Berkeley County SC 1750

Benjamin Simons  (1672 -1717). 
      

The name of the Plantation is said to have come from "Middelburg", an ancient provincial capital of Holland. As an orphaned  boy Benjamin was taken into the family by Josias DuPre (1640 - 1712) and Martha Brabant (1648 - ?), who had fled the persecutions in France for Holland. Josias DuPre was a Huguenot clergyman. They all left for South Carolina.
Young Benjamin must have felt at home in Holland with his new three brothers and two sisters, that he later named his Home in South Carolina "Middleburg".

As others before me I could not confirm that Simons himself was a Huguenot, using the CBR lists in The Hague.  

To read more: History of Middleburg Plantation

Berkeley County SC 1750

This 1848 map taken from "One Day on Cooper River" written by John B Irving, the Charleston Artist, shows all the plantations along Cainhoy Road, which is in yellow in the small map.  

Interesting is that three plantations have names taken from villages in Holland: Middleburg, Camp Vere and Brabant plantations.

Berkeley County SC 1750

The Cooper river is one of four rain rivers that drain in Charleston harbor. Cooper's  shorter east branch has it's sourse in the Francis Marion National Forest. Quenby Creek drains into the young stream to form a navigable river.

Today, remains of ancient ricefields still stretch along the river. Quenby Plantation Grounds at the south bank embrace  Pompion Hill, from where this view is.

French Quarter Creek meets the Cooper River. 
Cainhoy road crosses Quenby Creek in the far distance where it drains into the upper east branch of the Cooper about 30 miles upriver from Charleston SC.

Iit is about where the waters meet, that the Church of England has a small chapel, on a hill, right at the water's edge, easy accessable by boat. From 1703 Pompion Hill Chapel was the first church out of Charleston to be a Chapel of Ease for The Parish of Saint Thomas. At that time 1600 people populated the area. 930 negro slaves, 60 indian slaves. They did not attend service.

Huguenot planter and merchant Gabriel Manigault was among the chief contributers to built in stone. His soil at Longwood plantation was broken by 500 slaves.

More about Pompion Hill Chapel.

 

Berkeley County SC 1750

Rice is the golden crop now, brought in from Madagasgar together with skilled slaves from various African tribes.

Planters like the Ball's, the Laurenses, Childs' and others develop their plantations along the banks of the upper Cooper River. Both east and west branches have their banks lined with waving ricefields.

The river and creeks are the main roads. But the backsides of the plantation villages develop an early roadsystem. These roads are more or less paths that connect to the main road leading into Charleston and overseas.

Cainhoy Road is the path that connects Quenby Plantation at Quenby Creek, Longwood, Middleburg, Halidan Hill, Camp Vere, The Blessing, Cherry Hill and Cedar Hill Plantations at French Quarter Creek to the mainroad. It roughly follows the south bank of the Cooper's East Branch

                                                                                                                          
Now, Cainhoy Road is part of a historical district, which helps to preserve the remains of the once flowering fields. Only Middleburg is left as a reminder of those early years. Quenby Plantation House was moved to a spot nearby at Halidan Hill Plantation. war and storms devastated the others.