Overview | Location and Hours | Offerings
Walnut Grove Plantation
Walnut Grove Plantation tells the stories of the free and enslaved people who settled South Carolina and the rest of Britain's American colonies, fought for independence, and, in the end, built a new nation.
Charles & Mary Moore established Walnut Grove on a 550-acre land grant about 1765. These Scots-Irish immigrants raised ten children in the house they built and lived in for 40 years. Mr. Moore relied on a dozen enslaved African Americans and his own large family to work his sizable farm. During the American Revolution, the Moore family, including eldest daughter Kate Moore Barry, actively supported the Patriot cause and the militia even mustered at Walnut Grove. Loyalist William "Bloody Bill" Cunningham killed three Patriot soldiers sheltered at the plantation in 1781.
Walnut Grove offers hourly guided tours of the site's 250-year-old buildings. Regular programs examine Colonial & Revolutionary Era history and often feature reenactors portraying people of the time.
Groups of 10 or more people from schools, churches, scout troops, senior citizen groups, and other community organizations can schedule, a minimum of 14 days in advance, group tours and living history activities year-round. Schools may schedule activities both on-site and in-school.
For costs, hours, and directions, click here, and for more information about visiting or scheduling group visits, click here.
Brief History of Walnut Grove
Charles Moore immigrated to Pennsylvania from Ulster (today's Northern Ireland) in the 1750s. He traveled down the Shenandoah Valley's Great Wagon Road into North Carolina and ultimately, with his family, to the South Carolina land given them by King George III's government for settling along the colony's tough western frontier. Starting with 550-acres, Mr. Moore expanded the farm to 3,000-acres through additional grants and purchases.
After getting settled, like many aspiring Backcountry planters around him, Mr. Moore likely worked as a commercial farmer growing mainly corn, wheat, tobacco, livestock, and perhaps timber for market. He, his large family, and about a dozen enslaved African Americans (named in Mr. Moore's will as Robert, Dinna, Phillis, Nelly, and children Prince, Simon, Fanney, Bob, Tom, Toney, and Dove) did the necessary labor--working the fields, tending the livestock, blacksmithing, cooking, cleaning, and textile making--to make the plantation a success.
In 1961, Thomas Moore Craig, Sr. and his wife Lena Jones Craig, descendants of the Moore family, donated Walnut Grove Plantation with eight acres of land to the Spartanburg County Foundation in a special trust fund. The Historical Association is the sponsor for the trust. From 1961 to 1967, numerous volunteers, including invaluable assistance from members of the Junior League, researched and acquired period furnishings for the historic site. Several structures were moved to the plantation to complete the restoration. On October 15, 1967, the plantation opened to the public. Additional land donations have increased the site's size to about 60 acres.
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