View source for Middleburg Plantation

{{short description|Historic house in South Carolina, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP
 | name = Middleburg Plantation
 | nrhp_type = nhl
 | image = Middleburg Plantation (Berkeley County, South Carolina).jpg
 | caption = Middleburg Plantation, HABS photo, 1940
 | location = 2 miles southwest of Huger on the East Branch of the Cooper River, near [[Huger, South Carolina]]
 | locmapin = South Carolina#USA
 | map_alt = map of South Carolina
 | map_caption =  
 | coordinates = {{coord|33|4|52|N|79|50|35|W|display=inline,title}}
 | area = {{convert|400|acre|ha}}
 | built = 1699
 | architect =
 | architecture = Colonial
 | designated_nrhp_type = April 15, 1970<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=975&ResourceType=Building|title=Middleburg Plantation|accessdate=2008-03-08|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606134943/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=975&ResourceType=Building|archivedate=2011-06-06}}</ref>
 | added = April 15, 1970<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>
 | refnum = 70000568
}}

'''Middleburg Plantation''' is a historic colonial-era [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] on the [[Cooper River (South Carolina)|Cooper River]] near [[Huger, South Carolina]].  The [[Plantation house in the Southern United States|plantation house]],  built in 1697 by the [[French Huguenot]] Benjamin Simons, is probably the oldest standing wood-frame building in South Carolina, and is consequently an architecturally important example of period construction.  It was declared a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1970.<ref name="nhlsum"/><ref name="nrhpinv2">{{Cite journal|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Middleburg Plantation|url={{NHLS url|id=70000568}} |format=pdf|date=April 1, 1976 |author=James Dillon |publisher=National Park Service}} and {{NHLS url|id=70000568|title=''Accompanying four photos, from 1969 and 1975''|photos=y}}&nbsp;{{small|(32&nbsp;KB)}}</ref>

==Description and history==
[[File:Middleburg Plantation.jpg|thumb|left|Middleburg Plantation]]

Middleburg Plantation is located southwest of Huger, between Cainhoy Road and the Cooper River.  The plantation occupies about {{convert|400|acre|ha}} of lowlands fronting on the river.  The main house is a two-story timber-frame structure, measuring about {{convert|64|x|20|ft|m}}.  It is topped by a hip roof, and is three rooms wide and one deep, with single-story porches on both of its long sides.  The walls are sheathed in wooden clapboards, and it has two chimneys.  Its plan is a precursor to what became the typical [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] "single house".  Each floor has three rooms, with the stairwell on the north side of the central room, and a narrow hallway extending on the upper level's north side.  Exterior walls are plastered, and floors are made of wide boards.  Extending to the west is an ell that was added in the late 18th century, the last significant alteration to the building.<ref name="nrhpinv2"/>

Middleburg was established in 1699 by Benjamin Simons, a French Huguenot refugee, who named it after the Dutch city of Middelburg, the capital of the Province of Zeeland, Walcheren Island where Simons fled to from France before crossing the Ocean to America. At the time of its designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1970, the house was still in the hands of Simons' descendants. The plantation includes two later outbuildings: a 19th-century carriage house with fine jigsawn woodwork, and a brick commissary building that includes a [[slave pen|slave jail]] in its rear.<ref name="nrhpinv2"/>
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==See also==
* [[List of the oldest buildings in South Carolina]]
* [[List of National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkeley County, South Carolina]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline|Middleburg Plantation}}
* [http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/berkeley/S10817708010/index.htm Middleburg Plantation, Berkeley County (on the Cooper River, Huger vicinity)], at South Carolina Department of Archives and History
* {{gnis|1246635}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina}}
{{Plantation agriculture in the Southeastern United States}}

[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in South Carolina]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina]]
[[Category:Houses in Berkeley County, South Carolina]]
[[Category:1699 establishments in South Carolina]]
[[Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley County, South Carolina]]
[[Category:Plantations in South Carolina]]
[[Category:Plantation houses in South Carolina]]