Basic Information

• Location – Buddenville, Bull Pond, Allendale County

  Located south of US 301 on Elmore Lane

• Origin of name – ?
• Other names – ?
• Current status – Privately owned

Timeline

• 1850 – Earliest known date of existence

  Benjamin Lawton Willingham acquired the property (1, p. 3).

• 1857-1859 – Benjamin Lawton Willingham built the plantation house (1, p. 2).
• Circa 1864 – Benjamin Lawton Willingham gave Gravel Hill Plantation to his daughter, Phobe Willingham Malone (1, p. 3).
• 1865 – Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick, a member of General Sherman's staff, spared the house because it had been used as a hospital for Union troops as they passed through the area (4).
• 1888 – Phobe Willingham Malone sold Gravel Hill to Charles Edward Bryan (1, p. 3) (4).
• 1889 – William Zorn Bryan acquired the plantation from Charles Edward Bryan (1, p. 3) (4).
• 1936 – George Easterling Bryan was the next owner of Gravel Hill Plantation (1, p. 1) (4).
• 1970 – Jim Preacher Bryan became the plantation's owner and was the last Bryan baby born at Gravel Hill (4).
• 1993 – Jim Preacher Bryan sold Gravel HIll to Clayton New (4).
• 1996 – The plantation was sold to Suzanne Oswald Cordray, a great-granddaughter of Charles Edward Bryan (4).
• 2001 – The plantation house was renovated (4).
• 2003 – Gravel Hill Plantation was purchased by Frank E. Guidobono (4).

Land

• Number of acres – 1,000 historically; 7 in 1976 (1, p. 5)
• Primary crop – Cotton (1, p. 5)

Slaves

• Number of slaves – Benjamin Willingham had 75 slaves.

Buildings

• The plantation house originally had 15 rooms. It is in good condition, thanks to a major renovation completed in 2001. The original dining room and living room were eliminated during this renovation.

References & Resources

1. National Register of Historic Places
   – Nomination form - PDF - submitted in 1975
   – Photographs, architectural overview

2. Brief history of Gravel Hill Plantation - source no longer available online

3. Claude Henry Neuffer, editor, Names in South Carolina, Volume I through 30 (Columbia, SC: The State Printing Company)
     Order Names in South Carolina, Volumes I-XII, 1954-1965
     Order Names in South Carolina, Index XIII-XVIII

4. Information contributed by Jim Preacher Bryan, the last member of the Bryan family born at Gravel Hill.