Eldorado Plantation was the home of Major General

Thomas Pinckney Thomas Pinckney (October 23, 1750November 2, 1828) was an early American statesman, diplomat, and soldier in both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, achieving the rank of major general. He served as Governor of South Carolina an ...

and his second wife Frances Motte Middleton, it was built around 1797 in

Charleston County Charleston County is located in the U.S. state of South Carolina along the Atlantic coast. As of the 2020 census, its population was 408,235, making it the third most populous county in South Carolina (behind Greenville and Richland counties). ...

, South Carolina. After Pinckney returned from Europe, where he had been serving as the United States minister to England and Spain, he bought a plantation on the South Santee River. His eldest son, Thomas Pinckney Jr and wife Elizabeth Izard Pinckney, took up residence at his wife Frances's family home, Fairfield Plantation, just upstream on the South Santee River. Pinckney named his new plantation Eldorado; the name came from the golden buttercups that bloomed on the property ("El Dorado" means "the Golden" in Spanish). Pinckney used a Spanish name in memory of his time as the minister to Spain. Pinckney and his mother-in-law,

Rebecca Brewton Motte Rebecca Brewton Motte (1737–1815) was a plantation owner in South Carolina and townhouse owner in its chief city of Charleston. She was known as a patriot in the American Revolution, supplying continental forces with food and supplies for five y ...

, built the plantation house and developed the plantation for rice culture. She lived with him and her daughter until her death in 1815. The house stood on the property until it burned on May 10, 1897. It was owned at the time by the grandson of General Thomas Pinckney, Capt.

, and occupied by Captain Pinckney's nephew, Hamilton Seabrook. Captain Pinckney left the property to his daughter, Josephine Pinckney, and she in turn left it to her half-brother's children. The land was later sold and today is part of the

Santee National Wildlife Refuge Santee National Wildlife Refuge is a refuge alongside Lake Marion, an impoundment of the Santee River of Clarendon County, South Carolina. Geology The refuge lies within the Atlantic Coastal Plain province of South Carolina. One of the featur ...

References

Plantation houses in South Carolina Houses in Charleston County, South Carolina Buildings and structures demolished in 1897 Pinckney family Burned houses in the United States {{SouthCarolina-struct-stub