Wateree River Expedition
Part 3: Stateburg's Borough Plantation By Warner M. Montgomery

Dr. W.W. Anderson, founder of the Borough Plantation, had his office built on the property in 1821.

Warner@TheColumbiaStar.com

As a member of the Greater Piedmont Chapter of the Explorers Club, I went with the group on their third stop on the Wateree River Expedition was in Stateburg, the tiny town that almost became the capital of S.C.. Gen. Thomas Sumter lost out to Thomas Taylor and Gen. Wade Hampton who lobbied for their property on the Congaree River.

We were greeted at the Borough Plantation, the oldest building still standing in Stateburg, by Jason Smith, the manager, who gave us a complete tour of the buildings. It is a functioning estate that survives from tree farming on the high bluff overlooking the east bank of the Wateree River.

The Borough House was built in 1758 by Dr. W.W. Anderson, a surgeon and naturalist. It is important architecturally because it and the surrounding buildings form the largest complex of pisé de terre (rammed earth) buildings in the US.

Jason Smith is manager of the Borough Plantation in Stateburg.

Pisé de terre is made by pouring clay in forms and pounding it down, moving successively from larger to smaller walls as the building grows up. It is a very strong and fireproof type of construction. With proper plastering and a good roof, it is also waterproof.

However, without a proper foundation, pisé de terre is subject to invasion by termites. The Church of the Holy Cross, across the King's Highway from the Borough House, is also of pisé de terre construction. Designed by the famous architect, Ed-ward C. Jones and built in 1850, the church is now closed because of termite damage.

Wings, also pisé de terre, were added to the Borough House in 1821 along with two bedrooms over a back porch and a front porch. Pisé de terre outbuildings include a library with Tuscan colonnades on all four sides, an office with a temple front for Dr. Anderson, a dry well, a loom house, a summer kitchen, and a slave cabin.

During the Revolutionary War the house served as headquarters for both Lord Cornwallis (1780) and US Gen. Nathaniel Green (1781). In 1829, Dr. Anderson performed the first successful operation for the removal of cancer of the jawbone in his office.

The 1821 barn at the Borough Planation was made of pisé de terre (rammed earth) construction.

S.C.'s first tree farm was planted at the Borough in the early 1900s. A cork oak on the property was named the SC Champion Tree in 2002. It has a circumference of 100.2 feet, a height of 45 feet, and a spread of 60 feet.

The Borough Plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1988, it was designated a National Historic Landmark.

(Next week: Stateburg's Miller- Ellison House)

The Borough House was built in 1758 of pisé de terre construction. The Borough Cork Oak was named the SC Champion Tree in 2002. The Borough Library, also of pisé de terre construction, was built in 1821 and has Tuscan colonnades on all four sides.