Hopsewee Plantation, also known as the Thomas Lynch, Jr., Birthplace or Hopsewee-on-the-Santee, is a
plantation house built in 1735 near
Georgetown, South Carolina
Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, South Carolina, Georgetown County, in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census ...
. It was the birthplace of
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Thomas Lynch Jr. (August 5, 1749 – December 17, 1779) was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of South Carolina and a Founding Father of the United States. His father was a member of the Continental ...
, a
Founding Father who was a signer of the
Declaration of Independence, and served as a
Lowcountry rice plantation. Before he departed for his ill-fated voyage he made a will, which stipulated that heirs of his female relatives must change their surname to Lynch in order to inherit the family estate, a rice plantation. He was taken ill at the end of 1779 and he sailed, with his wife, for St. Eustatius in the West Indies. Their ship disappeared at sea in a storm and was never found. The family estate, Hopsewee, still stands in South Carolina. The Lynch family sold the house in 1752 to Robert Hume whose son, John Hume, lived at Hopsewee in the winter after inheriting it. Upon his death in 1841, his own son, John Hume Lucas, inherited the house. John Hume Lucas died in 1853. Like many Santee plantations, it was abandoned during the Civil War. After the war, rice was never planted again, but the Lucas family continued to occupy Hopsewee until 1925. In September 1949, Col. and Mrs. Wilkinson bought the house and occupied it.
According to the National Park Service, "the frame building, a fine example of a Carolina low country; referred to as (Low Country.) after the War of 1812; plantation house, showing West Indian influence, with its double-tiered piazza and dormered hip roof."
The house is made of black cypress and rests on a brick foundation which forms a cellar. The house is forty feet wide and fifty feet deep. Each floor has four rooms with a central hall. The piazzas were added in 1845 and replace an earlier verandah.
It was declared a
National Historic Landmark in 1971.
[ and ]
It is located about 13 miles south of
Georgetown on
U.S. Highway 17
U.S. Route 17 or U.S. Highway 17 (US 17), also known as the Coastal Highway, is a north–south United States Highway that spans in the southeastern United States. It runs close to the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Co ...
, in the vicinity of
North Santee on the North
Santee River
}
The Santee River is a river in South Carolina in the United States, and is long. The Santee and its tributaries provide the principal drainage for the coastal areas of southeastern South Carolina and navigation for the central coastal plain of ...
.
The house continues to be a private residence, but is open to the public for tours. It is furnished with 18th and 19th century period furniture.
See also
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina
*
References
External links
Official Hopsewee Plantation website
at South Carolina Department of Archives and History
*
*
{{National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina
Plantation houses in South Carolina
Houses in Georgetown County, South Carolina
Historic house museums in South Carolina
Museums in Georgetown County, South Carolina
Biographical museums in South Carolina
Houses completed in 1735
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina
National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina
National Register of Historic Places in Georgetown County, South Carolina
Historic American Buildings Survey in South Carolina
Slave cabins and quarters in the United States
Homes of United States Founding Fathers