The 1810 Greek Revival Sinkler Plantation, Pond Bluff, is now submerged under Lake Marion. The Sinkler family built this Greek Revival residence in Upper St. John’s Parish in 1785 when James Sinkler (1740 – 1800) and his wife, Margaret Cantey, moved there. James and his brother, Peter, served in the American Revolution.
From the early settlement of South Carolina, the short Ashley and Cooper Rivers provided access to low country plantations, homes to many of South Carolina’s leading families. In the 1790s, a canal connected the Santee and Cooper rivers providing a navigable water route from Charleston to Columbia. Eventually, railroads replaced the canal, but the dream of a water way connecting the ocean and the mountains persisted along with the creation of hydroelectric power.
In 1934, the S. C. Public Service Authority constructed and operated the Santee Cooper Hydroelectric and Navigation Project which improved “ health, welfare, and material prosperity.” By April 1939, over 9,000 black and white workers cut trees, cleared stumps, moved 6,000 graves, and demolished (or moved) 22 plantation houses.
Joseph Simons refused to sell to Santee Cooper and sued. Then in 1939, he stood on his front porch and shot himself.
Simons was buried at Rocks Cemetery. His headstone admits he died with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Most of the graves were removed to higher ground, but many were left to the rising water. Twenty-two plantation houses were demolished. Lake Moultrie was cleared of stumps, graves, houses, and everything else above the proposed water line.
The Santee Cooper Project created a water route from the mountains to the sea. A navigable canal linked the two lakes, Marion and Moultrie, creating a waterway to Charleston while leaving the Santee River to flow from Lake Marion to the sea by-passing Lake Moultrie.
The locks of the Pinopolis Dam on Lake Moultrie lower boats 75 feet to the Tailrace Canal which flows to the Cooper River then to the sea at Charleston.
Continued Next Week
Great to learn about the area we live in.