In 1880 the U.S. government leased 200 acres of the former Newington Plantation from Henry Middleton for tea production. In 1888, Dr. Charles Shepard, a professor at the Medical College of S.C., used plants from the federal farm to create Pinehurst, the first commercially viable tea farm in America. Production rose from 98 pounds in 1892 to 12,000 pounds in 1907. Shepard imported exotic plants to create beautiful gardens and roadways at Pinehurst. He established a school to educate the tea pickers’ children. Dignitaries such as Teddy Roosevelt visited Pinehurst. Charles Shepard died in 1915 and tea production ceased in 1919 when the tea factory burned. In 1995 the S.C. General Assembly made tea the Hospitality Beverage of S.C.
