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Middleburg Plantation is a historic colonial-era
Middleburg Plantation is located southwest of Huger, between Cainhoy Road and the Cooper River. The plantation occupies about of lowlands fronting on the river. The main house is a two-story timber-frame structure, measuring about . It is topped by a hip roof, and is three rooms wide and one deep, with single-story porches on both of its long sides. The walls are sheathed in wooden clapboards, and it has two chimneys. Its plan is a precursor to what became the typical Charleston "single house". Each floor has three rooms, with the stairwell on the north side of the central room, and a narrow hallway extending on the upper level's north side. Exterior walls are plastered, and floors are made of wide boards. Extending to the west is an ell that was added in the late 18th century, the last significant alteration to the building.
Middleburg was established in 1699 by Benjamin Simons, a French Huguenot refugee, who named it after the Dutch city of Middelburg, the capital of the Province of Zeeland, Walcheren Island where Simons fled to from France before crossing the Ocean to America. At the time of its designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1970, the house was still in the hands of Simons' descendants. The plantation includes two later outbuildings: a 19th-century carriage house with fine jigsawn woodwork, and a brick commissary building that includes a slave jail in its rear.
Middleburg Plantation, Berkeley County (on the Cooper River, Huger vicinity)
at South Carolina Department of Archives and History * {{Plantation agriculture in the Southeastern United States Historic American Buildings Survey in South Carolina National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina Houses in Berkeley County, South Carolina 1699 establishments in South Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley County, South Carolina Plantations in South Carolina Plantation houses in South Carolina
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 ...
on the Cooper River near Huger, South Carolina
Huger ( ) is an unincorporated community in Berkeley County, South Carolina, United States. It is part of the Charleston–North Charleston– Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The ZIP Code for Huger is 29450.
The Cainhoy H ...
. 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 ...
, built in 1697 by the French Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...
Benjamin Simons, is probably the oldest standing wood-frame building in South Carolina, and is consequently an architecturally important example of period construction. It was declared 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 ...
in 1970. and
Description and history
Middleburg Plantation is located southwest of Huger, between Cainhoy Road and the Cooper River. The plantation occupies about of lowlands fronting on the river. The main house is a two-story timber-frame structure, measuring about . It is topped by a hip roof, and is three rooms wide and one deep, with single-story porches on both of its long sides. The walls are sheathed in wooden clapboards, and it has two chimneys. Its plan is a precursor to what became the typical Charleston "single house". Each floor has three rooms, with the stairwell on the north side of the central room, and a narrow hallway extending on the upper level's north side. Exterior walls are plastered, and floors are made of wide boards. Extending to the west is an ell that was added in the late 18th century, the last significant alteration to the building.
Middleburg was established in 1699 by Benjamin Simons, a French Huguenot refugee, who named it after the Dutch city of Middelburg, the capital of the Province of Zeeland, Walcheren Island where Simons fled to from France before crossing the Ocean to America. At the time of its designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1970, the house was still in the hands of Simons' descendants. The plantation includes two later outbuildings: a 19th-century carriage house with fine jigsawn woodwork, and a brick commissary building that includes a slave jail in its rear.
See also
* List of the oldest buildings in South Carolina *List of National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina
This is a List of National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina, United States. The United States' National Historic Landmark (NHL) program is operated under the auspices of the National Park Service, and recognizes buildings, sites, structures, d ...
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkeley County, South Carolina
__NOTOC__
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkeley County, South Carolina.
This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley Cou ...
References
External links
*Middleburg Plantation, Berkeley County (on the Cooper River, Huger vicinity)
at South Carolina Department of Archives and History * {{Plantation agriculture in the Southeastern United States Historic American Buildings Survey in South Carolina National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina Houses in Berkeley County, South Carolina 1699 establishments in South Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley County, South Carolina Plantations in South Carolina Plantation houses in South Carolina