William Hill Plantation – York – York County

Basic Information

• Location – Allison Creek, York, York County

  George Feindel shares this location description:
  "Modern day would be to the left and right of the 275 Highway bridge that crosses Big Allision Creek. His house was located on the north side of Allision Creek and the Iron Works were on the south side." (1)
  

• Origin of name – For owner

• Other names – Hill's Ironworks

• Current status – Remains of the ironworks were submerged in 1904 with the creation of Lake Wylie (3)

Timeline

• Sometime 1772-1775 – Earliest known date of existence
  

  William Hill purchased a large tract of land on Allison Creek near the Catawba River. Hill believed the area was rich in iron ore (4, pp. 3-4)
  

• 1776 – William Hill and his partner Isaac Hayne built the ironworks and manufactured swivel guns, kitchen utensils, cannons, cannon balls, ammunition, farm and smith's tools, kitchen ware (2) (4, p. 4)
  

• ? – House built
  

• 1780 – British Captain Christian Huck along with his company of about 500 Tories looted then burned the ironworks, grist and saw mills, the house, and all other buildings including the slave huts (2) (4, p. 6)
  

• 1787-1788 – Colonel Hill rebuilt Hill's Ironworks which at that time consisted of two furnaces, four gristmills, and two sawmills (2) (4, p. 9)
  

• 1795 – Hill along with the executors of Hayne's estate put up for sale the ironworks, brick house and 15,000 acres (4, p. 11)
  

• 1798 – Hill was still operating the ironworks (4, p. 11)
  

• Circa 1802 – A nail factory was operating (2)
  

• Circa 1802-1805 – Seems Hill may have gone into debt with the property becoming under the ownership of Meyer Moses (4, p. 11)
  

• 1805 – The estate of Meyer Moses sold 24,376 acres to Robert and Andrew Hill, William Hill's sons (4, p. 11)
  

• 1810 – The ironworks ceased (3)
  

• 1904 – Remains of the ironworks were submerged with the creation of Lake Wylie (3)
  

Land

• Number of acres – About 5,000 by 1775 (4, p. 4), 15,000 acres by 1795 (2), and 24,376 in 1805 (4, p. 11)
  

• Primary crop – Mostly iron works products
  

Owners

• Chronological list – William Hill, Robert and Andrew Hill
  

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 80-90 running the ironworks (1) (2)
  

Buildings

• Ironworks (1) (2)
  

• George Feindel shares:
  "... house was a two-story brick house that measured 30 x 40 feet. Modern day location is between the two houses on the left side of Land Grant Road." (1)
  

References & Resources

1. Information contributed by George Feindel.
   

2. Historical Markers - for William Hill and Hill's Ironworks
   

3. Allison Creek Park - by York County Visitors Center
   

4. Virginia Jackson, Hill's Iron Works - PDF - (Research Paper, 1946)