Mulberry Plantation, also known as the James and Mary Boykin Chesnut House is a 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 ...

at 559 Sumter Highway ( United States Route 521) south of

Camden, South Carolina Camden is the largest city and county seat of Kershaw County, South Carolina. The population was 7,764 in the 2020 census. It is part of the Columbia, South Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Camden is the oldest inland city in South Caro ...

. 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 2000, it is significant as the home of

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

chronicler

Mary Boykin Chesnut Mary Boykin Chesnut (née Miller) (March 31, 1823 – November 22, 1886) was an American author noted for a book published as her Civil War diary, a "vivid picture of a society in the throes of its life-and-death struggle."Woodward, C. Vann. "In ...

, who produced some of the most important written accounts of the war from a

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 ...

perspective. The main house, built about 1820, is a fine example of Federal period architecture. and

Description and history

Mulberry Plantation is located about south of downtown Camden, and occupies more than of land bordering the

Wateree River } The Wateree River, about 75 mi (120 km) long, is a tributary of the Santee River in central South Carolina in the United States, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean. It was named for the Wateree Native Americans, a tribe who had migrate ...

. The main plantation house is located on a high point of the property, about east of Sumter Highway, and is accessed via a drive from that road. An early 20th-century wrought iron gate, spelling "Mulberry" within its elements, stands across the road between brick piers. The main house is a handsome Federal period brick house, stories in height, that was built about 1820, with possible design input from the noted South Carolina architect Robert Mills. The plantation has a documented history of human habitation dating back as far as about 1250 CE, based on archaeological research of platform mounds found on the property. It is believed to be the site of

Cofitachequi Cofitachequi was a paramount chiefdom founded about 1300 AD and encountered by the Hernando de Soto expedition in South Carolina in April 1540. Cofitachequi was later visited by Juan Pardo during his two expeditions (1566–1568) and by Henry W ...

, a major chiefdom visited by the explorer

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...

in the 16th century, and is also the location of a second archaeological site, the

McDowell Site The McDowell Site, also known as Chesnut Mounds, Taylor Mounds, and Mulberry Plantation House, is a set of historic mounds located near Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina. The McDowell Site is among the first archaeological sites to be c ...

. The plantation was established in the 1760s by James Chesnut, and passed first to his brother John, and then to John's son, James Chesnut Sr. (1775–1866) Under his stewardship, the plantation was one of the largest and most successful inland plantations in the state, growing to a maximum size of more than . Mary Chesnut (the wife of

James Chesnut Jr. James Chesnut Jr. (January 18, 1815 – February 1, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician, and a Confederate functionary. Chesnut, a lawyer prominent in South Carolina state politics, served as a Democratic United States Senator, sena ...

) wrote a detailed diary of the war years. Her diary, refined and published by her in the 1870s, remains a major historical work of the period, chronicling the rise and fall of the Confederacy.

References

External links

Mulberry Plantation, Kershaw County (U.S. Hwy. 521, Camden vicinity)
at South Carolina Department of Archives and History
"Writings of Mary Chesnut", broadcast from Mulberry Plantation
from

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

's ''

American Writers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mulberry Plantation, James And Mary Boykin Chesnut House National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina Houses in Kershaw County, South Carolina Houses completed in 1820 Plantations in South Carolina Plantation houses in South Carolina Camden, South Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Kershaw County, South Carolina

Description and history

See also

References

External links