Dirleton Plantation – Plantersville – Georgetown County

— Dirleton Plantation © Brandon Coffey, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

• Location – Pee Dee River, Plantersville, Prince George Winyah Parish, Georgetown County

  Original plantation lands were located off Plantersville Road in the vicinity of Samworth Loop and Dirleton Road.
  

  For directions, click here and scroll down to the Samworth Wildlife Management Area Landing.
  

• Origin of name – Name after Dirleton Castle, the ancestral home of the Heriot family
  

• Other names – Richfield (until 1854)

• Current status – Samworth Wildlife Management Area

— Dirleton Plantation House © Brandon Coffey, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Timeline

• 1779 – Abraham Livingston purchased 1,455 acres, referred to as Richfield, from Daniel Huger (7, p. 293).
  

• 1817 – George and Savage Smith were in possession of Richfield. They also acquired an additional 800 acres from John Huger. They eventually split their property into three tracts of land which later became Springfield, Benvenue, and Richfield (7, p. 293).
  

  Sarah Smith Brown, daughter of George Smith, ended up with Richfield. Her husband amassed large debts and left her practically penniless (7, p. 293).
  

• 1825 – Benjamin Faneuil Hunt purchased Richfield. He was only able to do so by mortgaging the property (7, p. 294).
  

• 1854 – Benjamin Faneuil Hunt lost the property due to failure to pay the mortgage. Edward Thomas Heriot bought the plantation for $60,000. It was at this time that he changed the name of the plantation from Richfield to Dirleton in honor of his ancestral home in Scotland (7, p. 295).
  

  He also owned Mont Arena and Northampton plantations.
  

• 1855 – Edward Thomad Heriot died and his estate was divided among his widow and children. Robert Stark Heriot, the eldest son, received Dirleton.
  

  Robert Stark Heriot decided to exchange Dirleton for Birdfield, a plantation owned by his sister, Mary, and her husband, Dr. James Ritchie Sparkman (7, p. 295).
  

• 1850s – Dr. James Ritchie Sparkman began building a house in the late 1850s. It was three stories and had twenty-three rooms (7, p. 296).
  

• 1917 – Philip R. Lachicotte, L.J. Upton, and T.R. Upton bought the plantation from the Sparkman heirs. L.J. Upton eventually owned the whole plantation.
  

• 1932 – L.J. Upton sold the plantation to Louis L. Hamby.
  

• 1945 – Thomas G. Samworth purchased the plantation.
  

• 1961 – Thomas G. Samworth donated Dirleton to the state of South Carolina. He and his wife kept the rights to the plantation house and the rest of the property became the Samworth Wildlife Management Area operated by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
  

— Staircase of Dirleton Plantation © Brandon Coffey, 2008 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Land

• Number of acres – 624

• Primary crop – Rice

• Cemetery

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Sarah Smith Brown; Louis L. Hamby (1932-?); Edward Thomas Heriot (1854-1855); Robert Stark Heriot (1855-?); Daniel Huger (?-1779); Benjamin Faneuil Hunt (1825-1854); Abraham Livingston (1779-?); Ragsdale; Thomas G. Samworth (1945-?); George and Savage Smith (1817); Dr. James Ritchie and Mary Sparkman (1850s-?); State of South Carolina (1961-present); Philip R. Lachicotte, L.J. Upton, and T.R. Upton (1917-?); L.J. Upton (1917-1932)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• The plantation house remains. It is three stories with twenty-three rooms.
  

— Porch at Dirleton Plantation © Brandon Coffey, 2015 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

References & Resources

1. Brief history of Dirleton Plantation: Click here

2. Samworth Wildlife Management Area - SC Department of Natural Resources
   

3. Samworth WMA - Ducks Unlimited conservation project
   

4. Dr. James Ritchie Sparkman
   

5. 30-15 Plantation File, held by the South Carolina Historical Society

6. William P. Baldwin, Jr., Plantations of the Low Country; South Carolina, 1697-1865 (Greensboro, NC: Legacy Publications, 1987)
    Order Plantations of the Low Country; South Carolina, 1697-1865
   

7. Suzanne Cameron Linder and Marta Leslie Thacker, Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of Georgetown County and the Santee River (Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 2001)
    Order Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of Georgetown County and the Santee River

8. Catherine Campart Messmer, South Carolina's Low Country - A Past Preserved Text (Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper Publishing, 1988)
   

9. George C. Rogers, Jr., The History of Georgetown County, South Carolina (Spartanburg, SC: Reprint Company, 1990)
    Order The History of Georgetown County, South Carolina

Contact Information

• South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
  Great Pee Dee Scenic River Project
  P.O. Box 167
  Columbia, SC 29202
  

  Telephone: 803-734-3918
  Website: Click here