Chelsea Plantation – Ridgeland – Jasper County

Basic Information

• Location – Chechessee River, Ridgeland, Jasper County

  1000 Chelsea Plantation Drive

• Origin of name – ?

• Other names – Monkey Jack; Tom Ellis Plantation (6)
  

• Current status – Owned by The Nature Conservancy with plans to place a conservation easement on the property then transfer the plantation to the South Carolina Forestry Commission (2025) (7)

Timeline

• ? – Earliest known date of existence

• 1818 – House built (4, p. 136)
  

• ? – John Heyward owned Chelsea (4, p. 133).
  

• 1839 – Heyward died a the age of 32 after being thrown from a horse. His wife Constantia Pritchard Heyward and her three children inherited the property upon John's death (4, p. 133, 136).
  

• 1859 – Constantia died. Chelsea would have stayed in the Heyward family but her family, the Pritchard's called in financial notes on the property and took possession of it. The loans had already been paid off but the notes never destroyed and the Pritchard's used them to obtain the plantation. Constantia's brother, Dr. Paul Pritchard became owner of the property (4, p. 133, 136).
  

• 1902 – The plantation was acquired for the founding of the Chelsea Plantation Club, a private hunt club. The club added to the acreage over the years (4, p. 136).
  

• 1936 – The house was destroyed by fire (4, p. 136).
  

• 1937 – The property was sold to Marshall Field III who immediately began constructing a house. Field called this house his "Quail Lodge" (4, p. 136).
  

• 1956 – Field died this year and his wife Ruth inherited Chelsea and enjoyed it as her winter home (4, p. 137).
  

• 1994 – After Ruth's death, the plantation fell into the family's estate (4, p. 137).
  

• 2025 – The Nature Conservancy purchased the 2,737 acre plantation with the intensions of placing a conservation easement on the property to limit future development. Longterm, the Nature Conservancy would like to transfer the plantation to the South Carolina Forestry Commission (7).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 15,000; 20,000 in 1931 (4, p. 133); 300 in 2009; 2,737 in 2025 (7)

• Primary crop – ?

Owners

• Chronological list – John Heyward (?-1839); Constantia Pritchard Heyward (1839-1859); Dr. Paul Pritchard (1859-?); Chelsea Plantation Club (1902-1937); Marshall Field III (1937-1956); Ruth Field (1956-1994); Field Family Estate (1994-at least 2009), The Nature Conservancy (2025)
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

Buildings

• The white brick colonial house build by Marshall Field III still stands (2012).

References & Resources

1. 30-15 Plantation File, held by the South Carolina Historical Society
   –  Research Guide
   

2. J. Russell Cross, Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley (Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan Company, 1985)
    Order Historic Ramblin's through Berkeley
   

3. N. Jane Iseley and William P. Baldwin, Lowcountry Plantations Today (Greensboro, NC: Legacy Publications 2001)
    Order Lowcountry Plantations Today
   

4. Robert B. Cuthbert and Stephen G. Hoffius, editors, Northern Money, Southern Land: The Lowcountry Plantation Sketches of Chlotilde R. Martin (Columbia, SC: The University of South Carolina Press, 2009)
    Order Northern Money, Southern Land: The Lowcountry Plantation Sketches of Chlotilde R. Martin
   

5. Information contributed by Jillian Olson
   

6. Information contributed Bert Ellis
   

7. Hollie Moore, Chelsea Plantation Saved from Development After $32M Land Purchase (Charleston Regional Business Journal, 2025)