Hobcaw Barony is a 16,000-acre (65 km2) tract on a peninsula called Waccamaw Neck between the Winyah Bay and the Atlantic Ocean in Georgetown County, South Carolina.
The land was purchased by the investor, philanthropist, presidential advisor, and South Carolina native Bernard M. Baruch between 1905 and 1907 for a winter hunting retreat.
[3][4][5] The Belle W. Baruch Foundation and the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve jointly operate the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center and provide tours and special programs.
[6] In 1718, John, Lord Carteret was given a royal grant of 12,000 acres (49 km2) barony on Hobcaw Point at the southern end of Waccamaw Neck.
Bernard Baruch acquired the tract and additional land in three purchases from 1905 to 1907 to be developed as a winter hunting retreat.
Although rice was no longer cultivated, the canals and embankments were retained to provide an attractive environment for waterfowl.
Ralph Pulitzer, Walter Huston, Generals George C. Marshall, Omar Bradley and Mark Clark, and Senators Robert A. Taft and Harry F. Byrd were a few of his notable guests.
[4] The Bellefield Garage, also design by Murgatroyd and Ogden, had parking for four vehicles, a laundry, and two rooms for servants.
Friendfield Village, between Kings Highway and Hobcaw Road, has five unused houses, a church and a dispensary, as well as several antebellum slave cabins.
The Friendfield Church, which was built in 1890, is a rectangular building with board-and-batten siding, a gabled metal roof, and a pyramidal spire.
[4] Strawberry Village is 0.5 mi (0.8 km) north of the Hobcaw Barony Complex in an isolated area.
[12] In 2003, former curator Sammy McIntosh left Bellefield House and moved to Kingstree because his contract had not been renewed for cause.
About three weeks later, Williamsburg County deputies recovered the stolen print "Sporting Life" by John Leache, whose estimated value was about $12,000, along with other items belonging to the foundation from McIntosh's house.
However, the most important pieces of art, a Sir Alfred Munnings portrait of Belle Baruch and her horse Souriant and two studies along with seven Audubon prints remained missing.
The Ivys contacted George Chastain, director of the Belle Baruch Foundation in Georgetown, SC, and the FBI in order to return the art to the rightful owners.