Mount Holly in Berkeley County, South Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
Medway Plantation
Erected 1965 by Replacing Marker Destroyed. (Marker Number 8-19.)
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Colonial Era. A significant historical month for this entry is October 1694.
Location. 33° 2.242′ N, 80° 2.014′ W. Marker is in Mount Holly, South Carolina, in Berkeley County. Marker is at the intersection of U.S. 52 and Medway Road (State Highway 8-667), on the right when traveling north on U.S. 52. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Goose Creek SC 29445, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Thorogood Plantation / Mount Holly Plantation (about 700 feet away, measured in a direct line); Mount Holly Station • Mount Holly (approx. 0.6 miles away); Early Indian Trading Paths / The Goose Creek Men (approx. 0.7 miles away); Springfield Plantation (approx. one mile away); Casey (Caice) (approx. 1.3 miles away); St. James, Goose Creek Chapel of Ease / Bethlehem Baptist Church (approx. 2.3 miles away); Button Hall (approx. 2.4 miles away); Eighteen Mile House Tavern (approx. 2.4 miles away).
Regarding Medway Plantation. Medway, built in 1686, only sixteen years after the founding of the colony, and at the time of the nomination was considered the oldest house in South Carolina of record, is in plan and situation typical of the plantation houses to be built in the lowcountry for the next hundred years. (Note: research since the time of nomination has established that the core of the present house at Medway Plantation was built in 1704-1705 by Edward and Elizabeth Hyrne. The house assumed its present arrangement by 1875.) Originating at Medway was the Janus-like scheme, which provides for the house facing both ways with both a river prospect and a landside entrance, a situation common to the region. The house is thought to have been built by Jan Van Arrsens, Seigneur de Weirnhoudt, who led a small company of Hollanders to Carolina. Dutch architecture is most obvious in the stepped gables of the original house, and the influence of Van Arrsen’s architecture has kept the house looking as though it had as good a right to be standing over a canal in the low countries of Holland as beside rice fields in the lowcountry of Carolina. The second story added to the original building copied its stepped gables. In the 19th century Medway enjoyed a sound economic mixture of agriculture and industry by making rice while the weather was hot and brick when it was cold. Brick making was so successful that Medway owner Peter Gaillard Stoney sent thousands of bricks down for the building of Fort Sumter. Additionally, after World War II, the “Medway Plan” was developed here for American cities to adopt and help rehabilitate French towns. Several graves in a small cemetery are also located on the property. Listed in the National Register July 16, 1970. (South Carolina Dept. Of Archives and History)
Also see . . .
1. South Carolina Plantations. Medway Plantation (Submitted on October 20, 2009, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)
2. Medway Plantation, Wikipedia entry. Jan Van Arrsens, the Seigneur of Wernhaut (also "Weirnhoudt"), led a small group of settlers from Holland to the province of Carolina around 1686. (Submitted on October 20, 2009, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on October 20, 2009, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 5,337 times since then and 154 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on October 20, 2009, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.