Borough House Plantation, also known as Borough House, Hillcrest Plantation and Anderson Place, is an historic

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

South Carolina Highway 261 South Carolina Highway 261 (SC 261) is a state highway in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It travels between Yauhannah in Georgetown County to Kershaw County. Although the highway covers more east–west distance, it is signed north� ...

, north of its intersection with

U.S. Route 76 U.S. Route 76 (US 76) is an east–west U.S. highway that travels for approximately from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Route description , - , TN , 8.9 , 14.3 , - , GA , 150.7 , 242.5 , - , SC , 297.9 , 479.4 ...

US Route 378 U.S. Route 378 (US 378) is a spur of US 78 in the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina. The U.S. Highway runs from US 78, Georgia State Route 10 (SR 10), SR 17, and SR 47 in Washington, Georgia, east to ...

in Stateburg, in the

High Hills of Santee The High Hills of Santee, sometimes known as the High Hills of the Santee, is a long, narrow hilly region in the western part of Sumter County, South Carolina. It has been called "one of the state's most famous areas".Sumter, South Carolina Sumter ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sumter County, South Carolina, United States. Known as the Sumter Metropolitan Statistical Area, the namesake county adjoins Clarendon and Lee to form the core of Sumter-Lee-Clarendon Tri-county (o ...

. A

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

, the plantation is noted as the largest assemblage of high-style pisé (

rammed earth Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel. It is an ancient method that has been revived recently as a sustainable building method. ...

) structures in the United States. The main house and six buildings on the plantation were built using this technique, beginning in 1821. The plantation is also notable as the home of Confederate Army General

Richard H. Anderson Richard Anderson (1926–2017) was an American actor. Richard, Rich, Richie, or Dick Anderson may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Dean Anderson (born 1950), American actor * Richard L. Anderson (sound effects editor) (1977–2013) ...

Description and history

The original house built in 1758 served at different times during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

as headquarters for both British General

Lord Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

and

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

General

Nathanael Greene Nathanael Greene (June 19, 1786, sometimes misspelled Nathaniel) was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. He emerged from the war with a reputation as General George Washington's most talented and dependabl ...

. The second house was built in 1820 of

William Wallace Anderson William Wallace Anderson was a medical doctor who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1846 with a Bachelor of Arts and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1849. He was also involved in architecture of rammed earth con ...

, M.D. It was designed by architect A.C. Jones. On October 7, 1821, Anderson's wife, the former Mary Jane Mackensie, gave birth at home to their son,

. He later served as a

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

general in the American Civil War. Stateburg was originally called ''Stateborough'', as when the town was laid out, Borough House was the only residence in it.Page&book=2&volume=13&page=35 Anderson, Sallie B., ''Plantation Names Near Stateburg'', Names in South Carolina, November 1966, vol. 13, p, 31
/ref> In 1850–1852, Dr. Anderson chaired the committee that built the Church of the Holy Cross of rammed earth across the road from Borough Hall. It was also designed by Jones. In 1851,

Joel Roberts Poinsett Joel Roberts Poinsett (March 2, 1779December 12, 1851) was an American physician, diplomat and botanist. He was the first U.S. agent in South America, a member of the South Carolina legislature and the United States House of Representatives, the ...

, physician, American statesman and botanist (for whom the

poinsettia The poinsettia ( or ) (''Euphorbia pulcherrima'') is a commercially important flowering plant species of the diverse spurge family Euphorbiaceae. Indigenous to Mexico and Central America, the poinsettia was first described by Europeans in 1834 ...

is named), died while visiting Dr. Anderson. He was buried in the churchyard across the road. On March 23, 1972, Borough Hall

was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

and declared a

. and It is also part of the defined Stateburg Historic District, as is the Church of the Holy Cross.

References

External links

History of Church & Joel R. Poinsett
* ttp://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/sumter/S10817743001/index.htm Borough House Plantation, Sumter County (SC Hwy 261, Stateburg vicinity) at South Carolina Department of Archives and History * * * * * * * * * * * *
TopoQuest map of Borough Plantation
{{National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina Historic American Buildings Survey in South Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina High Hills of Santee Houses in Sumter County, South Carolina Rammed earth buildings and structures Plantations in South Carolina Plantation houses in South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Sumter County, South Carolina Historic district contributing properties in South Carolina

Description and history

See also

References

External links