McLeod Plantation is a former

slave plantation A slave plantation was an agricultural farm that used enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Slavery Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive ...

located on James Island,

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, near the intersection of Folly and Maybank roads at Wappoo Creek, which flows into the Ashley River. The

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 ...

is considered an important

Gullah The Gullah () are an African Americans, African American ethnic group who predominantly live in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, within the coastal plain ...

heritage site, preserved in recognition of its cultural and historical significance to African-American and European-American cultures.

History

The site was first recorded on maps from 1678 under the name "Morris." In 1780 in the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, British General Sir Henry Clinton used the original house as his headquarters while planning the

siege of Charleston The siege of Charleston was a major engagement and major British victory in the American Revolutionary War, fought in the environs of Charles Town (today Charleston), the capital of South Carolina, between March 29 and May 12, 1780. The Britis ...

. Many enslaved workers joined the British lines seeking freedom, and were evacuated from the city. The

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...

standing on the land today was constructed in about 1858 in the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style. Also on the property are six remaining

clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

slave cabins, a detached kitchen, a dairy building, a pre-Civil War gin house for the long-staple cotton grown on the Sea Islands, a barn, and a carriage house. The plantation was occupied by

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

forces during most of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, and the Big House served as a hospital. After the evacuation of Charleston in early 1865, the site was occupied by the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiments,

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

soldiers of the US Colored Troops. Later, the home was occupied as offices by the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...

. At one point, newly freed enslaved people camped out on the plantation's lands. In 1926, owners renovated the house, changing what was designated as the front and rear, and altering the front facade. The home was occupied by the McLeod family until 1990. A share was given to the Historic Charleston Foundation, which proceeded to consolidate shareholders. In 1993, ten acres were designated for the growing of sweetgrass to help ensure a supply of the basic component used in crafting sweetgrass baskets, a product of the creole Gullah culture of African Americans. In 2004 the plantation was sold to the

American College of the Building Arts American College of the Building Arts (ACBA) is a private four-year liberal arts and sciences college located in Charleston, South Carolina. It is licensed by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education to grant a Bachelor of Applied Science ...

(ACBA). Unable to support both the development of their school and the plantation, ACBA returned it to Historic Charleston in 2008.

McLeod Plantation Historic Site

In 2011, Historic Charleston Foundation sold McLeod Plantation to the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, thereby ensuring the buildings would be restored and protected under public ownership. The McLeod Plantation Historic Site opened to the public on April 25, 2015. The site is designated as part of the federally recognized

/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor in South Carolina. The corridor stretches along the coast from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida, encompassing the Lowcountry and Sea Islands, with South Carolina representing most of the area. Enslaved people who survived the Middle Passage, were imported here mostly from west and central Africa. They were forced to labor on rice, indigo and cotton plantations such as McLeod. From various ethnic and cultural groups, these men, women, and children developed the creole Gullah/Geechee culture and language, which has many African retentions. It was also named one of the African American Historic Places in South Carolina.African American Historic Places in South Carolina

References

External links

McLeod Plantation Historic Site
- official site at Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission

held by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History
Friends of McLeod Inc.
{{National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Slave cabins and quarters in the United States Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Plantation houses in South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Charleston, South Carolina Houses in Charleston, South Carolina Museums in Charleston, South Carolina Historic house museums in South Carolina Cotton plantations in the United States Gullah history