Prospect Hill, Federal plantation house on Edisto Island, South Carolina.

Prospect Hill is a two-story white clapboard Federal house with a low-pitched roof and two brick chimneys, set on a bluff above the South Edisto River. Five windows light the upper facade, and a full-width porch on six plain white columns shelters a paneled door with a fanlight. The raised basement is enclosed in wire mesh panels set within brick and stone piers.

The house originated around 1800 under Ephraim Baynard as a Federal design and grew into a significant plantation operation. The property changed ownership over the following decades and reflected the economic shifts of the coastal lowcountry.

The property reflects the importance of cotton farming to this coastal region through its preserved buildings and setting. Visitors can observe how the plantation functioned within the landscape and its role in local life.

Prospect Hill is a private residence on Edisto Island, not a site with public trails; the grounds are not open to visitors. The house stands on a bluff above the South Edisto River, and the 1,200 acres around it were placed under conservation in 1999. The building is best seen from the river or the public road.

In 1999 the Nature Conservancy of South Carolina paid $5.75 million for Prospect Hill, buying out a real estate company that had planned to develop the land. The 1,200 acres along the South Edisto River were placed under conservation, and the house was then resold to private owners who restored it.