Comingtee Plantation, SC

My mother and I visited Bonneau Ferry Wildlife Management Area in March 2021. The 10,700 acres located in Cordesville, SC can be used for birdwatching, hiking, biking, fishing on days when no hunts are scheduled. We saw several birds roaming the wetlands and visited the ruins of two structures: the Comingtee plantation house and the Stoke Rice Mill located within walking distance of each other.

In 1678 John Coming was granted land upon which he built one of the earliest plantation houses in the Carolinas. The acreage was located where the east and west branch of the Cooper River meet forming a T so it was called Comingtee. In 1698, following Mr. Coming and his wife’s death, the property was passed down to his nephew Elias Ball. In 1738, Mr. Ball built the plantation house whose ruins can be visited today. The rice mill was built in the early 1830 on the Stoke plantation, also owned by the Ball family along with a few other plantations in the area. The property was first sold in 1927. It was purchased by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SC DNR) in 2004 at which time the house was in a state of ruin.

There are two stories related to Comingtee in the SC Picture Project reference about a haunted tree and a hidden treasure that I found to be an interesting read that I highly recommend. I borrowed the photo below from the Library of Congress. It shows how the plantation house looked in 1940.

_{Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator. Comingtee, Cooper River, Cordesville, Berkeley County, SC. South Carolina Berkeley County Cordesville, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/sc0349/}

References The Interpretation of Comingtee plantation, South Carolina Picture Project, Library of Congress, Bonneau Ferry Wildlife Management Area

Comingtee Plantation Ruins (early 1700)