Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site
Delving Into History at Redcliffe
Redcliffe Plantation is a site rich in documentation. Four generations of the Hammond family left a wealth of material including crop journals, plantation manuals, private letters, scrapbooks, diaries, family photographs and other memorabilia. These resources, though detailed, are biased towards the Hammond family’s point-of-view and reveal little of the personal experiences of the numerous African-American families who lived at Redcliffe over the years. Primary sources from these important inhabitants are scarce.
Redcliffe’s final owner, John Shaw Billings, bequeathed his diaries and personal papers, as well as those of his family to the University of South Carolina’s Caroliniana Library in 1973. They are housed there today in the manuscript division and are accessible to the public. In addition, with the advent of the digital age, many sources previously hard to access like census records, birth and death records, and more are now available online.
SC State Park Service personnel, academic researchers from across the country and descendants of Redcliffe families all actively access this material for various research topics and to help bring the unique stories of this site and its numerous inhabitants to life. The links, documents and other information listed below are designed to help facilitate research of Redcliffe Plantation and its inhabitants and to help provide a more in depth understanding of this distinctive state treasure.
Documents
Mamie’s Letters – Letters from Redcliffe employee Mamie Jackson to final Redcliffe owner John Shaw Billings, circa 1950.
Photographs
The Henley Family 1961-62
Redcliffe Geneology
Links
Library of Congress
South Caroliniana Library
National Archives
|
 Beech Island
|