USA > South Carolina > Historic houses of South Carolina > Part 18
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Landgrave Ketelby and was included in a vast tract of land lying adjacent to Dorchester to the west and called "Ketelby Barony." "' The probable inference is that Landgrave Jukes came out to the Province in 1709 ; had lands surveyed out pre- paratory to a grant, died in 1710 before any grant was issued and his lands were then granted to others. Ketelby Barony is now of no particular historic value, except that in this vicinity the Wragg family once occupied a homestead and owned vast areas of land. The mansion house of this family was destroyed in 1865, but the remains of the graveyard are still to be found situated on high land between the site of the old dwelling and the river. There a broken monument is seen, which when pieced together says :
"Under this Marble lieth the Body of Samuel Wragg Esquire who Having in 1717 purchased the Tract of Land called Ashley Barony and dying ..... day of November 1750"
Later the Signiory of St. Giles was split up into many tracts and plantations among which we find Wragg's, Uxbridge (the residence of Hon. John Matthews, Governor of South Caro- lina in 1783), Salt Hill, Haggatt Hall, The Laurels, Wampee and the Gadsden lands. These plantations remained prac- tically intact as estates until the close of the Civil War, that cataclysm which completely broke up the landed and labor system as well as the feudal form of society previously found in the low-country of South Carolina.
To the north of the Ketelby grant lay the "Westo" planta- tion on Westo Savannah near the head of the Ashley River, for which a grant (1697) of 1000 acres was made to John Stevens, of Dorchester. Under the will of John Stevens the lands at Westo Savannah went to his son, Samuel Stevens, who with his brother John were directed by the will to be brought up "at the Colledge in New England to good learn- ing." At the death of Samuel Stevens in 1760 the Westo plantation was by his executors in 1762 sold to Henry Smith,
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ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, DORCHESTER Designed by Sir Christopher Wren
ON THE ASHLEY RIVER
a son of the second Landgrave Thomas Smith and by Henry Smith was devised to his son Thomas Smith in the hands of whose descendants it continued until the war of 1861-1865.
TONGUEWELL
The Perry house, called "Tonguewell," after its builder, is located at the settlement of Tongueville between the Ashley and Edisto rivers, thirteen miles out from the town of Sum- merville. According to information obtained from Mrs. Jen- nings Waring Perry, mother of Mrs. J. H. Haskell, and a water color owned by Mrs. Hampton Perry of Charleston, this old mansion was built in 1789 by Edward Tongue, it is said, of pine, cypress and brick, the latter of which was imported. The other materials were native and pre- pared by the slaves, who built the house. The present piazza and steps are not the original ones, but were added later. The house is square in shape and has a "hipped" roof covered by shingles. The building is elevated from the ground by a brick basement, which allows space for a cellar beneath divided into four rooms with cement floors, and there were stored in the good old days all the wines, provisions, etc., for a plantation home, as well as affording protection in time of attack. From the front and back of the house steps lead to the grounds; one set of steps fronts the avenue of oaks, lead- ing to a bridge which crosses a creek and an old sun dial that stood near the bridge. The steps from the rear lead to a gar- den and to the big kitchen and outbuildings, part of the equip- ment of a well-constructed place in those days.
The house at Tongueville was not the only establishment possessed by the Perry family, for Edward Perry had bought from William Wragg a portion of the Ketelby Barony known as "Poplar Hill" plantation and he also purchased 620 acres from William Bull and another 147 acres which had been granted to Bull in 1716. From his three purchases he formed the three plantations known as "Mansion House," "Old House" and " Poplar Hill," which places continued in the pos- session of himself and family until late in the nineteenth cen- tury. It is not certain at which of these places Dr. Benjamin
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Lucas Perry resided, who died in 1792. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War Dorchester, although still a mere village, was, next to Charles Town and George Town, the largest village in South Carolina.
INGLESIDE OR THE HAZE
Ingleside Hall on Goose Creek, not far from Dorchester, was formerly the residence of Hon. John Parker, a member of the old Congress (1774-1789) who was born in 1749, married Miss Susannah Middleton and died in 1822. It was bought afterwards by Professor Francis S. Holmes, a descendant of Landgrave Smith, and developer of the phosphate deposits of Carolina, and an existing picture presents the interior of the house and shows Prof. Holmes in his study.
Francis Simmons Holmes (1815-) was the son of John Holmes and his wife, Anna Glover. While a youth of about fourteen years of age he visited England with a maternal uncle by marriage, a Mr. Lee, of England. Returning to America he engaged for a number of years in mercantile pur- suits, in which, however, he was not successful, so removed to St. Andrew's Parish and devoted his attention to agricul- ture. Experience taught him that a knowledge of the science of geology was essential to an intelligent planter. In the pur- suit of this study he obtained the friendship of the leading geologist of the country, Professor Agassiz, a letter from whom is found in the scrap book of F. S. Holmes, a great-nephew of Prof. Holmes. A similar friendship was also formed with Count Pourtales. an engineer, who came to this country about the same time that Agassiz and Dr. Holmes became intimates. He became connected with and was assistant to Prof. Price, U. S. Coast Survey, and visited Prof. Holmes for six weeks with Agassiz at Ingleside.
Prof. Holmes is best known in connection with the discov- ery of the commercial value of South Carolina phosphate rock for fertilizing purposes, and that he was no ordinary man is manifested by the fact that the boy who left school at the age of fourteen, by his own application, energy and perseverance fitted himself for a professor's chair in Charleston College
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تسوية
ـبار دو ا
THE PERRY HOUSE AT TONGUEVILLE SOMETIMES CALLED TONGUE WELLY, NEAR DORCHESTER From an old painting
ON THE ASHLEY RIVER
which he held until the Confederate War, when he was ap- pointed to office in connection with coast defenses and became chief of the Nitre and Mining Bureau in South Carolina and Georgia. Upon his withdrawal from the professorship at the College of Charleston he generously left in the museum his entire collection of fossils, said to be among the largest and most valuable in the country. The commercial prosperity of Charleston in the field of fertilizer industry rests largely upon the scientific achievements of Professor Holmes, whose knowl- edge was ungrudgingly given to his fellow-citizens, and who received from abroad and at home many marks of appreciation of his genius and position.
Ingleside, a colonial country house, is described by Mrs. Deas as being "situated on the crest of a gentle elevation; a square, hip-roofed brick dwelling having two stories and an attic; and sufficiently high from the ground to admit of rooms beneath." These rooms, however, did not form a basement, as the floor was some steps below the level of the ground and really constituted a crude fort.
The front door opened directly from the porch into a large room, and from this a door gave entrance into the other and smaller front room. The back rooms were separated from each other by a narrow hall, in which the staircase with its heavy balusters were placed. Under the stairway was a flight of steps leading down to the basement.
There were four rooms on a floor, those on the first floor being connected in pairs by the "Thoroughfare closets" so common in old houses. The rooms were wainscoted halfway up, and had deep, low window-seats; the window sashes were broad and heavy, and the shutters of paneled wood. The back door was unusually thick and heavy, being built, so tradition says, to resist Indian attacks in the early colonial days.
The view from the front windows was over a level field stretching off to the woods. Near the end of the field a clump of trees marked the family cemetery where stands the Parker shaft. Ingleside was for many years the property of the Parker family, its original name being "The Hays."
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
At the time of the Revolution, when the plantation was owned by Mr. John Parker (whose wife was a Miss Middleton), the British were marauding near Ingleside one day, and while Mrs. Parker was sitting near a window sewing a party of these marauders came up the avenue and fired at her. Fortunately the ball missed Mrs. Parker, but struck the wall, and the hole it made could be seen for many years.
A gentle slope leads from the back of the house to the "lake," where a double row of towering cypresses makes a romantic walk on the very edge of the water. The lake was used as a reservoir for irrigating the rice field. Following the causeway along its banks and crossing a field brings a traveler to a giant live oak known in tradition as "Marion's Oak," but someone has facetiously remarked that if Marion dined under all the oaks under which he was supposed to have given his famous sweet potato dinner he would have had no time for fighting, but would have spent his time as uselessly as popular tradition would have us believe George Washington did, viz., in sitting in the numberless "Washington Pews" and sleeping in the numberless " Washington Beds."
The birthplace of General Marion has been disputed by many people, but, according to General Irvine Walker, Mr. Philip F. Porcher, aged 88 years, of Christ Church Parish, was told by his granduncle, Francis Cordes, that Marion was born at Goatfield plantation opposite "Chacan gate," not far from Cordesville. The remains of Marion repose at Belle Isle, a plantation near Ingleside. His grave was for many years neglected, but was later cared for through the efforts of Shirley Carter Hughson, of Sumter, S. C., now better known as "Father Hughson."
Another fine old house formerly in this neighborhood was Woodstock, a spacious dwelling, with lofty columns support- ing the roof of the portico. Still another "low-country" home was Fontainebleau, the residence of the late Alonzo J. White. This house like most of the others has disappeared. An old brick wall encloses two tombs, those of Joseph Hanscom and his daughter. And last, but not least, Mount Pleasant on
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"INGLESIDE" OR "THE HAZE," GOOSE CREEK
INTERIOR AT " INGLESIDE," GOOSE CREEK Professor Francis S. Holmes in his library
ON THE ASHLEY RIVER
Goose Creek was once the hospitable mansion of Mr. Wm. Withers, who died there in 1778.
BELLINGER'S FERRY OR BEE'S FERRY
The River Road which crosses the Ashley River at Bel- linger's Ferry follows the stream along its western bank, just west of the plantations lying between the river and the road only to recross the Ashley many miles above and enter "Dor- chester"; thus there were in those days two ways to get to this old town (a river road on either side of the Ashley). It is of more than passing interest to note the type of vehicles which passed over the ferry and the rates charged in those old days. According to the acts published in Grimke's collections there were several persons exempted from paying passage money. The Public Laws of South Carolina, A. D. 1754, No. 848, tells us that the several sums following were to be paid "in proc- lamation money, or the value thereof in other money current in this Province.
For every coach, charriot, landau, berlin, chaise, chair, calash, or other vehicle drawn by 6 or more horses, the sum of 3s. proclamation money,
For every coach, charriot, landau, berlin, chaise, chair, calash, or other vehicle drawn by 4 horses, the sum of 2s. 6d. like money,
For every coach, charriot, landau, berlin, chaise, chair, calash, or other vehicle with 4 wheels, drawn by less than four horses and more than 1 the sum of 2s. like money,
For every chaise or chair drawn by 2 horses and not having 4 wheels, the sum of Is. 6d. like money.
For every chair or chaise and single horse, 1s. like money. For every wagon drawn by 4 horses or oxen, the sum of 2s. like money.
For every cart, 1s. like money.
For every horse, mule or ass, laden or unladen, and not drawing. 3d. like money.
For every foot-passenger whatsoever, 2d. like money.
For every man and horse, 4d. like money.
For every drove of oxen or neat cattle, the sum of 3d. per head, like money.
For every drove of calves, hogs, sheep or lambs, the sum of 11%d. per head, like money."
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
MAGWOOD'S GARDENS
Just below St. Andrew's Church is found the Old Magwood Gardens which contains nineteen acres of japonicas, azaleas, holly, mistletoe, ivy and hundreds of other trees of Japan and native to South Carolina. The gardens have passed from the possession of the Magwood family, but Bishop Moreland, of California, whose grandmother was a Magwood, writes from England, while at the Lambeth Conference as a guest of the Archbishop of Canterbury, that Simon Magwood built as a town house the place ( now owned by Mr. Henry C. Williams) at the southwest corner of King Street and South Battery. It was built as a wedding present to his daughter, Susan C. Magwood, upon her marriage to Andrew Moreland, grand- father of Bishop Moreland. Simon Magwood was a rich Charleston merchant who owned a cotton plantation in St. Andrew's Parish as well as the gardens.
DRAYTON HALL
Of all the beautiful manor houses which formerly stood on the estates lying in St. Andrew's Parish, contingent to Ashley River, "Drayton Hall" alone is left. The first site of Charles- ton was over in that vicinity and the settlements along the Ashley River were made by wealthy cultivated English gentle- men and their families. Among them were the Draytons, al- though not holding lands originally granted their family, but early acquired from former grantees. Like the Bulls they acquired valuable properties to the southward in Granville County, but continued to make their homes on their estates on the Ashley River. Thomas Drayton, son of the Honorable John Drayton, toward the end of the eighteenth century largely in- creased his holdings on the river, which were again disposed of by his grandson, the late Reverend John G. Drayton, so that their present holdings are restricted to the Drayton Hall property and a portion of Magnolia.
The letters of Eliza Lucas abound in reference to festal days at Drayton Hall and other mansions on the Ashley, and
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"DRAYTON HALL," ST. ANDREWS PARISH, ON ASHLEY HIVER NEAR CHARLESTON
3
SIDE VIEW OF " DRAYTON HALL"
ON THE ASHLEY RIVER
it is said that it was at Drayton Hall that she first met the man who later became her husband, Chief Justice Pinckney,
Perhaps the most distinguished of the family of Draytons was William Henry Drayton, who was born at Drayton Hall, and who became first Chief Justice from the Independent State of South Carolina. He went to England when he was a boy, in company with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney. These three lads attended Westminster School in London, and afterwards went to Oxford University. Then they returned to South Carolina to work and fight side by side against that unjust ruler, King George the Third. Concern- ing Chief Justice Drayton, a most amusing incident is narrated in a letter of Honorable Richard Hutson :
יו New Battery, which General Lee has entirely demolished excepting three guns. His first question upon see- ing it was, what d-d fool planned this Battery? A by- stander replied that it had been planned by Mr. Drayton, our present Chief Justice. Says he, he may be a very good Chief Justice, but he is a d-d bad engineer, for if the enemy had had the planning of it, they could not have fixed it in a better place for the reduction of Fort Johnson."
Drayton Hall was built in 1740 by Thomas Drayton, father of William and Henry, and named after the family residence at North Hamptonshire, England. This home is built of brick, with large columns of Portland marble and is said to have cost ninety thousand dollars, much of the fine material having been imported from England. The wainscoting, which at a later date was repainted, extends from the floor to the ceiling. Over the large, massive mantles are frames set in the wainscot for pictures or coats of arms. The fireplaces are adorned with colored tiles. In one of the cellars there were at one time a number of marble columns lying on the ground, this giving rise to the story that the old mansion was never completed.
It is said that Chief Justice Drayton designed one side of the great seal of South Carolina, the other side having been contributed by Arthur Middleton, his neighbor, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Drayton died at the early
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
age of thirty-seven, while attending Congress in Phila- delphia in 1779.
A visitor to South Carolina gives the following account of Drayton Hall :
"We stopped to dine with Dr. Drayton, at Drayton Hall. The house is an ancient building, but convenient and good ; and the garden is better laid out, better cultivated and stocked with good trees, than any I have hitherto seen. In order to have a fine garden you have nothing to do but to let the trees remain standing here and there, or in clumps, to plant bushes in front of them, and arrange the trees according to their height. Dr. Drayton's father, who was also a physician, began to lay out the garden on this principle; and his son, who is passionately fond of a country life, has pursued the same plan. The pros- pect from the garden is like all other views in this part of the country."
At the death of this last Charles Drayton in 1820 he de- vised to his son Charles-another Charles Drayton, M. D .- "his place called Drayton Hall situate on the Ashley River," and the property still remains in, and is occupied by the descendants of the name, viz., the heirs of the late Charles H. Drayton.
MAGNOLIA GARDENS
At one period Magnolia Gardens and Drayton Hall com- prised a single estate, but this property later was divided into two tracts, when one of the Drayton brothers acquired Drayton Hall and the other Magnolia Gardens.
Below we quote from a description concerning Magnolia Gardens on the Ashley, written by Miss Constance Fenimore Woolson in Harper's Magazine for December, 1875:
"Next above Drayton Hall is beautiful Magnolia. In the spring the steamer carries tourists to this enchanting garden, where they wander through glowing aisles of azaleas, and forget the lapse of time, recalled from the trance of enjoyment only by the whistle of the boat which carries them back to the city. The old mansion at Magnolia was burned by a detach- ment of Sherman's army, as were nearly all the homesteads in the parish of St. Andrew's, but a pretty modern cottage has been erected on its site. "
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TOWN HOUSE OF THE BULL FAMILY, WHOSE COUNTRY ESTATE, "ASHLEY HALL," LAY IN ST. ANDREW'S PARISH Now owned and occupied by Mr. H. Ficken
ON THE ASHLEY RIVER
Speaking of the gardens, she says:
"Seven persons touching fingertips can just encircle the sylphide rose-tree seventeen feet in height by twenty feet wide. There are also many rare trees and shrubs, among them the sacred tree of the Grand Lama, Cupressus lusitanica. But the glory of the garden is the gorgeous coloring of the azaleas, some of the bushes sixteen and seventeen feet through by twelve feet high, others nineteen and twenty feet through by thirteen feet high, solid masses of blossoms in all the shades of red, from palest pink to deepest crimson, and now and then a pure white bush. like a bride in her snowy lace. It is almost impossible to give a Northerner an idea of the affluence of color in this garden when its flowers are in bloom.
"Imagine a long walk with the moss-draped live oaks over- head, fairy lakes and bridges in the distance, and on each side the great fluffy masses of rose and pink and crimson reaching far above your head, thousands upon tens of thousands of blossoms packed close together, with no green to mar the intensity of their color, rounding out in swelling curves of bloom down to the turf below, not pausing a few inches above it and showing bare stems or trunks, but spreading over the velvet and trailing out like the Arabian Nights. Eyes that have never had color enough find here a full feast, and go away satisfied at last. And with all their gorgeousness, the hues are delicately mingled ; the magic effect is produced not by unbroken banks of crude red, but by blended shades, like the rich Oriental patterns of India shawls, which the European designers, with all their efforts, can never imitate."
Thomas Nelson Page pays the following tribute to this magnificent garden of which every South Carolinian should be proud :
"It was the most magnificent display that I have ever seen. It cannot be described. It is beyond expression. I have seen a great many celebrated gardens, including those at Cintra, near Lisbon, and the Kew Gardens in England, and while the natural conditions at Cintra, where the gardens placed up a mountain, are better and more favorable, there can be no doubt at all that the floral display at Magnolia is the more beautiful."
Magnolia on the Ashley is now in the possession of Mr. Norwood Hastie, whose mother was a Miss Drayton. The Hastie family are particularly generous in that they open, for a short period in the springtime, these gardens to visitors.
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
RUNNYMEDE
One of the most beautiful old places on the Ashley River is "Runnymede," which adjoins and is just above Magnolia Gardens.
It was settled before the Revolution, but no incidents of historic or romantic interest are, during this period, connected therewith. Soon after the Revolution, it was the home of Hon. John Julius Pringle, who was Speaker of the House of Assembly in 1787, and Attorney General of the State for many years from 1792. The Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt spent some time with him as a guest at his home in Charleston, and it was with Mr. Pringle he made his trip up the Ashley. In his account of this trip he makes the following reference to Runnymede.
"Hence" (i.e., from Ashley Ferry) "we crossed the river, and stopped at a plantation lately purchased by Mr. Pringle, the former name of which was Greenville, but which he has named Susan's Place, in honour of his lovely wife. This plantation is likewise without a house, that of the former occupier having been consumed by fire; on the foundation of this building, which remains unhurt, the new mansion is to be erected, which will be finished this summer. . The situ- ation is much the same as that of Fitterasso, except that the morasses, covered with reeds, lie on the other side. The river flows close to the garden, and the ships, which con- tinually sail up and down the river may anchor here with great convenience."
The new mansion was completed in due time and the plan- tation was by Mr. Pringle ultimately named "Runnymede" by which name it has ever since continued to be known. Thomas Fuller conveyed to John Julius Pringle 637 acres off the adjoining plantation which was added to Runnymede. Under the will of John Julius Pringle who died in 1841, the Runnymede property passed to his son, William Bull Pringle, who added an adjoining tract of 450 acres. The entire tract was thereafter acquired by the late C. C. Pinckney who for years mined off the phosphate deposits. The mansion house built by Mr. John Julius Pringle was destroyed by the enemy
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ON THE ASHLEY RIVER
in 1565. The present residence was built by the late Mr. C. C. Pinckney.
MIDDLETON GARDENS
Above Runnymede stands the old Pinckney place, which is noted for its beautiful formal gardens and velvety lawns. A house is found upon this property, said to have been con- structed around the remains of the old brick kitchen.
MILLBROOK
The name "Millbrook" appears to have been given to the place above Runnymede, now owned by J. Ross Hannahan, during the ownership of John Alleyne Walter. By Abraham Ladson, to whom a deed for the property had been executed in 1786, it was conveyed to Honorable Thomas Middleton in 1786. The deed does not appear on record but the boundaries in deeds of the line of adjoining places show that Thomas Middle- tou owned it, and for some reason, probably to fortify his title, Thomas Middleton on 17 September, 1786, took out a warrant for a new grant which appears to have been issued. He also purchased the Vaucluse property lower down the river and does not appear to have ever made Millbrook his residence. Possibly the residence house had been burned. He died in 1795 and the property remained in his estate until 1838 when it was conveyed by his heirs and representatives to J. Pinckney Clements as Millbrook plantation containing 338 acres.
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