St. James Santee

Can we talk irony for a moment here?  I find irony in the fact that the sweeping plantations of old have been swept under Lake Marion or else recaptured by the woods.  One key graveyard I wanted to visit is sleeping under a now-recreational lake.  Really, I mean really.  Meanwhile, the Lucas houses are all still standing, and look there's even a marker on the road

installed by the historical society of the area. 

My Francis Marion marker was less generous.   

At least, at least, some of the important stuff is under special care as part of a state forest. 

Named after Uncle Francis.  So there.

Case in point: Hampton Plantation of Charleston County.  Uncle Francis was friends with the owners, the Horrys, and took refuge there when Charleston was taken by the British in 1780.  Daniel Horry's brother Peter served with Francis Marion.  There's a story that the Charleston leadership was gathered round getting drunk, celebrating, perhaps the day before the British seized the city, and that Marion was the only sober fellow there.  He fled undetected by jumping from a 2nd floor window, breaking his ankle in the process, and being carted away to the family estate in Georgetown to recoop.  He didn't jump out of a building, people.  He got the hell out of there.  The Tories lead the British to Hampton Plantation in their pursuit of Marion, but Horry's wife Harriott woke him in the middle of the night and told him to swim across the creek so the enemy'd lose his scent.  How'd he manage to do that with a broken ankle?

Wambaw Church, St. James Santee parish, fourth building, dated 1768.  The parrish was founded in 1705, and would've included the Marions, Cordes, le Seruriers, de St. Juliens, Balluets, Deas, Horrys, and Hugers.  And all the love connections that carried over from France.   I've been looking at geneology records from these families, taking me to 17th century France, and all of the families were all intermarried and friendly

before they even boarded the boats to Charleston. 

The church above was used in The Patriot, when Gabriel Martin brings the cause to the people.

 

Pamphlets and church meetings were common unifiers for the cause. 

Wedge Plantation House, built by William Lucas in 1826.  The property originally belonged to my ancestor Elizabeth Deas Middleton, and was divided upon her death.  The house straddles Charleston and Georgetown counties on the South Santee River, where the French Huguenots settled.  Georgetown is the other port of South Carolina, and the 2nd oldest city. 

I used to discount it, but no more.