The Columns Plantation – Liberty Hill – Kershaw County

— The Columns Plantation • National Register of Historic Places, 1978 —

Basic Information

• Location – Liberty Hill, Kershaw County

  4211 John G Richards Road, Westville, 29175
  

• Origin of name – Probably for the two porches lined with large fluted columns

• Other names – ?

• Current status – Privately owned
  

Timeline

• ? – Earliest known date of existence

  James Shropshire Thompson acquired the property (1).
  

• 1850-1854 – House built (1)
  

  James Shropshire Thompson hired noted architect Robert Hamilton to design the 6,000 square foot house that would be constructed of large kiln-drived timbers. Hamilton and the builders felt the framework timbers should settle before the interior of the house was constructed so that is why the house took four years to build (1).
  

• 1992 – Seven generations of the Thompson family have grown-up at The Columns. James A. Thompson Jr., the great-great-grandson of the plantation's founder became owner in the year following his father James A. Thompson (1).
  

• 2015 –The Columns was for sale with an asking price of $1.1 million (1).
  

Land

• Number of acres – 25 in 2015 (1)

• Primary crop – ?

Slaves

• Number of slaves – ?

References & Resources

1. Information contributed by Cyndi Shull from:
   – Real estate listing - Garden & Gun Land
   

2. Real estate listing - Addison Realty Advisors - includes pictures of house
   

3. National Register of Historic Places
   – Nomination form for Liberty Hill Historic District - PDF - submitted in 1978
   – Photographs, architectural overview