Mepkin Plantation was the home of Henry Laurens, who was born in Charleston in 1724 and died at Mepkin in 1792. He served as President of the First and Second Councils of Safety in 1775-76, President of the First Provincial Congress of S.C. in 1775, Vice President of S.C. in 1776, and President of the Continental Congress in 1777-78. Elected Minister Plenipotentiary to Holland in 1779, he was confined for 14 months in the Tower of London, exchanged for Lord Cornwallis, and in Paris signed the Preliminaries of Peace with Adams, Jay, and Franklin in 1782.