Pineville, a historic refuge

Gen. Charles St. George Sinkler (1853- 1934) was the last Sinkler man to live at Belvidere.

Belvidere Plantation disappeared beneath the waters of Lake Marion in 1940. It had been the home of the Sinkler family since 1786. The founder of the plantation was Capt. James Sinkler (Margaret Cantey) who passed it on to his son, William (Elizabeth Brolin), and, in turn, it went to his son, Charles (Emily Wharton), and then his son, Gen. Charles St. George (Anne Porcher), the last Sinkler man of Belvidere who died in 1934.

At the time it was condemned and purchased by Santee- Cooper, the property was owned by the daughters of General Sinkler: Anne (Dr. W. Kershaw Fishburne) of Philadelphia and Gippy Plantation, Caroline (Dunbar Lockwood) of Boston, and Emily (Nicholas Roosevelt) of Philadelphia. Right up until the very end, the plantation fields were planted extensively, and the house was the scene of weekend parties.

In 1950, Anne Sinkler Fishburne wrote a wonderful little book, Belvidere: A Plantation Memory, describing many events, romantic and tragic, that took place on the old plantation. For example, in 1863, just before Charles Sinkler had to beg the Union general to save Belvidere from destruction, his wife, Emily, died when thrown from a carriage after attending Ash Wednesday services at Rocks Church. Charles Sinkler's sister, Elizabeth, married Col. Richard I. Manning of Columbia and the High Hills of Santee (Stateburg) and was the mother of S.C. Governor R.I. Manning.

Anne Wickham Porcher Sinkler (1869- 1904), wife of Charles St. George Sinkler.

Anne wrote of visiting in the Negro quarters where the smell of collard greens, bacon, and red peppers cooking on open fires filled the air. She and other children would sit on stools listening to old women tell stories of "Guinea Negroes" brought to South Carolina as slaves. They learned African songs and a few African words. This was in the early 1900s.

The Sinklers maintained a summer home in Pineville to escape the insects and floods of the Santee swamp. At first frost, they would return to Belvidere to entertain their relatives from "The North" - Boston and Philadelphia - who came for the hunting season. Anne remembered sprucing up the house with flowers and helping the servants prepare meals for the guests.

Emily Wharton Sinkler, wife of Charles Sinkler, was from an influential Philadelphia family and was fluent in French, Italian, and German. She and Charles had six children: Elizabeth, Wharton, Arabella, Charles St. George, Anne, Mary, and Caroline.

There was also sadness at Belvidere. Anne knew the end was near when told a Negro friend's bed had been turned toward the open door "so the chariot would have no hindrance when it came and the spirit of the newly dead would be free to go." The entire Negro population would "sit up" waiting for the chariot.

Anne, her sisters, and their aunt assisted the "colored population of Belvidere," about 185 souls, in relocating their homes when the plantation was taken by Santee- Cooper. Lumber and bricks from the old homes were used to build new ones closer to Eutawville in 1940. Graves from the old Negro cemetery were moved to higher ground and a granite monument placed in it which reads:

Caroline Sidney Sinkler (1860- 1954), sister of Charles St. George Sinkler.

To the glory of God

And in affectionate remembrance

Of all our people at Belvidere Plantation
Who are in God's safekeeping,
This cemetery has been given by
Caroline S. Sinkler
Emily W. Roosevelt
Anne W. Fishburne
Caroline S. Lockwood
Jan. 1941
"I know that my Redeemer liveth."
(Next week: Belvidere rediscovered, 2008)
All photos are from Belvidere, A Plantation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memory by Anne Sinkler Fishburne, USC Press, 1950.