4,400-acre historic riverfront estate in Yemassee hits market at $39.5M

Listen to this article

A 4,400-acre estate along the Tulifiny River in Yemassee, with a circa 1930 home and a pedigree going back to the 18^th century, is for sale for nearly $40 million.

For the last 30 years, Gregorie Neck in Yemassee has been a private recreational retreat under the stewardship of philanthropists Bob and Alyce Jepson of Savannah, according to a news release from Charles G. Lane, broker-in-charge of Charleston-based Holcombe, Fair & Lane.

“The owners see this as a good time in life to offer the property up for sale,” Lane said in the news release. “They are offering it with furniture, décor, equipment, livestock, etc. — basically everything besides personal items and family heirlooms. It has been well-managed and is truly a once-in-a-lifetime offering.”

With eight miles of waterfront and marsh front, extensive old growth forest, fishing ponds and impoundments, a deepwater dock on the Tulifiny, “impeccable gardens and grounds, and a circa 1930 stately brick mansion with sweeping river vistas,” Gregorie Neck is essentially a turnkey offering, Lane said.

The release said the peninsula of Gregorie Neck has long been a valuable and strategic landmark with deepwater access at the confluence of the Coosawhatchie and Tulifiny rivers that provided early settlers with unparalleled ease of navigation. Situated some 20 miles inland of the Atlantic, Gregorie Neck also afforded protection from pirates and storms.

Gregorie Neck got its name from Alexander Gregorie who purchased the plantation from a Mrs. DeVeaux in 1798, the release said. The houses built under Gregorie’s ownership were all burned — part of the campaign by General W.T. Sherman during the Civil War. During that time, Gregorie Neck gained new strategic importance due to its proximity to the Charleston-Savannah Railroad. Disrupting this vital Confederate supply line was the Union objective that launched the Battle of Tulifiny, the release stated.

In 1927, New York financier Bayard Dominick bought Gregorie Neck from the Garbades, a local Jasper County family. Dominick subsequently hired Henry Garbade to supervise the plantation and architect Willis Irvin to design the house, constantly improving the property and adding to its acreage.

The renovated six-bedroom main house stands on a high bluff of old growth live oaks. It boasts a grand entrance portico on the landward side and a spacious sunroom spanning the river side. Each bedroom and gathering space is oriented to the water and prevailing breeze. Across the Tulifiny, the view of wooded shoreline is safeguarded by a conservation easement.

Downriver within sight of the main house, the current owners have built a game house — complete with full kitchen, gun room and library. Its great room features a vaulted ceiling handcrafted from giant beams. At the center rises a towering stone fireplace, open on both sides, creating a dramatic venue for riverside entertaining. Upriver are two caretaker houses, just beyond the serpentine garden walls. More recent improvements include an eight-stable horse barn attached to 15 acres of three-board fenced pasture.

Gregorie Neck lies among the wild waterways of two nationally recognized conservation jewels: the ACE (Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto) Basin, and SOLO (Southern Lowcountry) Basin, comprising some 500,000 acres of preserved lands.