French Huguenot Plantation

Front: Abraham Fleury, sometimes called Abraham Fleury Sieur De La Plaine, settled here about 1680. He was one of the first French Huguenot planters in Carolina. The Huguenots, Protestants who escaped the persecution of Catholic France, immigrated with encouragement from the Lords Proprietors, who promised them opportunity and religious freedom. They later assimilated into the predominantly Anglican society of the lowcountry. Reverse: This tract was often called Cherry Hill after it was merged into that plantation before the Revolution. In 1858 freedman and planter Lamb Stevens (1766?-1868) added it to his extensive holdings. Stevens, born into slavery in N.C., later purchased his freedom and moved to S.C. He owned as many as 30 slaves, some of them relatives he bought in order to protect them and their families. Lamb died in 1868 at the age of 102.