Laurel Hill Plantation, Georgetown County, South Carolina

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Georgetown, South Carolina, United States
Surnames/tags: Weston Slavery Black_Heritage

Index of US Plantations

Index of South Carolina Plantations

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Plantation Owners 1.2 Plantation Journal 1.3 Slaves 1.4 Freedmen Contract 2 Sources

Background

Laurel Hill Plantation, now called Brookgreen Gardens,^[1] is located in Georgetown County, South Carolina. The first owner of Laurel Hill Plantation was Plowden Weston, purchasing the property about 1775.^[2]

Laurel Hill Plantation was a rice plantation. The rice had been grown there for multiple generations. Weston also owned a rice mill, called Holly Hills, where a number of enslaved lived and worked with the harvested rice. The rice mill was steam operated. Rough rice was taken to the top floor of the mill where it was strained for impurities, ground between millstones separating husk from grain, then fanned separating the chaff from the rice. It was then lowered to the ground floor to be pounded in mortars. The beating was accomplished with wooden pestles that were driven by a steam engine. A typical mill might have between 12 and 24 mortars, depending on the size of the steam engine. After the pounding the rice was screened again, separating the good rice from the smaller broken pieces. The good rice was then sent to a brushing screen where the rice was cleaned again and then loaded into barrels.^[3][4][5][6]

In 1849 the Laurel Hill Plantation house was struck by lightening.^[7] This may be when Frank, a favored enslaved person of Francis M. Weston, was killed. He is buried at the Laurel Hill Plantation cemetery. (now Brookgreen Gardens)^[8]

Plantation Owners

• Plowden Weston (to 1827)
• Francis Marion Weston (Weston to 1854)
• Plowden C. J. Weston (to 1859)
• Col Daniel W. Jordan (to 1867)^[9][10]

Plantation Journal

Plowden Weston kept a plantation journal. ("This journal contains lists of items shipped to Waccamaw Plantations (Wandow, Laurel Hill, Holly Hill, Waccamaw) and accounts of crops (rice, cotton) transported and sold in various Lowcountry area wharves, 1802-1820. Items shipped to plantations include tools, textiles, seeds, sundries, medicines, etc. Journal includes other ephemera such as correspondences, bank deposits, financial accounts, formulas, instructions. Items distributed to enslaved people often appear with lists of their names.")^[2]

Weston Family Papers Business Ledger ("The Weston Family Ledger (1764-1769) contains accounts of credit and estates with numerous individuals and businesses. The ledger was also used by an unidentified author as a plantation journal and contains entries and accounts (1830-1847, 1851, 1855) pertaining to Weston family plantations. Many of the 19th century notes list food, clothing and fabric rations distributed to slaves on the plantations.")^[11]

Slaves

The enslaved at Laurel Hill were recorded in the plantation journal^[2] and business ledger^[11] kept by Plowden Weston, as well as in the will of Plowden Weston,^[12] and his probate inventory papers.^[13]

For more information on the enslaved at Laurel Hill Plantation please see the following pages:

• Slaves of Plowden Weston
• Slaves of Francis Marion Weston

Freedmen Contract

In Mar 1866 D. W. Jordan entered into a Freedman Contract^[14]

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.brookgreen.org/
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} https://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/241769
3. ↑ National Register of Historic Places, Multiple Property Document http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/MPS/MPS031.pdf
   • section F p.10-11
4. ↑ Smokestack at Laurel Hill Plantation http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/MPS/MPS031.pdf
5. ↑ Smokestack https://cdm16016.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p163901coll6/id/517/rec/3
6. ↑ Smokestack Base https://cdm16016.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p163901coll6/id/518/rec/5
7. ↑ Fire From Lightening https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charleston-daily-courier-1849-laurel/124023916/ The Charleston Daily Courier, Charleston, South Carolina, Fri, Aug 24, 1849, Page 2
8. ↑ https://cdm16016.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p163901coll6/id/532
9. ↑ https://www.jstor.org/stable/27570530
10. ↑ Freedmens Bureau Land https://nmaahc.si.edu/freedmens-bureau/record/fbs-1662423774659-1662426204223-1?destination=%2Fexplore%2Ffreedmens-bureau%2Fsearch%3Fedan_fq%255B0%255D%3Dp.nmaahc_fb.pr_name_gn%253APlowden%26edan_fq%255B1%255D%3Dp.nmaahc_fb.pr_name_surn%253AWeston%26page%3D0
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} https://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/lcdl:144112
12. ↑ Wills and miscellaneous probate records, 1671-1868: "South Carolina Probate Re... Bound Volumes, 1671-1977"
    Catalog: Wills and miscellaneous probate records, 1671-1868 Wills v. 36 1818-1826 Wills v. 37 1826-1834
    Image path: South Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes, 1671-1977 > Charleston > Wills, 1826-1834, Vol. 037 > image 607 of 855; citing Department of Archives and History, Columbia.
    FamilySearch Image: 939L-JXS5-X8 (accessed 3 May 2023)
    • 1827 will of Plowden Weston
13. ↑ South Carolina Probate Re...d Loose Papers, 1732-1964: "South Carolina Probate Re...d Loose Papers, 1732-1964"
    Catalog: Charleston District, South Carolina estate inventories, 1732-1844 1810-1818 1819-1824 1819-1824 (indexed with last item) 1824-1844
    Image path: South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964 > Charleston > Probate Court, Estate inventories > 1824-1834 > No File Description Available > image 742 of 1227
    FamilySearch Image: 939L-JJ9M-SW (accessed 4 May 2023)
    • 1827 Probate inventory of Plowden Weston, p.207
14. ↑ South Carolina, Freedmen'...Office Records, 1865-1872: "South Carolina, Freedmen'...Office Records, 1865-1872"
    Catalog: Records of the field offices for the state of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872 Register of complaints, Nov. 1865-Apr. 1866; Register of rations issued to destitutes, Jan.-Sept. 1867; Register of contracts, Dec. 1865-Apr. 1866; Labor contracts, Dec. 1865-Apr. 1866; Labor contracts, May 1865-Mar. 1867 [NARA M1910 roll 76].
    Image path: South Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872 > Georgetown (subassistant commissioner) > Roll 76, Labor contracts, May 1865-Mar 1867 > image 957 of 1175; citing NARA microfilm publication M1910 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
    FamilySearch Image: 3QS7-89ZG-C4GT (accessed 22 June 2023)
    • 1866 Freedmen Contract for Laurel Hill Plantation