Walnut Grove Plantation – Roebuck – Spartanburg County

— Walnut Grove Plantation House © Steven Faucette, 2008 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

• Location – Tyger River, Roebuck, Ninety-Six District, Spartanburg County
  

  Located off SC 215 at 1200 Otts Shoals Road
  

• Origin of name – Named for the walnut trees planted on the property by Kate Moore Barry
  

• Other names – ?

• Current status – Owned by the Spartanburg County Foundation. Under the management of the Spartanburg County Historical Association, the plantation is open to the public.
  

— Walnut Grove Plantation Chimney © Lauren Fertig, 2010 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Timeline

• 1763 – Earliest known date of existence

  Charles Moore received a grant for 550 acres along the Tyger River by King George III. He later received additional grants bringing his total acreage to about 3,000 (1).
  

• 1765 – Charles Moore built a house on the property.
  

  Charles and his wife Mary raised their ten children on the plantation.
  

• 1767 – Margaret Kathryn Moore (Kate), the first child of Charles and Mary Moore, married General Andrew Barry at the age of 15. During the Revolutionary War Kate helped her husband by spying on Tory troops, chasing them away from her home, and gathering men to help her husband fight. She was considered quite a heroine.
  

• 1770 – Charles Moore built a school building and operated the first school in Spartanburg County. Rocky Spring Academy was open until 1850.
  

• 1961 – The house, along with eight acres, was given to the Spartanburg County Foundation in a special trust with the Spartanburg County Historical Association as the sponsor for the trust. Up to this time, descendants of Charles and Mary Moore had owned the house and property (1).
  

— Walnut Grove Plantation House Outbuildings © Lauren Fertig, 2010 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Land

• Number of acres – 550 in 1763; 3,000; 8 in 1961
  

• Primary crop – ?

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 12 (6)
  

— Walnut Grove Plantation Kitchen Building © Lauren Fertig, 2010 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Buildings

• Many of the outbuildings used in the 18th century still remain. These include kitchen, blacksmith shop, wheat house, barn, meat house (built in 1765), wellhouse with dry cellar, school, and doctor's quarters.
  

References & Resources

1. National Register of Historic Places
   – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1970
   – Photographs, architectural overview
   

2. Walnut Grove Plantation Pictures

3. Daughters of the American Revolution - Kate Barry Chapter
   

4. Carolina W. Todd and Sidney Wait, South Carolina: A Day at a Time (Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper Publishing Company, 2008)
   
   

5. Jane Ockershausen, The South Carolina One-Day Trip Book (McLean, VA: EPM Publications, 1998)
   
   

6. Information contributed by Victoria Edwards, a Moore family descendent.
   

Contact Information

• Walnut Grove Plantation
  1200 Otts Shoals Road
  Roebuck, SC 29376

  Telephone: 864-576-6546
  Website: Click here
  

— Cemetery at Walnut Grove Plantation © Lauren Fertig, 2010 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

— Well at Walnut Grove Plantation © Lauren Fertig, 2010 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)