National Historic Landmark

Middleburg Plantation

Huger, Berkeley County, South Carolina
Listed
April 14, 1970
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
70000568

About this property

Middleburg Plantation is a historic colonial-era plantation on the Cooper River near Huger, South Carolina. The plantation house, built in 1697 by the French Huguenot 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 in 1970. Middleburg Plantation is located southwest of Huger, between Cainhoy Road and the Cooper River. The plantation occupies about 400 acres (160 ha) of lowlands fronting on the river. The main house is a two-story timber-frame structure, measuring about 64 by 20 feet (19.5 m × 6.1 m). 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. List of National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkeley County, South Carolina Media related to Middleburg Plantation at Wikimedia Commons Middleburg Plantation, Berkeley County (on the Cooper River, Huger vicinity), at South Carolina Department of Archives and History U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Middleburg Plantation

Location

Huger, Berkeley County, South Carolina
33.08280, -79.84150

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Pompion Hill Chapel
Industrial
0.2 mi
Richmond Plantation
Listed
1 mi
Quinby Plantation House-Halidon Hill Plantation
Industrial
1.6 mi
Cooper River Historic District
Listed
2.6 mi
Strawberry Chapel and Childsbury Town Site
Listed
4.3 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Videau's Bridge
1781Revolutionary War
7.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Middleburg Plantation listed on the National Register?

Middleburg Plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1970.

What type of historic resource is Middleburg Plantation?

Middleburg Plantation is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

Is Middleburg Plantation a National Historic Landmark?

Yes. Middleburg Plantation has been designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL), the highest level of federal recognition for historic properties in the United States.

What is the period of significance for Middleburg Plantation?

The period of significance for Middleburg Plantation is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Middleburg Plantation?

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