| Crowfield's Historical Ruins |
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Crowfield Plantation, on the headwaters of Goose Creek, was originally granted to John Berringer in 1701.
John Gibbes (1696-1764),a member of the Royal Assembly, sold it in 1721 to Arthur Middleton (1681-1737),
also a member of the Royal Assembly. Middleton’s son William (1710-1785) built a large two-story brick
house there, circa 1730, naming it for Crowfield Hall, his great-aunt’s English manor. William Middleton
grew rice and indigo, raised cattle, made bricks, and laid out an elaborate formal garden. Rawlins Lowndes
(1721-1800) bought Crowfield during the American Revolution; he sold it in 1783, describing it as "that
elegant most admired seat." The house was virtually destroyed by the Charleston earthquake of 1886. In
the 1930’s. The West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, now known as the Westvaco Development Corporation, purchased the 2,850 acre plantation for its pine timber. In the 1970’s, Westvaco developed the property into
residential housing communities and a golf course. The remains of the plantation house are owned by the
CPCSA and protected with a conservation easement that allows continued archaeological study. |
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