantation along with several other pieces of property on behalf of his father and Standard Oil Company partner, Frederick Pratt. Pratt called his 10,000+ acre property Cheeha-Combahee Plantation (2, p. 343).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 2,700 acres in 1850 (2, p. 341)

• Primary crop – Rice, cotton (2)

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 132 in 1850 (2, p. 341)

References & Resources

1. Lucius G. Fishburne, Plantation Notes, St. Bartholomew's Parish, 1960, held by the South Carolina Historical Society
   

2. 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)
    Order Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of the ACE River Basin - 1860