32.9585052 -80.2014835 Bacons Bridge (1 mi. above this location?)
GNIS record for Bacons Bridge. Note mapping options.
Sources:
The location for Fairspring Court, Summerville, is arbitrarily selected as that for Fair Spring Plantation. Its distance from Bacon Bridge and from Newington Plantation subdivision is reasonably consistent with following descriptions of both.
Terry Lipscomb, "South Carolina Revolutionary War Battles", Part Nine, Names in South Carolina, XXVIII, Winter 1981:
[Ref 28 May 1782, Fair Spring]
[p.35]
The British cavalry continued to make excursions north of
Charleston, and the following month Dawkins was again
involved in an action with the American dragoons. On May
28, he was defeated below Dorchester by a party under the
command of John Laurens. The Patriots had three men
wounded and two horses killed, but they captured' one
lieutenant, seven dragoons,and ten horses.7 There is reason
to believe that this may have been the same action
mentioned by Alexander Garden in his anecdote
concerning Ralph Izard's narrow escape. Izard had been
visiting his plantation, Fair Spring, which was located on
the eastside of Ashley River about a mile above Bacons
Bridge. The British dragoons surrounded the house,
intending to capture him, but Mrs. Izard concealed her
husband in a clothespress and put on a brave front for her
unwelcome guests. As soon as the British departed, Mr.
Izard, who was John Lauren's aide-de-camp, hurried across
Bacons Bridge and alerted the American cavalry. The
enemy detachment was overtaken and routed as it was
returning southward.
Fair Spring, South Carolina
Siege of Charlestown
28 May 1782
Ralph Izard was an aide to General Huger and had been visiting his plantation known as Fair Spring. Fair Spring was located on the east side of the Ashley River a mile above Bacon's Bridge.
Captain George Dawkins and thirty of his South Carolina Royalists discovered that Izard was at his home and surrounded the plantation house. Mrs. Izard concealed her husband in a clothespress and let the Loyalists come into her home to search.
After the Loyalists had left Izard went across Bacon’s Bridge and notified the Patriot cavalry that the Loyalists were near. The cavalry were Baylor’s Consolidated Regiment of Dragoons led by Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens. Laurens overtook the Royalists and in the skirmish he lost three men wounded and two horses killed. The Royalists were defeated and had one lieutenant and seven dragoons captured, along with their ten horses.
During the summer of 1782 desertions from the British and Loyalists in Charlestown increased dramatically. In one instance two officers and twenty Loyalist refugees deserted while on patrol. They brought with them their arms and equipment.
William Seymour wrote,
The British deserters come in now every day, and may be averaged thirty per week, and numbers more would come off, but are prevented by the Negro Horse, as they are kept constantly patrolling for that purpose.
Just below on the Ashley, on its north bank, was the plantation of the Wrights now called "Oak Forest",and below that the residence of one of the branches of the Izard family called "Cedar Grove",well known for the style of its buildings and its gardens. Above and beyond the road to Bacon's Bridge was the seat of another one of the Izards, on the old grant to William Norman, and called "Burton", and afterwards "Fair Spring", where are still to be seen the remains of a laroe brick house. Above this was the site of the original grant to Benjamin Waring, the ancestor of the Waring family, and which during the Revolutionary War was owned by Dr. David Oliphant, a member of the Council of Safety and Surgeon-General of the Continental forces in South Carolina. Above this again was the old grant and residence of Col. Andrew Percival, always known as "The Ponds" - the chief pond now being "Shulz's Lake". The most pretentious buildings and mansion were those at "Newington", the old Axtell settlement, which through Lady Axtell'ss daughter, Lady Elizabeth Blake (Lady as the wife of a Landgrave and Lord Proprietor), had descended to Col.Joseph Blake. The Newington house was said to have been one of the largest brick houses built in lower Carolina at that period, and with its double avenue of live oaks and wide gardens was at the time of the Revolutionary War one of the "show places", so to say, of the country side. The Ralph Izard who settled at "Burton", afterwards "Fair Spring,", about a mile and a half distant, had married a daughter of Col. Blake, and a straight road or avenue led from one house to the other.
# Location – Dorchester Creek (a branch of the Ashley River), Summerville, Dorchester County
Original plantation lands were located off SC 165 in the vicinity of Newington Plantation Estates.
# Origin of name – Named after the Axtell's family estate in England
# Other names – Lady Blake's House
# Current status – Residential subdivision
Sherman, "Calendar..."online. Too late for this work. To avoid long downloads, use option to "Save and view this PDF in Reader".