The Stoney-Baynard ruins were the center of Braddock’s Point Plantation in the first half of the eighteenth century. Braddock’s Point covered the southern end of present-day Sea Pines Plantation.
Captain John Stoney built the main house between 1793-1810. His sons James and John inherited the dwelling, its outbuildings, slaves, and approximately 1,200 acres in 1811. The plantation produced highly valued Sea Island cotton. In 1837, a few years after his brother died, John Stoney declared bankruptcy and sold the property to the Bank of Charleston. William Edings Baynard, an Edisto Island, SC plantèr, acquired Braddock’s Point Plantation from the bank in 1845, William E. Baynard owned other plantations on Hilton Head Island and the mainland. After he died in 1849, his son Ephraim managed the plantation’s cotton, livestock, and farming operations up to the Civil War. When Union troops invaded Hitton Head Island on November 7, 1861, Baynard and other plantation owners fled inland and the Federal government seized the property. Shortly after the war, the main house was destroyed by fire and other structures were salvaged for building materials. Baynard heirs bought back most of their holdings in 1875. In 1956, the Sea Pines Plantation Company purchased 5,280 acres on the south end of Hilton Head Island that contained the ruins. The ruins were incorporated into green space owned by the Sea Pines Community Services Administration Association. The site consists of a series of four ruins: a main house; an overseer’s house (chimney footing); a slave house; and a fourth structure (footings for a tent) associated with the site’s occupation by Union pickets after the battle of Port Royal. Although the site is in the Sea Pines gated community I accessed it by paying a $9 entrance fee (per car) at the gate, which also allows access to Harbour Town which has no relevance to the war but has restaurants, shopping, a lighthouse and boat rides some of which are suitable for children.
EntranceWhile standing in front of the sign you are looking at the outer walls on the eastern side of the Stoney-Baynard home. It was built of timber and a mixture of oyster shells, lime, and sand, and overlooked Calibogue Sound. This grand building faced south (the direction to your left). It was 1885 square feet and 1 and 1/2 stories tall. The basement was at ground level A doorway which was recentiy stabilized is on the right. The other openings probably allowed for ventilation. The basement had two rooms the left side (south) and one large room on the.right (north). Shortly after the war ended, the home burned to the ground.Ruins of the Stoney-Baynard homeThis side was the front of the Stoney-Baynard home. Captain Stoney faced his mansion south primarily for comfort. The orientation allowed the dwelling to capture cooling south-southwest breezes from Calibogue Sound in summer. The house also was built on the high point of this ridge (24 feet above sea level) better exposing it to the wind. In the plantation era trees would have been cleared from this area and cotton fields below would have improved air circulation. Archaeologists determined that the upper story of the front, and the adjacent halves of the east and west sides probably were consfricted with wood frame and clapboard siding. The entire basement and other upper walls were tabby. The unusual “half wood, half tabby” technique on the upper level allowed for the construction of doors and large windows on the house’s windward side. Such openings would have weakened tabby. The fire in 1867 destroyed the roof and wooden structures, causing most tabby walls to collapse. Brickwork was scavenged during and after the Civil War. Nevertheless, evidence has shown that this south-facing façade was adorned with a grand stairway, leading to a front porch. A fence extended around the house and nearby domestic slave quarters. This illustration shows how the Stoney Baynard home might have appeared in the mid-1800s.The tabby foundation here is all that remains of a small small slave quarters. Before the Civil War two families of slaves lived in a 330-square-foot wooden dwelling built upon these footings. The domestic slaves looked after the plantation home and served its owners during occasional visits. In 1850, the Baynard family claimed 129 slaves at Braddock’s Point Plantation. Probably, fewer than 20 were “house slaves.” The “double-penned” quarters had two separate rooms, each housing one family. The indentation in the center of the foundation shows that a structure was hastily erected on the tabby even before the cement had dried. The floor was set on joist supports laid upon the ground. Certainly, the slave quarters would have been damp and overcrowded! Chimney supports at both ends of the foundation indicate that each room had a fireplace. The support closest to the main house was built from tabby bricks. At the opposite end the support is made of fired bricks.Tabby foundation of a small slave quartersFor years people could only guess about the function of the tabby blocks in this area: In the 1990s, archaeologists from the Chicora Foundation solved the mystery. The large block on the right, was a pier supporting the chimney of the plantation kitchen. Here, domestic slaves prepared food for residents of the main house. Attached to the chimney, a small (14’x18’) building sat on tabby block footings. The kitchen faced south, toward the main house. This layout allowed the fireplace to draw prevailing winds. Locating the kitchen far from the home was commonplace in the eighteenth century. Distance isolated the main house from heat, smoke, noise, odors, and fire danger. When the Civil War came to Hilton Flead Island Union troops occupied this ridge. Evidence suggests that soldiers and freedmen dismantled the kitchen and its chimney moving the former kitchen footings to higher ground (to your left). There they neatly arranged the tabby blocks and on top built a tent platform.Tent platform
Harbour Town- not Civil War related but on the grounds of the Sea Pines Plantation
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