Thorgood Plantation

Front: In 1682 the Lords Proprietors granted 3,000 acres here, on a branch of the Back River, to Joseph Thorogood (d. 1684). Though Thorogood only owned the plantation two years and his widow Jane sold it after his death, it was called “Thorogood” for most of the 19th century. By the 1720s Andrew Allen owned Thorogood, established a profitable rice plantation here, and was also engaged in the local fur trade. Reverse: Thorogood passed to John Deas (d. 1788) and his son John, Jr. (1761-1790). It, Mount Holly, and Cyprus plantations remained in the Deas family until 1824. Subdivided after the Civil War, this area was the core of an African American farming community. H. Smith Richardson bought it as a hunting plantation in 1937, renaming it Mount Holly. Mt. Holly Aluminum has produced aluminum as its plant here since 1980.