|
DIRLETON PLANTATION |
|
One of the better known plantations of the County, Dirleton on the Peedee
received its name from the Heriot ancestral seat, Dirleton Castle in
Scotland, where the ruins of this ancient stone structure still may be seen.
The plantation goes back to the lifetime of Dr. Edward T. Heriot, son of
William Heriot, who came to America from Scotland. He acquired the land now
known as Dirleton in 1854. At that time it was called Richfield.
Upon Dr. Heriot's death, Dirleton passed to his eldest son, Robert Stark
Heriot. it was with him that Dr. James Ritchie Sparkman exchanged his own
place, Birdfield, for Dirleton in 1859. Dr. Sparkman had married in 1845
Robert's sister, Mary Elizabeth Heriot. Upon the Doctor's move to Dirleton,
the long Sparkman reign here began. Dr. Sparkman built --with plantation labor-- the spacious house at Dirleton, considered even today one of the sturdiest on the river. Its three floors contain 23 rooms, each one of which on the main level has a marble fireplace. Typifying the piazza-style dwelling of many lowcountry plantation, the Dirleton house was built in the late 1850's, but final touches were added after the Civil War. A noted publisher of books on firearms, Thomas G. Samworth of New Castle County, Delaware, acquired the plantation in 1945 and now makes it his year round home. In 1961, he deeded Dirleton and 600 acres of land to the state of SC as a gift with the stipulation that he and Mrs. Samworth retain life tenure of the plantation house. This rice plantation is now a wildlife preserve owned by the state and consists of 353 acres of riceland and 271 acres of upland. |
