Manuscript account book, 1866-1869, of the Sea Island Company (renamed United States Cotton Company) lists invoices and appraisals of real estate, buildings, personal property, livestock, plantation supplies, and farming utensils of Gardener, Stewart, Muddy Creek, Lemington, Cherry Hill, and Rice Park plantations on Hilton Head and Port Royal Islands in Beaufort County, S.C.

Outside sources indicate that the Sea Island Company was composed of a group of investors who purchased confiscated plantation lands from the Federal government following the Civil War.