Peru Plantation – Black River – Georgetown County

— Peru Plantation Outbuilding © Gazie Nagle, 2014 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

• Location – Green's Creek, Black River, Prince George Winyah Parish, Georgetown County

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – ?

• Current status – Slated for development (4)
  

— Shed at Peru Plantation © Gazie Nagle, 2014 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Timeline

• Early 1700s – Earliest known date of existence
  

  John Green received several land grants in the area. From these, the plantations of Peru, Mansfield, Wedgefield, Beneventum and Windsor would be developed (1).
  

• ? – House built

• 1749 – John Green's will stipulated the tract of 249 acres along Green's Creek "said plantation I now dwell on" be left to his wife Elizabeth (2, p. 467).
  

• 1766 – Elizabeth Green passed away and it isn't clear what happened to the property. Most of her estate was divided among her four surviving children but appears John Glan acquired the plantation at some point (2, p. 468).
  

• ? – George Ford acquired that plantation that had previously belonged to Elizabeth Green. Ford may have obtained the property through one of his three marriages (2, p. 469).
  

• 1790s – George Ford died sometime during this decade. It is unclear what happend to his land holdings after his death (2, p. 469).
  

• 1805 – A plat of this year refers to the 449 acre property as Peru and belonging to Thomas Ford. George Ford's widowed daughter Mary Ford Walter married her first cousin Thomas Ford. This may have been how Thomas Ford acquired the property. This plat also recorded the only structure on the property as being a "structure resembling a chapel" (2, p. 469).
  

• 1817 – A plat of this year recorded the same chapel building as well as a house surrounded by outbuildings plus a double row of slave houses (2, p. 469).
  

• 1840 – Thomas Ford died leaving his estate to his brother Stephen Ford (2, p. 470).
  

• By 1860 – Stephen Ford was operating a water-powered rice mill at Peru to process rice he grew his Peru and Cumbee plantations (2, p. 470).
  

• ? – Stephen Ford passed away and Frederick Wentworth Ford, Stephen's son, was executor of the estate which was heavy with debt (2, p. 470).
  

• 1870 – Peru Plantation was sold at public auction. Frederick Wentworth Ford was able to reclaim the property at this time but had to take out three mortgages on it (2, p. 470).
  

• 1873 – Ford was unable to pay the mortgages and Peru was sold to brothers Elliot Waight Hazzard and John Potter Hazzard (2, p. 470).
  

• 1897 – Elliot Waight Hazzard died and the properties he and his brother John Potter Hazzard jointly owned were divided. Elliot's widow and children received Peru (2, p. 470).
  

• 1910 – The Black River Land Company purchased the plantation with intentions of developing it (2, p. 470).
  

• 2014 – The property has been slated for development which has stalled (4).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 249 in 1749; 449 in 1805 (2)
  

• Primary crop – Rice (2, p. 467)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 9 in 1749; 3 in 1766 (2, p. 468)
  

References & Resources

1. Mansfield Plantation History: Click here
   

2. 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

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

4. Information contributed by Gazie Nagle.