USA > South Carolina > Historic houses of South Carolina > Part 17
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At the close of the war during the Federal occupation of the country, Oakland had a narrow escape. Col. Beecher of the Union Army and his wife visited the adjoining plantation, Laurel Hill, then owned by Dr. Peter Porcher Bonneau, one of the signers of the Ordinance of Secession. The house was the handsomest in the parish, but they burned it to the ground, and it is said that Mrs. Beecher set fire to the place with her own hands. Not content with this it is said that they came on to Oakland and Mrs. Beecher had lighted her torch to serve it in like fashion, when some of the slaves on the place begged her to give the house to them to live in instead of burn- ing it. Thus she graciously bestowed it on them, and when Mr. Porcher returned after the war he found each room occu- pied by a negro family. A "meeting" was in progress in the dining-room, where the sideboard served as a pulpit. The negroes refused to give him possession, saying the house was theirs and he had to appeal to Gen. Sickles, the Union Com- mander in Charleston, then living in the house on Charlotte Street now occupied by Mr. Sottile, who sent soldiers to clear the house and restore it to the rightful owner.
The dwelling survived the poverty-stricken days that fol- lowed the war and though building after building subsequently went down in ruin until of all the buildings, only the smoke- house, dairy and kitchen were left, this dwelling withstood two wars, storms and earthquakes.
In 1917 Mr. Porcher sold Oakland to his daughter Anne, Mrs. Ferdinand Gregorie, and it is now, in the possession of her family, emerging from ruin, and taking again its rightful place as a typical southern home.
The Porchers of Christ Church Parish are descended from Philip E. Porcher, who came to the parish from St. Stephen Parish in 1859, and all of the Porchers are descended from the emigrant, Isaac Porcher.
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FROM DOVER TO CALAIS
St. Thomas' Parish lies above Christ Church Parish and adjacent to many of the plantations on the headwaters of the eastern branch of Cooper River. The principal settlement in the Parish of St. Thomas is Cainhoy. Between Oakland and Cainhoy, however, are found several interesting places which are briefly mentioned in the following pages.
ST. THOMAS' PARISH
At Cainhoy is a large old wooden house, one room of which has been converted into a chapel as the few remaining members of the old church find it too difficult to reach the "Old Brick Church," which is three miles away in a southeasterly direc- tion on the Clement's ferry road that leads from the Cooper River to the Santee settlements. Next to the brick church was a place owned by the Sanders family. This place, with several others, is mentioned in a poem written in 1804 by Edward Othmel Gale Brale, describing a trip up the Cooper River, via Wando. He says that where:
"Cainhoy's stream its silvery waters roll Arrive at Williams wharf, with setting day, Then to the village soon we bend our way
Six Buildings stand that grace this silent place And dignify its banks with rural grace ; The dwelling first as sailing up the stream Is shut now constant to Sol's golden beam ; The next just as the other clos'd up fast, The Door too fasten'd likely so to last ; The third now open to Sol's cheering beam And near the door a Willow hangs all green ; Oft have I seen the master of this house Walk near this tree in converse with his Spouse ; They seem'd to live in lonesome, silent love With all the fondness of the turtle dove ; 'Twas he that gave this little Village birth And tryd to make it rise to real worth;
The fourth a Mansion Mrs. Pinckney owns. ¡Twas there I first did rest my languid bones ; The fifth the house of Mr. L. Wigfall Lays open to the Goats and comers all ; The Six the property of Miss Gailard
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Out buildings numerous with a spacious yard ; (To me this Mansion did she freely lend, To her my heart felt gratitude I send Accept the loan and thank my unknown friend) ;"
The poet remained at Cainhoy for four months, when leav- ing he waved farewell and,
"Old Saunders quick return'd it with his cap ; His House stands near to Cainhoy Cooling Stream."
The Wando River has no prettier spot upon its banks than the little green gem of a peninsula upon which stands the buildings of the Beresford Bounty, over which seems to brood the very spirit of quietude and calm loveliness, typical of the charity which has existed here for nearly two hundred years. On March 17, 1721, died Richard Beresford, Esq., who bequeathed the net profits of his estate to the vestry of St. Thomas' Parish in trust until his son, then eight years, should reach his majority. One-third of the interest was to be paid to schoolmasters and the rest to support and educate the poor children of the parish. The sum amounted to £5200. In 1739 the school was built. In 1763 the Rev. Alex Garden, as rector and schoolmaster, reports the school as flourishing. This con- tinued until the Revolution, when the fund had accumulated to £12,800, but was reduced by the general bankruptcy that fol- lowed. By careful management it had increased to $70,000 in 1861, when it was again dissipated by the disastrous ending of the war. The population of the parish is now much reduced, the Legislature has relieved the vestry from the necessity of boarding, housing and clothing the children, but instruction is still given in the school house, the rector of the parish being the principal. The public schools have superseded this fine charity,
Near where School House Creek makes into Cooper River stood a two-story house made of cypress cut out of the nearby swamps by the slaves. This old mansion was set on a high brick foundation arched underneath. The negro quarters and outhouses are built of brick, nearby on the Grove plantation is the part of an old wine house.
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FROM DOVER TO CALAIS
There is on the Wando River only one old house of any importance which is still habitable. Most of these plantation houses were burned during the Civil War, or have been de- stroyed since by fire. Charleywood Plantation, seven miles out from Christ Church Parish, immediately adjoins Chantilly. The Charleywood property belonged during a period ante- dating the Civil War to the Wigfalls, but very little of its early history is known.
Lachicotte's place is found near Guerins . Bridge, in Berkley County, which bridge crosses a branch of the Wando River. This place was near Charleywood and Chantilly, nearer in towards Mt. Pleasant. Right back of Daniels Island on the mainland in the Parish of St. Thomas on Mt. Pleasant side is a Shingler place. On this place used to reside Mr. Elfe, who married a Miss Lucas. One of his daughters still lives in Charleston. Very little can be ascertained of the history of this old home.
Another old house used as a refuge for soldiers during the Revolution stands on the mainland in Berkley County, behind Daniels Island, on a plantation called Hartford, owned by W. L. Venning, Jr., who resides in the Court House Square in Charleston. The house at Hartford has an avenue of oaks leading to it that is especially beautiful. A double row was set out about one hundred and fifty years ago, says Mr. Ven- ning, with spikes driven into the heads to make the trees spread out. The limbs now touch the ground. The house is fully as old as the avenue. The bricks of which it is built came from England.
Several fine old houses used to be found on Daniels Island, a part of the Parish of St. Thomas lying west of the Wando River. One place in particular was said to have been built by Robert Hazelhurst, (whose town house on Lower Meeting Street has recently been remodeled by Dr. A. E. Baker). It contained mahogany floors as well as doors, mahogany beams and closets and paneling. which dated from the days when Robert Hazelhurst traded with the West Indies. Another old place found on this island is "Yellow House," its name being taken from a nearby creek of that name.
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CHAPTER X ON THE ASHLEY RIVER AND IN SAINT ANDREW'S PARISH
THE GIBBES HOUSE ON CHARLESTON NECK
COLONIAL place commonly known as the Gibbes house on . Charleston Neck is the house still standing on the bank of the Ashley River. Ac- cording to Judge H. A. M. Smith, on March 2nd, 1701, a grant was made to Patrick Scott for one hundred and ninety acres on Charleston Neck, the boundaries showing that it in- cluded all of the Joseph Dalton grant lying to the west of the part held by Joseph Blake. Scott must have there- fore acquired from the transferces of Jane Lawson all this remainder and taken out a new grant to himself. In addition to other legal matters connected with this and other adjoining lands in a deed from Patrick Scott to Richard Cartwright dated 31st of October, 1710, it is recited that this one hundred and ninety acres was a parcel of a greater quantity of land formerly granted to Joseph Dalton.
Some time later, under the will of Richard Cartwright, who had acquired a great deal of that land, much of the property passed to his three sons, Daniel, Richard and Hugh. A greater part of the one hundred and ninety acres, with additional land to the north fell to the portion given to Daniel Cartwright, who conveyed it in 1738 to John Braithwaite. It then passed to John Gibbes, but from whom John Gibbes acquired it has not been ascertained. It was certainly in his possession in 1769 when he obtained a grant of the marsh land fronting on the river. Gibbes' property has been generally known as the "Grove" farm or plantation and embraces the area between Congress Street and the Creek north of the farm lately owned by Captain F. W. Wagner and which was long known as
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Lowndes' Grove and The Rose Farm. Lowndes Grove was famous as a field of honor and many famous duels took place there, the most noted being a duel with swords between General Christopher Gadsden and General Howe.
Some of the most noted duels of the nineteenth century were between Wilson and Simons, Hunt and Ramsey, Craft and Boy, Reynolds and Brawley, Robertson and Waring, Cohen and Moise, and other encounters of a later date well known to the old inhabitants of the community. The lastduel in the State occurred in 1880, but did not take place in Charleston. A famous book written by John Lyde Wilson and published in Charleston in 1858 was an acknowledged authority in matters of honor in the State as long as the practice continued. The book is an interesting contribution to the ante-bellum litera- ture of the South.
According to popular tradition a favorite meeting place was upon that rise of land now included in Hampton Park just to the rear of the new citadel. The Washington race course was upon a portion of this tract and after 1794 the old course at " New Market " was abandoned and the Jockey Club held its races on the new course. The present Hampton Park which included the race course is on the " Grove " plantation. At the entrance to the old race course stood some interesting brick pillars which were taken down in 1902. Replicas of these are to be found marking the entrance to Hampton Park Terrace, and all of this tract was held by John Gibbes in 1769.
The John Gibbes who owned the Grove tract was not the first man of that name. for it is found on a highly colored memorial tablet on the wall of Goose Creek Church " Under this Lyes the late Col John Gibbes, Who deceased on the 7th of August 1711/Aged 40/"
Col. John Laurens reported that his battalion had been posted near this old place during the Revolution to "watch the enemy and prevent too sudden an approach. As soon as I received notice of their advance I went forward with Major (Hyrne) to reconnoitre them. We went rather too near, for single horsemen. to the yagers, who fired from behind trees on each side of the road. The Major was unfortunately
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
wounded in the cheek, . The violence of the blow dis- mounted him, and I had barely time to cover his retreat and drive off his horse. A Hessian seized the Major's hat, but did not enjoy the trophy long, being killed in the skirmish which ensued, and the trophy was recovered." Other extracts estab- lish the fact of a ferry being opposite the house and that this place was the scene of several sharp encounters during the Revolutionary War.
Peter Timothy, who was posted in St. Michael's steeple as a lookout for the Americans and who made daily reports of what he saw through his spy glasses, had given as his report on March 24th that tents had been taken from T. Horry's house and carried beyond E. Horry's, and he had kept a pretty strict watch for he says that " the redout begun at the latter's landing last night (March 23rd) and was completed by 10 this morning and at half-past ten Lord Cornwallis and a Hessian general, with the usual attendants, with spy glasses, etc., viewed the several works and seemed to pay particular attention to Gibbes' place." Later on Gibbes' place is described as being "Up the Path," an idiom meaning the main path from the city through the forest precincts.
John Gibbes at the outbreak of the American Revolution had extensive gardens and greenhouses and a pinery on the Grove, but when the British under Prevost advanced and threatened Charleston in May, 1779, they crossed the Ashley River at Ashley Ferry and advanced down the Neck to Gibbes' settlement at the Grove, and during the occupation the ter- races and greenhouses were destroyed.
Mrs. E. H. Pringle, Chairman of the Colonial Exhibits held in this building in 1902 at the time of the West Indian Exposi- tion, in a contemporary account of exhibits of the Colonial Dames of America is an authority for the statement that this house was built by Mr. Gibbes.
"They have an appropriate background or setting for this exhibit in the old colonial house, which will form a part of the woman's building. This house was built before the Revolution by Mr. Gibbes and the grounds were beautiful with many rare flowers and imported plants. The British soldiers wilfully
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THE GIBBES HOUSE, CHARLESTON NECK, SOMETIMES CALLED THE LOWNDES HOUSE
ON THE ASHLEY RIVER
laid waste this lovely garden, and this so affected and dis- tressed Mi. Gibbes that he died in consequence. There is no trace now of the fine garden, but some old oaks remain near the house. Three rooms and a large hall have been devoted to the colonial exhibit. These rooms remain as origin- ally built, with wainscoting and the old high mantels. A col- onial dining-room and bedroom will be represented, with the fine old furniture of that date. A large committee has been formed and Mrs. Drayton-Grimke, with the assistance of twelve ladies, will have charge of the furnishing of the draw- ing-room. Mrs. Langdon Cheves, with twelve others, will pre- sent a picture of the dining-room of our forefathers. Mrs. Arnoldus Vander Horst, with a score of helpers, will furnish forth the great wide hall. "
An account of the exhibit given by the Daughters of the American Revolution furnishes interesting data concerning this place and from it we learn that at the southeast corner of the house is one of the handsomest rooms, that the walls are beautifully wainscoted with black cypress and that it is in as sound a state of preservation as the day it was placed in position. The house itself is built entirely of black cypress and cedar put together with old-fashioned hand-made nails. The paneling in all the rooms is very beautiful and the house itself is built on the square colonial style, having an inclosed loggia in the brick basement which forms the first story of the house. Big fireplaces with finely carved mantels are found through the house. At the time of the Exposition a fine portrait of Washington and a portrait of his kinsman, Col. William Wash- ington, and one of Col. Joseph Habersham, the first Postmas- ter General of the United States, hung over the colonial mantels. Among other pictures gathered together at this time was a curious engraving showing General Marion inviting the British officers to share his dinner of sweet potatoes, and another of the General crossing the Pee Dee River with his men in flat boats. There was also a copy of the General Proclamation of Peace (1783), and one rare engraving showed Washington being blessed by his mother before departing for battle.
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In this old house at the time of the Exposition there were numerous pieces of historic furniture, duplicates of which will only be found in the collection at Mt. Vernon.
The house is now in the possession of Mr. and Mrs. James Sottile, and Mrs. Sottile in restoring this place, which had fallen into disrepair, has treated the Gibbes house with the respect that its history demands. She has sought to preserve in every way the simplicity of the original lines both inside and outside the house. Wherever possible, she has left the original work, notably in the instance of the rooms on the second floor and the beautiful circular stairway and skylight above. The massive front door still presents the appearance of being able to fulfill its function of withstanding attacks that it had seen many times in Indian days, as do also the heavy wooden shutters to the windows of the lower floor. In the in- side lintels of the front door are still to be found the iron rests on either side used to hold in place the stout oaken rods that barricaded the door. The interior decorations are all of the Adam period. and "The Grove" has been restored very carefully, and as far as was possible in exact duplicate of its original woodwork and carvings.
DORCHESTER AND BEYOND
"About twenty-six miles from the city of Charleston, on the north bank of the Ashley River, and about six miles in a southwestwardly direction from the railroad depot in the pres- ent town of Summerville can be seen an old church tower with an overgrown disused graveyard around it, and some two hundred paces farther on-on the edge of the river-are the walls of an old fort, constructed of that mixture of shells in lime mortar formerly called 'tapia' or 'tabby.' These two conspicuous objects, with some scattered and shapeless masses of brick at irregular intervals, marking the sites of former houses, are all that remain of the town of Dorchester, once a comparatively flourishing hamlet in the Low-Country of South Carolina, but which with the lesser hamlets of Jamestown, New London or Willtown, Jacksonborough, Purrysburgh and Somerton, and the still lesser, or only projected, villages of
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ON THE ASHLEY RIVER
Radnor, Ashley Ferry, Childsbury and Chatham, has so long been deserted that its story has been nearly forgotten, and its very site nearly obliterated." So says an extract from "A Sketch of the History of Dorchester," which was published in the South Carolina Historical Magazine.
St. George's Church was built about the close of the Pro- prietary Government and commencement of Royal Govern- ment, 1719. The tower or steeple of this church is built after a design by Sir Christopher Wren, "that little bird who was fond of putting up large nests," and on April 9, 1734, an act was passed for "repairing and enlarging and pewing the Parochial Church of St. George's Parish in Dorchester. "
THE VICINITY OF DORCHESTER
Above and beyond Dorchester, near the road to Bacon's Bridge, was Fair Spring, another Izard residence, situated on the old grant to William Norman, and sometimes called "Bur- tons." Above this again was the site of the original grant to Benjamin Waring, the ancestor of the Waring family and during the Revolutionary War was owned by Dr. David Oliphant, a member of the Council of Safety and Surgeon- General of the Continental forces in South Carolina. Con- tiguous to this lay the old grant made to Col. Andrew Percival and known as "The Ponds" (the chief pond now being "Shulz's Lake").
Of all the places in this vicinity, however, that containing the best outbuildings. and most pretentious mansion house was at "Newington," the old Axtell settlement, which descended through Lady Axtell's daughter, Lady Elizabeth Blake, to Col. Joseph Blake. The Newington house was said to have been one of the largest brick houses built in lower Carolina at that period, and with its double avenue of live oaks and wide gardens was at the time of the Revolutionary War one of the "show places" of the countryside. Ralph Izard, who married a daughter of Col. Blake, settled, after his marriage, about a mile and a half from Newington, and a straight avenue led from one house to the other.
West of Newington, across the swamp and within a few
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
yards of the public road (now called the Orangeburg road) was the brick mansion of "Mount Boone, " said to have been devised by Lady Axtell to another daughter, Mrs. Joseph Boone. By his will in 1733, Mr. Boone directed himself to be buried at Mount Boone, and his broken gravestone is still there adjacent to the foundations of the house, with inscription dated 1733.
The ruins of " Archdale " are below Dorchester, but " Pinckney Plains " and " Pine Hill " are marked by old graves with characteristic cherub face, or else the substantial marble slab on a brick foundation. These places were for- merly homes of the Waring family of Tranquill Hill, another Waring plantation near Dorchester.
Some land which seems to have been granted originally to Peter Slan, from whom Slan's Bridge takes its name, passed to Richard Waring in whose family it continued for many years. Four hundred acres of that land was sold in 1818 (as the property of Thomas Waring, of Pine Hill) to Dr. Fabricius Perry and was then known by the name of "Clay Hill. "
From about 1790, little by little one planter after another made a summer settlement and built homes in what is now known as the town of Summerville. They abandoned the decaying houses of Dorchester (from which material, and especially brick, were removed) forming the basis and furnish- ing the foundation of the new town, until nothing but crum- bling piles of broken fragments of brick were left to mark the site of the old town. But before parting company with this charming and once flourishing place, let us copy an advertise- ment appearing in the South Carolina Gazette of November 2nd, 1738, which gives us an idea of the dress of the women of that day :
"Lost on the 17th of last March, between Dorchester and Charlestown, a Linnen Bagg with sundry Things therein, riz., one Womans Suit of Cloaths of Sattin strip'd with red, green and white, one Suit of all white Sattin. one Yellow Night Gown faced with red Taffetv. one vellow Suit of yellow Peiling, and one blue Night Gown faced with white, a red Callimaneo Night Gown faced with Brocade, one child's stiffen'd Coat of an Ash Colour'd Damask, and sundry other Womans wearing Apparel,
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"ARCHDALE HALL," LAMBS, NEAR DORCHESTER The Baker homestead, 200 years old
ON THE ASHLEY RIVER
with Head Dresses and shifting Linen, one Sampler with the Child's Name and Age and Date and Place of her abode, a piece of work embroider'd for a Top of a Table, and two Paper Gloves, and a Hatt Band from a Funeral, directed for Wm. and Mrs. Mary Baker, and sundry other Things. Any one that can give any Information to me in Dorchester or to Wm. Linth- waite in Charleston, or to the Printer so that they may be had again shall have from either £10 reward paid on sight."
There are the remains of a number of old houses in Dor- chester County, particularly in the vicinity of Summerville. There is an antebellum residence near Bacon's Bridge and two very old houses in Stallsville. It was in the country in and around Dorchester, that the legion of "Light Horse Harry" during the Revolutionary War was posted when General Greene and the American Army occupied the territory around Charleston after the battle of Eutaw Springs.
Lee's legion was for a long time stationed at the "Villa" plantation, a portion of the Ketelby grant then owned by the Izard family, Lee says that "the first day's march brought his detachments to the country settled by the original emi- grants into Carolina. The scene was both new and delightful .: Vestiges, though clouded by war, everywhere appeared of the wealth and taste of the inhabitants. Spacious edifices, rich and elegant gardens, with luxuriant and extensive rice planta- tions, were to be seen on every side." He continued later, "during our continued marches and counter-marches, never before had we been solaced with the prospect of so much com- fort. Here we were not confined to one solitary mansion, where a few, and a few only, might enjoy the charm of taste and the luxury of opulence."
Long before Lee's occupany, as far back as the year 1722, Susannah Baker, the then owner of the "Villa" tract, filed her memorial stating that it was composed of a part of a grant to John Cooper, dated 29 September, 1710, and part of a grant to Charles Craven dated 9 April, 1714, and had been conveyed to her by Thomas Cutliffe in 1722 and then was described as being bounded northwest "on lands laid out to Major Edward Jukes." But the land on this boundary had been granted to
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