Editing Surfside Beach, South Carolina (section)

===Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries===

In the early nineteenth century, there is evidence of a [[slave plantation]] of 3,200 acres (1838) at what is now Surfside Beach.<ref name="Martin">{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Greg |title=The Ark Plantation |journal=The Independent Republic Quarterly |issue=Spring 1990 |pages=11–12 |url=http://www.hchsonline.org/places/ark.html |access-date=July 19, 2020 |publisher=Horry County Historical Society |location=Conway, SC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991103205227/https://www.hchsonline.org/places/ark.html|archive-date=3 November 1999}}</ref> There are traveller accounts from the eighteenth century of the area.<ref name="Burroughs">{{cite web |date=2015|publisher=Horry County Archives Center, [[Coastal Carolina University]]|first=Ben|last=Burroughs|title=Surfside Beach, S. C. "The Ark" |url=http://www.surfsidebeach.org/Data/Sites/1/media/town-council/agendas-and-minutes/2015/ark_of_surfside_beach_ben_burroughs_presentation.pdf |access-date=July 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803182759/http://surfsidebeach.org/Data/Sites/1/media/town-council/agendas-and-minutes/2015/ark_of_surfside_beach_ben_burroughs_presentation.pdf|archive-date=3 August 2016}}</ref> The 1765 diary of [[John Bartram]], botanist, shows him lodging at what was probably Stephen Peak's slave plantation, "at the west end of long bay".<ref name="Burroughs"/> In 1773, [[William Bartram]], naturalist, also "got to the West end of Long Bay, where [he] lodged at a large [[Indigo dye|Indigo]] plantation".<ref name="Burroughs"/> The plantation in question was called "The Ark", a name for which the first record is in 1867; it may have originally been owned by "Mr. Aark".<ref name="Martin"/><ref name="Burroughs"/> In 1820 it was owned by John Tillman.<ref name="Martin"/> The 1838 survey recorded it having 3,194 acres.<ref name="Martin"/><ref name="Burroughs"/> The plantation reported 57 enslaved people in 1850 and 63 in 1860.<ref name="Martin"/><ref name="Burroughs"/> In 1850 the crops were [[sweet potato]]es and [[Rice production in the United States#History#19th century|rice]].<ref name="Martin"/> Other [[History of agriculture in the United States|farmed animals and crops]] are thought to have included cattle, sheep, pigs, [[Indian corn]] and peas.<ref name="Burroughs"/>

The main house was near the ocean front (at 3rd Ave South and Willow Drive in present-day Surfside Beach), with several buildings for [[Slave quarters in the United States|slave quarters]] to the north along the ocean and a cemetery behind it (South Hollywood Dr on the west, to Juniper Drive on the north, to 6th Ave South on the east, to Cypress Drive on the south).<ref name="Burroughs"/> The main house had four large rooms and was made of timber; it was used as shelter during a [[1893 Atlantic hurricane season|hurricane in 1893]].<ref name="Martin"/><ref name="Burroughs"/><ref name="Reed">{{cite web | first=Mary Beth|last=Reed|publisher=South Carolina Department of Archives and History|title=Horry County Historic Resource Survey | url=http://nationalregister.sc.gov/SurveyReports/HC26001.pdf|page=70 | access-date=20 October 2024}}</ref>