Yemassee annexes two historic Beaufort County plantations tied to pro-Trump lawyer
The Town of Yemassee grew by almost 1,500 acres Monday night when it quickly annexed two plantations that have recently been in the news.
Yemassee Town Council voted unanimously, without any discussion, to annex the 770-acre Tomotley Plantation and adjacent 716-acre Cotton Hall Plantation. The entire annexation process took less than two weeks, much quicker than the typical annexation, which usually takes a month or more.
Now, two of three multimillion-dollar northern Beaufort County plantations purchased over the past year by an LLC linked to Atlanta attorney L. Lin Wood are in town limits. The three plantations, which include Huspa Plantation, span a combined 2,035 acres.
The annexed land mass borders Trask Parkway and Cotton Hall Road and is near the Old Sheldon Church ruins.
Wood, who built his career on high-profile defamation cases and most recently represented former President Donald Trump in his bid to overturn the 2020 election, has told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that he formed the LCC when he purchased the first plantation. He said after 65 years of being a Georgia resident, he was moving to South Carolina.
An application was filed by The Tomotley Crew LLC on Feb. 5, approved by council during a first reading on Feb. 9, then was included on the agenda for Monday’s special meeting and approved a final time. The council, which usually meets only once a month, must vote on annexations twice. The council’s special meeting a week after its regular session allowed this annexation petition to be added to the agenda.
In addition to the LLC’s name, Sharon Mansell was listed as the applicant, with contact information linked to the #FightBack Foundation, which lists Wood as its chairman of the board and CEO.
The organization’s website says it is a nonprofit that “fight(s) back to protect individual rights and stop those who would use political power to attack constitutional rights.” Narratives on the website include the “radical left mob attacks conservatives with lies and without accountability” and “the left has spied on, harassed, and smeared President Trump and his officials with illegal actions and fake news.”
Annexation is not out of the ordinary in Yemassee.
The town that began as a perfect 2-mile circle around the now-historic train station in 1868 has grown to roughly 11 square miles, Yemassee Town Clerk Matt Garnes estimated Tuesday. Wood’s land accounts for 2.2 of those miles.
About a third of the small Lowcountry town lies in Beaufort County, with the remaining majority in Hampton County. A petition last year aimed to have all of the town moved into Beaufort County, but was halted when the S.C. governor’s chief legal counsel said the petition did not meet the requirements to move forward.
While the town currently straddles the two counties, it abuts Jasper County, which creates an opportunity for the town to annex nearby vacant land for development possibilities.
Residents in unincorporated areas next to the town have been applying to be annexed for years. It’s rare to have a Town Council agenda without an annexation proposal.
The Town of Yemassee’s website has a page dedicated to annexation that explains the process, describes benefits to doing so, and includes an application and FAQs.
In five months of 2018, dozens of annexations exploded the town’s population by 50%. The 2020 U.S. Census data hasn’t been published online yet, but town leaders estimate the population has settled around 1,500.
Large annexations the size of Wood’s land do not happen as often. The last annexation near its size was Bindon Plantation, which added 1,300 acres to the town in 2006 was set to be developed into homes and commercial space until Beaufort County Council allocated it as a conservation easement.
Garnes said the town does not have plans to develop any parts of its newly acquired plantations.
“It’s a part of history,” he added.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 3:46 PM.
