* Jacob Braswell, Kershaw Co., SC

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

Boykin Mill Complex
Section 8 Page 1


Boykin Mill, historically known as Mill Tract Plantation, is located eight miles south of Camden on Swift Creek. This creek flows into the Wateree River and is a strong stream. Early in the settlement of Fredericksburgh Township, which encompassed the area around Camden, land on this and other creeks was much sought after for the potential source of power. A mill pond was created on this site sometime before 1786...

In 1880, Boykin Mill was among fifteen grist mills located in Kershaw County...


The early importance of the mill at the Boykin plantation is indicated by the patterns of development which occurred around it. This crossroads still still exhibits evidence of its importance in the rural life of lower Kershaw County during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The land surrounding Boykin Mill began to be settled shortly before the Revolutionary War. The earliest grants located on the land which later constituted Mill Tract Plantation were given to Jacob Braswell [often seen as Brazil, Brazeel, etc.] in 1773, Robert English in 1773, Henry Hunter [date unknown, but pre-1819], Aaron Ferguson in 1784, Lewis Collins in 1784, and James Adkinson in 1773.


By 1786, Samuel Boykin had purchased Robert English's four hundred and twenty acres on Swift Creek where the present dam and mill pond are situated. At that time there was a "dwelling house" located directly south of the present dam; it appears that this structure stood until at least 1869, when it appears on a plat in the same location. This structure would have been near the present-day store and post office...

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