This is a postcard of the ruins of the Stoney-Baynard Plantation.

There is very little left, but these are the remains of a house and slave quarters. They are built of tabby, a sort of concrete made from shells. Shells were burned to create lime. The lime was mixed with water, sand and broken stones and shells.

At one time this was a striking plantation house, overlooking Calibogue Sound. It originally belonged to a Captain Jack Stoney. He built the first house here in 1793.

John (Captain Jack) Stoney was from Tipperary, Ireland. He was a privateer during the Revolutionary War. He bought 1000 acres at Braddock Point in 1776.  With slave labor, he built a 40’ x 46’ mansion on the Braddock Point Plantation. The home likely had large wrap around porches, making it even larger than this footprint. John (Captain Jack) Stoney is buried in the Zion Cemetery where US-278 meets Matthews Drive.

The story goes that one of Captain Jack’s sons, James Stoney lost the plantation to William Baynard in a poker game. Actually it was purchased from the Bank of Charleston for the value of the mortgage on December 17, 1845. William Eddings Baynard  was a wealthy planter. He raised Sea Island cotton on Hilton Head Island.

Baynard and his wife Catherine had four children. They also lived in the Davenport House in a fashionable neighborhood of Savannah.

William Baynard died at only 49. He was buried in the mausoleum in the Zion Cemetery. This is the oldest undamaged structure on Hilton Head. His son, Ephram took over management of the plantations.

During the Civil war, the Union troops used this house as their headquarters. Some time during the war, the Baynard Plantation house was burned to the ground.

“The Stoney-Baynard ruins were the center of Braddock’s Point Plantation in the first half of the eighteenth century. Braddoc’s Point covered the southern end of present-day Sea Pines. Captain John “Saucy Jack” Stoney built the main house between 1793-1810. His sons James and John inherited the dwelling, its outbuildings, slaves, and approsimately 1200 acres in 1811. The plantation produced highly valued Sea Island cotton. In 1837, a few years after his brother died, John Stoney declared bankruptcy and sold the property to the Bank of Charleston.

“William Edings Baynard, an Edisto Island, SC planter, acquired Braddock’s Point Plantation from the bank in 1845. Baynard owned other plantations on Hilton Head Island and the mainland. Typical of plantation owners, he spent little time in the main house during the long, hot growing season. After William E. Baynard died in 1849, his son Ephraim managed the plantation’s cotton, livestock, and farming operations up to the Civil War.

“When Union troops invaded Hilton Head Island on November 7, 1861, Baynard and other plantation owners fled inland. The Federal government seized the property. Shortly after the war, the main house was destroyed by fire. Other structures were salvaged for building materials. Baynard heirs bought back most of their holdings in 1875. Various owners held the land over the next 80 years, while the Stoney-Baynard estate quietly reverted to forest. In 1956, Sea Pines Plantation Company purchased the ruins with 5,280 acres on the south end of Hilton Island. In 1966, Sea Pines founder Charles E. Fraser established this nine-acre site as permanent open space.

“Follow this trail to view remains of the main house, domestic slave quarters, plantion kitchen, and a military structure. You will approach the eastern side of the house. Follow the path around the dwelling’s perimeter. Next, walk along the shaded ridge and explore where slaves lived and prepared meals. Evidence of occupation by Union soldiers is also visible. Enjoy your visit, but please refrain from collecting or disturbing historical structures.”

Stoney-Baynard Plantation ruins are in Sea Pines, just off Plantation Drive. You have to pay to enter Sea Pines, but not much.