Belfast Plantation is a Federal plantation house built between 1786 and 1815 for John Simpson (1751-1815), a merchant and planter who came to South Carolina from England in 1786 and named Belfast after his birthplace in Ireland. A post office there was called Belfast by 1804. Simpson was the first of four generations to represent Laurens County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1797 to 1886. His grandson William Dunlap Simpson (1823-1890), who was born there, served as a state representative and senator from 1854 to 1863, was a Confederate officer and Congressman from 1861 to 1865, became lieutenant governor in 1878-79, then governor in 1879-1880, and was chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court at his death. Belfast was acquired by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in 2008.