Francis Marion Tomb at Belle Isle Plantation Cemetery

In 2017 the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust secured conservation easements on the approximately 11,000 acres of native pineland surrounding Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion’s burial grounds. The Oakland property encompasses several historic French Huguenot plantations on the Santee River that were once owned by the Marion family, and where the legendary Revolutionary War hero and his family are now buried.  Visitors of the historic landmark will forever be able to enjoy the natural vistas of pine forest and native grasses surrounding the site.   

The vast property is encumbered by a conservation easement held by the Trust, which will prevent it from being developed for residential, commercial or industrial purposes in perpetuity.  The owners also donated outright a tract of timberland that will be used to educate local landowners on sustainable forestry practices. 

The property fronts on roughly ten miles of the Santee Swamp and in its natural state helps purify water in the Santee River watershed.  “The availability of clean water is emerging as a national crisis right now,” said Jim Rozier, [Former] President of the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust.  “Protecting buffers along our rivers and lakes is probably the most important thing we can do to sustain water quality for our community and avoid a disastrous shortage of drinking water down the road.”