Slave Houses, Gregg Plantation, Historical slave dwellings at Gregg Plantation, South Carolina.

Slave Houses, Gregg Plantation are two surviving hewn longleaf pine log cabins with open front porches, gable roofs and rear additions, built before 1831 on the Francis Marion University campus at Mars Bluff. Up to 14 people lived in each cramped cabin.

The two surviving cabins were built before 1831; eight once stood on the Gregg Plantation. They were moved before 1870 and again in 1971 for the Francis Marion University Library. Residents' additions were removed during that relocation, and the cabins were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The cabins were occupied until the early 1950s, long after emancipation, and the additions residents built were removed during the 1971 relocation so visitors could see the original slave-era conditions. The two survivors are all that remain of eight cabins, and their longleaf pine walls still carry the resin used to protect the untreated wood.

Wear comfortable shoes since you will walk on uneven ground and across grass. The site is generally open during daytime hours, so check conditions ahead of your visit.

The cabins are built of untreated longleaf pine, and the enslaved craftsmen who raised them used the wood's natural resin to protect it. In the late 1980s one cabin was nearly moved to the Smithsonian, but Hurricane Hugo damaged its roof in 1989 and the plan was dropped; the roof was later restored.