Historic Beaufort County estate for sale. Here’s what you get for $17.5 million
Twickenham Plantation might be the perfect home for a wealthy introvert, a wealthy history buff or a wealthy hunter. (Or someone who is all of the above, perhaps?)
If you have $17.5 million to spend on your next move, this grand and historic property with a private dock on the Combahee River in northern Beaufort County is worth a look in person. The rest of us will just have to flip through the photos and daydream.
The plantation includes more than 2,500 acres in the ACE Basin west of Yemassee, a restored historic home, two guesthouses, a manager’s house, stables, barns and other outbuildings.
The real estate listing through Jon Kohler and Associates says hundreds of acres are considered prime for waterfowl hunting. It promises “excellent wild bird populations of teal, ringnecks, wood ducks, pintails, and other species,” along with “old growth quail woods” and excellent possibilities for those looking for turkey or whitetail deer.
“The duck hunting here simply is as good as it gets,” says the listing, which includes as many photos of the property as it does of the house.
The main house, which is two stories with a broad front porch and a balcony on the second floor, was built around 1878 by Major John Screven.
It is more than 4,000 square feet and has four bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms. A remodeling to add modern features was completed in 2018.
Even in the part of the listing about the house itself, though, the land seems to take center stage.
“A formal dining room overlooks gardens designed by Robert Marvin and Douglas Duany, landscape architects who are credited with other works like the Augusta National Golf Club, Sea Pines Resort, and the Governors Mansion grounds,” it says.
A history included with the real estate listing details the estate’s ownership going back to the early 1700s as a rice plantation.
It says that, in 1860, Thomas Middleton Hanckel, a Charleston attorney who owned Twickenham, had 127 slaves and was a signer of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession that led to the Civil War. The plantation produced 553,500 pounds of rice that year.
On June 2, 1863, many slaves escaped from Twickenham in what is known now as the Combahee River Raid by the Union Navy and Harriett Tubman, the history states. The original home was burned during Gen. William Sherman’s march out of Savannah in 1865.
The surroundings of Twickenham Plantation are rural, but getting there won’t be a problem if you have your own plane. The property comes with a private air strip.
