EASTOVER, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — It’s not often that the owner of a high-dollar listing wants people to know their name, let alone take you on a tour of their property, but this track of land is no ordinary estate.

It’s steeped in history, most of it good; some of it not so much. Larry Faulkenberry has spent much of his life learning and sharing its story.

“This is the most historical tract of land in central South Carolina, and nobody knows it,” said Larry Faulkenberry as he sat next to his wife, Jerry.

Now known as the Goodwill Estate, the property about 20 miles southeast of Columbia has been owned by big names in U.S. history and entertainment. Faulkenberry often jokes, as timber dealers, they’re the least notable ones.

“We tell people from 1750 to 1994 the rich and famous had it. In 1994, the poor folk got it,” he said with a chuckle.

In 1750, Daniel Huger, a member of the first Continental Congress owned it before selling it to the Heyward family. Thomas Heyward was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

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“And then in 1888, P.T. Barnum bought this property and gave it to his daughters as a wedding gift,” Faulkenberry said.

Barnum owned and lived on the property for decades, and even left behind artifacts like a wooden mallet that was used for pounding tent stakes into the ground, and other evidence of his time on the property.

“That’s the P.T. Barnum wire,” Faulkenberry pointed out along their road, “and you can find it all through the woods here where they built that fence for him to house his animals here.”

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Much of the Goodwill Estate’s history was forgotten when the McMaster family, ancestors to South Carolina’s current governor, purchased it in 1910. It was used as an upscale hunting club for the elite of Columbia. The nearly 1,800 square foot two-story lake-front hunting lodge has been maintained to this day.

Multiple other structures on the property are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Duncan Clinch Heyward, the 88th governor of South Carolina, was born in this home, that has become a private museum of antiques and pieces of historical significance.

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An original water wheel still operates the grist mill where workers ground grain, sharpened tools, and made shingles and cotton.

“If you were a cotton farmer anywhere in this area, you had to bring your cotton to Goodwill,” Faulkenberry said.

The sprawling estate borders 3,200 acres of preservation land, which Faulkenberry once owned. The nearby Wateree River provided boat access to Charleston.

Two slave cabins remain on the property. A picture of Bessie Anderson recounting the day she and other slaves were told they were free is Faulkenberry’s favorite story to tell.

“Her great, great, great-grandchildren live in this area today,” he said, “and when I got this, I had some copies made of this, and I gave it to each of them.”