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| The Avenue of Oaks |
Boone Hall plantation was established in 1681. It was given as a land grant to Major John Boone. It originally was 17,000 acres and it is located today in the Mount Pleasant suburb near Charleston, South Carolina. The planation first was used to grow rice and later cotton.
Two brothers, John and Henry Horlbeck, bought this plantation in 1817. They converted the back of the plantation near the Wampancheone Creek into the Horlbeck Brickyard.
The soil near this creek contains clay that is ideal for making earthenware, bricks, and tiles. The Horlbeck’s brickyard quickly evolved from a few kilns used by some of the plantation’s 225 slaves into a thriving enterprise that served all of Charleston.
In the decade before the Civil War it is estimated that the brother’s brickyard produced 4 million bricks each year. The plantation’s slaves made all of these bricks by hand.
Most of the early buildings and churches that still remain standing in downtown Charleston today were made with bricks from the Horlbeck Brickyard. The slave quarters on this plantation were also made from these bricks.
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| Slave Cabins known as Slave Street |
The Horlbeck brother’s had large pecan groves planted on their land– this is the reason why Boone Hall is one of the last remaining active plantations in America today.
In 1843, they also planted a spectacular mile-long drive called the The Avenue of Oaks that leads to the entrance.
The Ghost of a Slave
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| Brick Kiln |
Witnesses today, report seeing a strange sight near the creek and one of the brickyard’s kiln chimneys.
At sunset, these witnesses all describe seeing a strange women standing in the grass nearby the road. She is seen moving her hands in a repetitive thrusting motion. *
She wears ragged dark clothes and her face is titled downward toward her jerking hands. Because of this no one has ever seen her face for her loose hair covers it.
Many witnesses have stated they saw the pale light of dusk pass right through this figure. Since she is always seen in the same area it is believed that she is the ghost of a slave that worked at the 18th century brickyard.
* The above sightings are a classic example of a residual haunting.
* The above sightings are a classic example of a residual haunting.