Valencia Plantation – Ridgeway – Fairfield County

— Valencia Plantation • National Register of Historic Places, 1971 —

Basic Information

• Location – Ridgeway, Fairfield County

  Two miles northwest of Ridgeway on County Road 106 (1, p. 1)
  

• Origin of name – The view from the house resembled Valencia, Spain (2, XII: 52)
  

• Other names – Bloomingdale (2, XII: 52)

• Current status – ?

Timeline

• 1824 – Earliest known date of existence (2, XII: 52)
  

  Edward Gendron Palmer acquired 6,000 acres which he called Blommingdale at New Lands. This area was called New Lands at the time and later was renamed Ridgeway (2, XII: 52).
  

• 1834 – House built (2, XII: 52)
  

  Palmer built a two-story frame house modeled after lowcountry plantation homes. When Mrs. Palmer's brother visited the house, he commented that the view reminded him of Valencia, Spain and the plantation from that point on has been called Valencia (1, p. 2) (2, XII: 52) (4).
  

• 1853 – Edward Palmer established Cedar Tree Plantation for his son Dr. John Davis Palmer. Palmer subdivided the southern portion of Valencia to make Cedar Tree (2, XII: 52).
  

• 1971 – Edward Gendron Palmer V owned the plantation (1, p. 1).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 6,000 in 1824; 400 in 1999 (2, XII: 52) (3, p. 3)
  

• Primary crop – Cotton

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 400 under Edward Gendron Palmer (4)
  

References & Resources

1. National Register of Historic Places
   – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1971
   – Photographs, architectural overview
   

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. Information contributed by Cyndi Shull from:
   Fairfield Genealogical Society June 1999 Newsletter - PDF
   

4. Information contributed by Cyndi Shull from:
   Low-Country Families Influence Fairfield (PDF), (Columbia, SC: The State, July 31, 1938)