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Gippy Plantation, 366 Avenue of Oaks, Moncks Corner, SC (2026)

08/28/2021

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

09/02/2020

🏛

07/27/2020

07/17/2020

The veggie garden during springtime

07/17/2020

Gippy Plantation was established in 1821 when John White purchased 1,875 acres of Fairlawn Barony from Admiral John Grave and the former Lousia Carolina Colleton. John White took the name “Gippy” from a nearby swamp, which is African Bantu for “short”, as the name of his plantation. The original house burned in 1852 with the present house being built in 1852 by John White with the help of neighboring planters who supplied their enslaved master carpenters and masons.
It has been told that the Confederates who were evacuating Charleston in the early spring of 1865 passed through Gippy on their way to join Johnson’s Army in North Carolina. A short skirmish occurred between Union troops and trailing Confederate scouts. The White family sold the plantation to Samuel Porcher Stoney of Medway in 1895, who planted there until 1910.
In 1927 the plantation came into the hands of the late Nicholas Roosevelt of Philadelphia who purchased the property as a winter home and hunting resort. His wife, Emily Sinkler Roosevelt, was the daughter of Charles Sinkler of Belvedere Plantation, which is now under the waters of Lake Marion. The Roosevelts found Gippy more than a residence and put much of their character and personality into the place. This is evident through their restoration of the house and the gardens. Some say that the garden reflects the garden at Belvedere closely in style and choice of plants. The plantation flourished under the ownership of the Roosevelts and fine Guernsey cattle made Gippy notable throughout the dairy world. The Gippy dairy farm supplied milk to most, if not to all, of the families of Berkeley County.
The Southern plantation atmosphere influenced the selection of Gippy for the filming of several scenes of the 1982 film “Lords of Discipline'', based on Lowcountry native, Pat Conroy’s, bestseller. Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt opened the grounds of Gippy to the public on several occasions in support of charitable causes and the Lancing Tournaments that were held there for many years, with locals carrying on a tradition that was very popular and well beloved by the people of St. John’s, Berkeley. In November of 1972, the heirs of the Nicholas Roosevelt's estate sold the plantation and it was divided into business and residential tracts with the house built in 1852 remaining on 4 acres of land. The house still stands today and was recently saved from development due to the dedication of local Berkeley county citizens.

This text was written by the late J. Russell Cross and was published in "Historic Ramblin's Through Berkeley". Some text adaptations were made by the society.

Photo used with permission from the extraordinary Brandon Coffey.