Borough House Plantation

Borough House Plantation, also known as Borough House, Hillcrest Plantation, and Anderson Place, is a historic plantation complex near Stateburg in Sumter County, South Carolina. It stands on South Carolina Highway 261 in the High Hills of Santee, north of the highway junction with U.S. Routes 76 and 378. The property is not a contemporary commercial brand; its significance is architectural, historical, and cultural. The site is best known for its collection of high-style pisé, or rammed-earth, structures. The main house and six associated buildings were constructed using the technique beginning in the early nineteenth century, making the property the largest known assemblage of high-style rammed-earth buildings in the United States. The surviving complex illustrates how an earthen construction method was adapted to the scale and design expectations of a substantial Southern plantation estate. An earlier house on the property was built in 1758. During the American Revolution, that house reportedly served at different times as headquarters for British General Lord Cornwallis and Continental General Nathanael Greene. A later principal residence was built around 1820 by physician William Wallace Anderson and designed by architect A. C. Jones. The rammed-earth construction program began in 1821, linking the property’s architectural identity to Anderson’s ownership and to the work of Jones. Borough House is also associated with Confederate general Richard H. Anderson, who was born there on October 7, 1821, to William Wallace Anderson and Mary Jane Mackensie. The property’s historical associations extend beyond military history. Joel Roberts Poinsett, the physician, statesman, and botanist whose name is associated with the poinsettia, died while visiting Dr. Anderson in 1851 and was buried in the churchyard of the Church of the Holy Cross across the road. Anderson chaired the committee that built that church between 1850 and 1852; it too was constructed of rammed earth and designed by Jones. The name Borough House reflects the early development of Stateburg, which was initially laid out as Stateborough and reportedly had Borough House as its only residence. The plantation and the nearby Church of the Holy Cross form part of the broader historic landscape of Stateburg. Borough House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark on March 23, 1972. It is additionally included within the Stateburg Historic District. Documentation by the Historic American Buildings Survey records the main house and numerous associated structures, including an office, playhouse, hay barn, dependency, dry-well shelter, tombs, kitchen-storehouse, school, weaving house, cook’s house, and chicken brooder.

Borough House’s history reaches back to an original residence constructed in 1758. During the Revolutionary War, the house was used at different points as headquarters by British General Lord Cornwallis and Continental General Nathanael Greene, placing the property within the military geography of the conflict in South Carolina. A second principal house was erected around 1820 for William Wallace Anderson, a physician. Architect A. C. Jones designed the building, which used rammed earth rather than conventional masonry. Beginning in 1821, the plantation developed a wider group of pisé structures. The resulting complex included the main house and six additional buildings, creating what is described as the largest assemblage of high-style rammed-earth structures in the United States. The use of rammed earth at Borough House was not limited to utilitarian outbuildings; it formed part of an architecturally ambitious estate and is central to the site’s national significance. On October 7, 1821, Anderson’s wife, Mary Jane Mackensie, gave birth at Borough House to Richard H. Anderson. He later became a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, adding a major military association to the property’s architectural and Revolutionary War history. Stateburg itself was originally called Stateborough, and Borough House reportedly stood as the only residence when the settlement was laid out, helping explain the plantation’s role in the locality’s early identity. The property was also connected to the construction of the Church of the Holy Cross, located across the road. William Wallace Anderson chaired the committee responsible for the church’s construction from 1850 to 1852. Like Borough House, the church was built using rammed earth and designed by A. C. Jones. In 1851, Joel Roberts Poinsett died while visiting Dr. Anderson at Borough House. Poinsett was a physician, statesman, and botanist, and he was buried in the churchyard across the road. In the twentieth century, Borough House became the subject of formal historic-preservation documentation. The plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark on March 23, 1972. It is also part of the Stateburg Historic District. Historic American Buildings Survey records document the principal house and a broad range of associated buildings and features, including the doctor’s office, playhouse, hay barn, dependency, dry-well shelter, Hooper tombs, kitchen-storehouse, school, weaving house, cook’s house, and chicken brooder. These surveys preserve architectural information about a complex whose importance rests not on commercial activity but on its material construction, historical associations, and place within South Carolina’s cultural landscape.

• 1972

  National Historic Landmark designation

  [1]Borough House Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Borough House was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark on March 23.

• 1851

  Death of Joel Roberts Poinsett

  [1]Borough House Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Poinsett died while visiting Dr. Anderson and was buried across the road in the churchyard of the Church of the Holy Cross.

• 1821

  Rammed-earth building program begins

  [1]Borough House Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Construction of the plantation’s distinctive high-style pisé buildings began. Richard H. Anderson was also born at the property that year.

• 1820

  Later principal house built

  [1]Borough House Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  William Wallace Anderson commissioned a second house designed by architect A. C. Jones, using rammed-earth construction.

• 1758

  Original house constructed

  [1]Borough House Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The first known house at Borough House was built, later serving during the Revolutionary War as headquarters for both British and Continental commanders at different times.

A nationally significant historic plantation and architectural heritage site, distinguished by its large surviving group of high-style rammed-earth buildings and its associations with Revolutionary War, antebellum South Carolina, and Civil War history.

• Historic site

  Borough House Plantation historic complex

  The property comprises a historic plantation landscape centered on a principal house and a group of associated structures. Its defining feature is the surviving use of high-style pisé, or rammed earth, across the main house and multiple outbuildings. Historic American Buildings Survey documentation identifies a range of supporting buildings and features, including an office, playhouse, hay barn, dependency, dry-well shelter, kitchen-storehouse, school, weaving house, cook’s house, and chicken brooder.

• Historic house · 1820

  Borough House

  The principal residence associated with the nineteenth-century development of the plantation was built around 1820 for William Wallace Anderson and designed by A. C. Jones. Its rammed-earth construction forms part of the largest known assemblage of high-style pisé buildings in the United States.

1. 1Borough House Plantationen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Borough House Plantation, Sumter Countyschpr.sc.gov
3. 3Historic American Buildings Survey records for Borough Houseloc.gov