High Hills of Santee

The High Hills of Santee, sometimes known as the High Hills of the Santee, is a long, narrow hilly region in the western part of Sumter County, South Carolina. It has been called "one of the state's most famous areas".Mary Schuette, Nomination Form for Stateburg Historic District, accessible by Internet Explorer through link at [http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/sumter/S10817743022/index.htm South Carolina Department of Archives and History file on Stateburg Historic District] ] The High Hills of Santee lies north of the Santee River and east of the Wateree River, one of the two rivers that join to form the Santee. It extends north almost to the Kershaw county line and northeasterly to include the former summer resort town of Bradford Springs, which since 1902 has been in Lee County.

The High Hills of Santee name has been in use since the 1700s, [ [http://src1.cas.sc.edu/dept2/iss/SCNames/index.php?action=showPage&book=2&volume=15&page=29 USC Insitute for Southern Studies XV 29] ] when it became a popular resort for wealthy planters to build summer homes to escape the oppressive "heat and malaria of the Low Country". [Richardson, Katherine H., nomination form for St. Philip's, accessible by Internet Explorer by link found at [http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/lee/S10817731012/index.htm South Carolina Department of Archives and History file on St. Philip's Church] ] They were joined by more humble settlers such as Thomas Sumter, who came from Virginia, married a local widow in 1767 and with her became a successful plantation owner. He later became famous as a general in the Revolution. After the war he represented South Carolina in the United States House of Representatives and the Senate. In the 18th and 19th centuries the High Hills of Santee was the location of many plantations, among which were those of the Singleton family, which produced First Lady of the United States, Angelica Singleton Van Buren. [ [http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/sumter/S10817743021/index.htm South Carolina Department of Archives and History file on Singleton's Graveyard] ]

Noted South Carolina historian, David Duncan Wallace, placed the area in what he called the "red hill region" of the state and wrote: "The High Hills of Santee paralleling the Wateree River on its east attain an almost mountainous appearance. The region contains much good land." [Wallace, David Duncan, "South Carolina: A Short History, 1520-1948", Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, reprinted 1961, p.4] Today the High Hills of Santee is the location of three National Historic Landmarks, one National Historic District and other places on the National Register of Historic Places as well as recreational areas such as Poinsett State Park and Manchester State Forest.

Historic sites

Historic sites in the High Hills of Santee include three National Historic Landmarks:
* Borough House Plantation, Stateburg,
* Church of the Holy Cross, Stateburg, and
* Millford Plantation, north of Pinewood.

Other places listed on the National Register of Historic Places include:
* Lenoir Store, Horatio,
* Magnolia Hall, Hagood
* Pinewood Depot, Pinewood, the southern entrance to the High Hills
* Singleton's Graveyard, south of Wedgefield
* St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Pinewood, South Carolina)
* St. Philip's Episcopal Church (Bradford Springs, South Carolina) and
* Stateburg Historic District, which includes two of the area's three National Historic Landmarks, Borough House Plantation and Church of the Holy Cross, within its boundaries in addition to at least eight contributing properties, including:
**High Hills of Santee Baptist Church. [ [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&fileName=sc/sc0300/sc0318/photos/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=High%20Hills%20Baptist%20Church,%20Kings%20Highway%20(State%20Route%20261),%20Stateburg,%20Sumter%20County,%20SC&displayType=1&itemLink=D?hh:22:./temp/~ammem_EnBN:: Historic American Buildings Survey for High Hills of Santee Baptist Church] ]

Notable residents of the past

* Richard H. Anderson, Confederate general, was born at Borough House Plantation.
* Mary Boykin Chesnut, author of A Diary from Dixie, was born in Stateburg, the daughter of Stephen Decatur Miller and his wife, Mary Boykin.
* Richard Furman, pioneering Baptist minister, first pastor of High Hills of the Santee Baptist Church. Furman University is named for him.
* John L. Manning, original owner of Millford Plantation and governor of South Carolina
* Stephen Decatur Miller, owner of the plantation, Miller House, later known as Ellison House, governor, congressman and U.S. senator.
* Thomas Sumter, early settler and general in the Revolution
* Angelica Singleton Van Buren, first lady of the United States

Notable plantations and houses

The High Hills of Santee had many notable plantations, most of which grew cotton. Some of them are still in existence. [ [http://south-carolina-plantations.com/sumter/sumter-county.html South Carolina Plantations - Sumter County] ]

* Bloomhill, Wedgefield

* Borough House, Stateburg
* Home House, Stateburg, no longer in existence, belonged to General Thomas Sumter, who is buried there.
* Brookland Plantation House, Old Charleston Road (State Route 261), Stateburg vicinity [{http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&fileName=sc/sc0300/sc0317/photos/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Brookland%20Plantation%20House,%20Old%20Charleston%20Road%20(State%20Route%20261),%20Stateburg%20vicinity,%20Sumter%20County,%20SC&displayType=1&itemLink=D?hh:9:./temp/~ammem_EnBN:: Historic American Buildings Survey for Brookland Plantation House] ]
* Homefield, Stateburg [ [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&fileName=sc/sc0300/sc0384/photos/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Homefield,%20Stateburg%20vicinity,%20Sumter%20County,%20SC&displayType=1&itemLink=D?hh:3:./temp/~ammem_EnBN:: Historic American Buildings Survey] ]
* James Hill, Stateburg
* Magnolia Hall, Hagood
* Marden, Stateburg
* Melrose, Wedgefield, location of Singleton's Graveyard, home of Captain Matthew Singleton, built 1760. [ [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&fileName=sc/sc0300/sc0320/photos/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Melrose,%20Kings%20Highway%20(State%20Route%20261),%20Wedgefield%20vicinity,%20Sumter%20County,%20SC&displayType=1&itemLink=D?hh:20:./temp/~ammem_EnBN:: Historic American Buildings Survey done in 1940] ]
* Midway, Wedgefield
* Miller House, later known as Ellison House, Stateburg, is a contributing property in the Stateburg Historic District.
* Millford, Pinewood

* Moor Hill, owned by Thomas Sumter, grandson of the general, and later by DeSaussure Bull, a descendant of William Bull II, who was five times acting Colonial governor of South Carolina. [ [http://src1.cas.sc.edu/dept2/iss/SCNames/index.php?action=showPage&book=2&volume=14&page=24 Names in South Carolina, Winter, 1967, vol, 14, p. 24] ]
* Needwood, Stateburg [ [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&fileName=sc/sc0300/sc0384/photos/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Homefield,%20Stateburg%20vicinity,%20Sumter%20County,%20SC&displayType=1&itemLink=D?hh:3:./temp/~ammem_EnBN:: Historic American Buildings Survey for Needwood] ]
* The Oaks, Stateburg-Wedgefield Road, Stateburg [ [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&fileName=sc/sc0300/sc0382/photos/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=The%20Oaks,%20Stateburg-Wedgefield%20Road,%20Stateburg%20vicinity,%20Sumter%20County,%20SC&displayType=1&itemLink=D?hh:8:./temp/~ammem_EnBN:: Historic American Buildings Survey for The Oaks] ]
* Ramsey House, Poinsett State Park [ [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&fileName=sc/sc0300/sc0381/photos/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Ramsey%20House,%20Poinsett%20State%20Park,%20Sumter%20County,%20SC&displayType=1&itemLink=D?hh:7:./temp/~ammem_EnBN:: Historic American Buildings Survey for Ramsey House] ]
* The Ruins, Stateburg, originally owned by General Thomas Sumter, who was almost captured there by the British, who set fire to it. The partial damage caused by the fire gave rise to the name, The Ruins. A later owner was John Mayrant, Captain the in Continental Navy and the United States Navy, who bought it in 1802 and restored it. [ [http://src1.cas.sc.edu/dept2/iss/SCNames/index.php?action=showPage&book=2&volume=13&page=34 Names in South Carolina, November, 1966, vol. 13, p.34] ]

* San Souci, Stateburg, home of Edward Rutledge, who signed Declaration of Independence and was later governor. [ [http://src1.cas.sc.edu/dept2/iss/SCNames/index.php?action=showPage&book=3&volume=20&page=5 Names in South Carolina, Winter, 1973, vol. 20, p.5]

* Woodlawn, Stateburg

Places

Places, past and present, in the High Hills of Santee, include:
*Bradford Springs,
* Claremont
* Dixie Crossing
* Foxville, also known as Camden Junction
* Garner's Ferry, formerly Brisbane's Ferry, originally Simmons Ferry
*Hagood, formerly Sanders Station
*Horatio, formerly Louellen
*Manchester,
* Middleton, formerly Clarendon Depot
*Pinewood, formerly Clarendon
* Stark's Ferry
*Stateburg, formerly Stateborough
* Stateburg Station
* Wateree Junction and
*Wedgefield

Transportation

River

The Wateree River was one of the first means of access to the High Hills of Santee and Manchester became its gateway river port. There were ferry crossings at Garner's Ferry near Stateburg and further south at Stark's Ferry near Manchester.

Roads

The major north-south road in the High Hills of Santee since the 18th century has been Kings Highway, which originally ran from Charleston to Camden. It followed an older trail of the Catawba Tribe, Today Kings Highway in the High Hills is South Carolina Highway 261. [ [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scsumter/places/places.html Names in the Old Sumter District] ] The major east west road is U.S. Route 76/US Route 378, a four lave, divided highway between Sumter and Columbia, which intersects South Carolina Highway 261 just south of Stateburg. This intersection is 32 miles from Columbia and 12 miles from Sumter. There are also roads from Sumter to Wedgefield and Pinewood. The original Sumter to Columbia road was Garner's Ferry Road, a part of which still exists further north in Stateburg. Most of U.S. Route 76/US Route 378 in Richland County still carries this name.

Despite the short distances from Columbia and Sumter, the High Hills of Santee is still relatively isolated, [ [http://www.randomconnections.com/?p=1245 Account of a recent visit to the High Hills of Santee] ] just as it was in antebellum times when Millford Plantation was called "Manning's Folly" partly because of its remote location.

Railroads

An antebellum branch of the former South Carolina Railroad ran from Wateree east across the river to Wateree Junction near the former town of Manchester in the High Hills of Santee and then on north on the west of Kings Highway through Middleton, Foxville, Dixie Crossing, the former Stateburg Station on Garner's Ferry Road, Claremont, Horatio, Hagood and then into Kershaw County where it ran through Boykin before reaching Camden. At Wateree Junction it met the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad which ran from Manchester to Wilmington, North Carolina. In April 1865 General Edward E. Potter and his Union Army troops "discovered nine locomotives and approximately 200 cars from the rolling stock of the Wilmington & Manchester and South Carolina Railroads. His army proceeded to burn, blow up, and otherwise destroy these trains and tracks." [ [http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/uscs/newslt97/toppage.html#stonehenge University South Caroliniana Society, Newsletter, Spring 1997, Teal, Harvey S. Experiencing history: a visit to a railroad "stonehenge"] ] During World War II much of the scrap metal from the wreakage was salvaged for the war effort. In 1997 the remaining rails and cross ties were removed [ [http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/uscs/newslt97/toppage.html#stonehenge University South Caroliniana Society, Newsletter, Spring 1997, Teal, Harvey S. Experiencing history: a visit to a railroad "stonehenge"] ] [ [http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/uscs/98spr/wateree.html University South Caroliniana Society, Newsletter, Spring 1998, Haile, Dr. E. Cantey, Jr., Civil War History in the Wateree Swamp] ] [ [http://abandonedrailroads.homestead.com/sou_wateree_kingscreek_sc.html Abandoned Rails - Wateree to Kings Creek] ]

From Sumter today one railroad line runs west to Wedgefield and across the Wateree to Eastover, while another runs southwest to Pinewood and across Lake Marion to Calhoun County. There is no longer any passenger service on these lines.

Foot trail

The "High Hills of Santee Passage" is a hiking trail through the area and is part of the Palmetto Trail.

Gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/SC/Sumter/state.html National Register listings for Sumter County]
* [http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/sumter/S10817743022/index.htm South Carolina Department of Archives and History file on Stateburg Historic District]
* [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scsumter/places/places.html Names in the Old Sumter District]
* [http://www.palmettohistory.org/hpdistricts/stateburg-historic-distric.html Map of Stateburg Historic District]
* [http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/uscs/newslt97/toppage.html#stonehenge University South Caroliniana Society, Newsletter, Spring 1997, Teal, Harvey S. Experiencing history: a visit to a railroad "stonehenge"]
* [http://abandonedrailroads.homestead.com/sou_wateree_kingscreek_sc.html Abandoned Rails - Wateree to Kings Creek]
* [http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/uscs/98spr/wateree.html University South Caroliniana Society, Newsletter, Spring 1998, Haile, Dr. E. Cantey, Jr., Civil War History in the Wateree Swamp]
* [http://pottersraid.tripod.com/historicalbackground.html A Brief Historical Background of Potter's Raid]
* [http://www.awod.com/gallery/probono/cwchas/potter.html An Account of Potter's Raid by a Private in the Massachusetts 54th]