Charleston County · Marker 10-119
Fenwick Plantation
E side of River Rd., 1/4 mi. N of Maybank Hwy., Johns Island
Front inscription
Fenwick Plantation began as a 3,000-acre tract purchased in 1721 by John Fenwick, an English planter. Fenwick had the two-story brick plantation house built by 1730. His son Edward likely had the house expanded in the 1750s, around the same time he opened a successful horse stud farm on the property. The Fenwicks owned the plantation until after the American Revolution.
Reverse inscription
The Fenwick main house and other buildings on the property were built using slave labor. Enslaved people living on the property also produced indigo, rice, and Sea Island cotton for plantation owners. After the American Revolution, the property was known as Headquarters Plantation because it was used by British forces as they laid siege to Charleston and occupied the city.