Oak Hill Plantation – Georgetown – Georgetown County

Basic Information

• Location – Waccamaw River, Georgetown, All Saints Waccamaw Parish, Georgetown County

  Original plantation lands were located on the Waccamaw Neck, off US 17, and stretched from the Waccamaw River to the Atlantic Ocean.
  

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – ?

• Current status – Part of Arcadia Plantation

Timeline

• 1744 – Joseph LaBruce owned three tracts of land on the Waccamaw Neck totaling approximately 2,500 acres. These tracts of land were originally granted in 1711 and 1732 to other owners, however, the land remained undeveloped until Joseph LaBruce purchased them and made it into a plantation (Linder & Thacker, p. 88).
  

• 1764 – Joseph LaBruce died and his land was divided among his children. Thomas LaBruce inherited most of his father's property and it is assumed that he received Oak Hill (Linder & Thacker, p. 88).
  

• ? – Thomas LaBruce died and left Oak Hill to his son John LaBruce.
  

• 1802 – John LaBruce died. An overseer probably managed the place until his son, Joseph Percival LaBruce, came of age in 1814 (Linder & Thacker, p. 89).
  

• 1814 – Oak Hill was divided between Joseph Percival LaBruce and his sister Mary Ann LaBruce. His sister's portion was named Grove Hill.
  

• 1827 – Joseph Percival LaBruce had died by this time. His widow, Catharine Ward LaBruce, at some point acquired the Grove Hill tract making Oak Hill whole again. Her sons, John and Joshua, continued to plant at Oak Hill. John eventually owned Oak Hill and his brother owned Ruinville (Linder & Thacker, p. 89).
  

• ? – John LaBruce died and left Oak Hill to his two sons, John and Mortimer.
  

• 1880 – A complaint was filed with the Court of Common Pleas and the land was divided into three tracts. One share went to the children of John LaBruce, another share went to the widow of John LaBruce's nephew, and the last share went to one of John Labruce's brothers and a niece (Linder & Thacker, p. 90).
  

• ? – J.B. Steele acquired all three tracts and sold them to Patrick and George Doyle who formed Oak Hill Lumber Company (Linder & Thacker, p. 90).
  

• 1906 – Dr. Isaac Emerson bought Oak Hill.
  

  He eventually owned seven other plantations which he combined and called Arcadia.
  

• 1931 – Dr. Emerson left his property to his grandson, George Vanderbilt.
  

• 2006 – The property is owned by Lucille Pate, daughter of George Vanderbilt.
  

Land

• Number of acres – 2,500 in 1744

• Primary crop – Rice

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Patrick and George Doyle; Dr. Isaac Emerson; John LaBruce (grandfather); John LaBruce (grandson); Joseph LaBruce; Joseph Percival LaBruce; Thomas LaBruce; Lucille Pate; J.B. Steele; George Vanderbilt
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• ?

Web Resources

• ?

Print Resources

• Alberta Morel Lachicotte, Georgetown Rice Plantations (Columbia, SC: The State Printing Company, 1955).
  

• Suzanne Cameron Linder and Marta Leslie Thacker (with preliminary research by Agnes Leland Baldwin), Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of Georgetown County and the Santee River (Columbia: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 2001).