Established in 1681 by Major John Boone, one of the original settlers of South Carolina. Boone Hall began as a rice plantation and was converted into a prosperous cotton plantation in the 1800s. Thomas A. Stone, Canadian ambassador to the Netherlands, built the present plantation manor house in 1935. Adding to Boone Hall's beauty is its famous avenue of oaks - a three-quarter mile drive lined with massive, Spanish-moss draped live oaks. The first of these oaks was planted in 1743 by Capt. Thomas Boone who is believed to be buried beside the avenue, his grave indicated by an unmarked vault. Bordering the avenue of oaks are nine original slave cabins, which housed the plantation's house servants and skilled craftsmen. This cluster of cabins, known as Slave Street, is one of the few remaining intact in the Southeast and the only brick slave street in the U.S. Boone Hall and its grounds were prominently featured in the TV mini-series "North & South" Civil War epic by John Jakes, and Alex Haley's "Queen," among others.