Rural Hall Plantation – Georgetown – Georgetown County

— Rural Hall Plantation, 1987 • National Register of Historic Places —

Basic Information

• Location – Black River, Georgetown, Georgetown County

  Located off SC Secondary Road 51 at 913 Rural Hall Drive
  

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – ?

• Current status – ?

Timeline

• 1735 – Earliest known date of existence

  Royal grant to Meredith Hughes

• 1850 – House built
  

  Christopher James Atkinson built the house (1, p. 3).
  

  Alicia Thieker Allen, the great-great-granddaughter of Margaret Elizabeth Thompson Rouquie, shared the following, "The family story is, the Yankees were going down the river burning every home. Christopher [Atkinson] met them at the river and invited them in for tea. They interviewed the slaves, and were so impressed, they moved to burn the next place, without burning Rural Hall." (6)
  

• ? – Upon Atkinson's death, the plantation passed to his niece Margaret Thompson Rouquie and her husband Stephen (1, p. 3).
  

  Alicia Thieker Allen continued with, "Another family story is, after the war, Stephen W. Rouquie had three tobacco barns - one 'dedicated to the Lord', meaning, he'd donate its proceeds to the poor. Someone burned the other two barns and was sent to jail. Everyone thought Stephen would split the proceeds of the remaining barn, but he said no, it was dedicated to the Lord, and it still is. The arsonist repented, and Stephen was so moved, he petitioned the governor for clemency, which was granted. Stephen hired the former arsonist as foreman. He was a good employee the rest of his life." (6)
  

• Circa 1900 – Margaret's husband, Stephen W. Rouquie, continued to grow rice at Rural Hill. After storms in 1893 and 1898 damaged the rice fields, he decided to sell the plantation (1, p. 3).
  

• 1947 – Alfred P. Seitter purchased Rural Hall. He grew produce for commercial sale on the property (5).
  

• 2007 – Seitter died (5).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 350

• Primary crop – Rice

Owners

• Alphabetical list – Christopher James Atkinson (1850); Henry Bossard; Meredith Hughes; Henry Moore; H.D. Munnerlyn; Rose Kaminski; Stephen W. and Margaret Elizabeth Thompson Rouquie; Alfred Paul Seitter (1947-2007); Dr. and Mrs. Frank Sloan
  

— 1843 Needlepoint by Margaret Thompson Rouquie © Alicia Thieker Allen, 2012 —

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 70 in 1850; 98 in 1860 (1, p. 3)
  

Buildings

• ?

References & Resources

1. National Register of Historic Places
   – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1987
   – Photographs, architectural overview
   

2. 30-15 Plantation File, held by the South Carolina Historical Society
   

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. 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), pp. 517-520
    Order Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of Georgetown County and the Santee River

5. Obituary of Alfred Seitter, The Post and Courier, February 23, 2007
   

6. Information contributed by Alicia Thieker Allen
   

7. Grave of Stephen W. Rouquie