LEWISFIELD PLANTATION
Lewis and Simons Families
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2 Black
& White
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In 1767 Sedgwick Lewis
of Cooper River bought the "Little Landing" part of Fairlawn Barony from
Sir John Colleton. In 1774 this tract became the dowry of Sarah, the daughter
of Sedgwick Lewis, on her marriage to Keating Simons, Simons is credited
with building the Lewisfield house, typical of Low Country plantation houses
with two stories of wood on a first story of brick, with high ceilings
and what Samuel Gaillard Stoney called a "straightforward piazza" and other
details showing that it was built for the hot weather of this section. |
Tradition in this section and
several writers state that during the American Revolution Colonel Wade
Hampton, coming by from Dorchester, surprised a British force of 100 men
and two boats that were aground. He burned the boats of supplies and plunder
in the River in front of the house and took 78 prisoners. |
Keating Simons was the second
son of Benjamin Simons of Middleburg. He had enlisted in the Militia and
was captured when Charleston fell to the British but was allowed to go
home to Lewisfield as a prisoner on parole, where he was at the time Hampton's
troops captured the British there. Realizing that his life was in danger
because the British had been trying to pressure him into joining them and
were constantly using the landing, Keating Simons left that night to join
Francis Marion, eventually becoming Brigade Major. |
During the Confederate War,
the landing is said to have been used by Federal troops and gun boats,
with stories of buried Simons silver. |
Irving relates that in 1903
Charles Stevens bought the property and planted rice. For a number of years
Lewisfield was used as a hunting club. Senator and Mrs. Rembert C. Dennis
acquired the property and moved in in October, 1970. They immediately began
a complete restoration of the building and grounds to their former beauty
and have done much to furnish the house with antiques of the period of
the structure. Like most old plantations, Lewisfield has its share of ghost
stories. The house is now on the National Register of Historic Sites. On
Nov. 16, 1977 the South Carolina Department of Archives and History approved
a historical marker to be placed on Highway No. 52 at the entrance to Lewisfield. |
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Information and Article from
"Historic Ramblin's Through
Berkeley"
written by and used with permission
of
Mr. J. Russell Cross
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