Bill Riski is a retired USAF Officer and systems engineer. His hobbies include history, photography, writing, and travel. Maintaining this website is a labor of love for the Dataw Historic Foundation in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, where he and his wife now live.
Francis William ‘Frank’ Sams, Jr. (1846-1921) was one of four children born to Dr. Frank Sams and his wife, but the only one to live to adulthood. He was born in Palatka, Florida and died in New Smyrna Beach, Florida – where he was “discovered” last year by Joe and Diane Roney on their road trip. From the research Joe Roney and I have done, it’s clear he was a very successful man; Confederate soldier at 15, State senator in Florida at 53.
Sarah Stanyarne Sams Sams (1840-1902) was the daughter, and last child, of Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams (1787 – 1855) and his second wife Martha Edwards (1799-1857). Married her 1C1R John Hanahan Sams (1839-1924) in 1865 and had 8 children. They stayed in the Charleston area for a while after the war, but eventually started new lives in Brevard County, FL.
Bylaws of the Dataw Historic Foundation. Updated in January 2020 and approved by the Board of Directors.
The tabby ruins at the Sams Plantation Complex stand as mute evidence of a bygone era. There were two distinct ways of life which coexisted in the antebellum South. The Plantation Owner and his family were White, European-American, educated, affluent and engaged, politically, socially and culturally, in the wider community. The Slaves, on the other hand, were captured by European slavers who forcibly removed them to North and South America from all over West Africa.
Nearly all of these historic artifacts are on display in our History & Learning Center. The documents below contain more information on each artifact. When your cursor hovers over an…
“Making Spirits Bright” Monday, December 9th, 2019. Beginning at 5:00 PM at the historic ruins. [gallery_bank source_type=”gallery” id=”26″ layout_type=”justified_grid_layout” alignment=”left” row_height=”150″ sort_images_by=”sort_order” order_images_by=”sort_asc” lightbox_type=”foo_box_free_edition” gallery_title=”show” gallery_description=”show” thumbnail_title=”show” thumbnail_description=”show” filters=”disable” lazy_load=”disable”…
This video tour of the Sams Plantation Ruins was created by Joel Holden in 2010-2012, then published in DVD format in 2014. It includes a wealth of imagery taken of…
Join the Dataw Historic Foundation The Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins on Dataw Island is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and represents one of the most intact…
On Mar 4, 2019, John Colgan of the Dataw Historic Foundation presented highlights of the original development of Dataw Island by Alcoa. In the 1980’s, Alcoa South Carolina, a subsidiary…
This gallery contains the few pictures available of the ruins on Dataw soon after Kate Gleason bought the island in 1927. [gallery_bank source_type=”gallery” id=”22″ layout_type=”masonry_layout” alignment=”left” lightbox_type=”foo_box_free_edition” order_images_by=”sort_asc” sort_images_by=”sort_order” gallery_title=”show”…
THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DATAW ISLAND ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE SAMS PLANTATION COMPLEX This report documents architectural and archaeological data recovery that has been conducted at five historic…
