USA > South Carolina > Historic houses of South Carolina > Part 2
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THE MILES BREWTON HOUSE
In " The Dwelling Houses of Charleston " Miss Alice Huger Smith and her father have given the history of many of the most significant houses in the City, but it has been felt that in a book (such as the present one) supposed to be dealing with
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THE MILES BREW SON HOUSE, CHARLESTON Showing old coach house and slave quarters
OLD CHARLESTON AND SOUTH CAROLINA
the historic houses of South Carolina, some mention must be . made of a few of the Charleston places. The first discussion will be the Miles Brewton house, now in the possession of Miss Mary P. Frost and her sisters, Miss Susan P. Frost and Miss Rebecca Motte Frost.
Miss Mary Pringle Frost has written an attractive little booklet called the "Meaning of a House" in which she says : "My sister, Susan Frost, and I feel that this house should be known and loved by the community and that it should enter into the life of the community-it should live side by side with smaller houses in its love for what is true and friendly. A house needs friends : it needs interchange of human thought : it is a human habitation. What would a habitation be without an inhabitant? It would be lonely ; its spirit would faint."
"O floors that felt our life-long tread Windows whence babes peeped at their stars Thresholds whence passed away our dead O'er which our brides came from afar !"
The South Carolina Gazette and County Journal, August 22, 1769, gives the names of the men concerned in the design- ing and building of the Brewton house, now best known as the Pringle house, and occupied by the Misses Frost:
"Ezra Waite, Civil Architect, House-builder in general, and Carver, from London, Has finished the Architecture, con- ducted the execution thereof, viz. : in the joiner way, all taber- nacle frames (but that in the dining room excepted), and carved all the said work in the four principal rooms, and also calcu- lated, adjusted, and draw'd at large for to work by, the Ionick entablature, and carved the same in front and round the eaves, of Miles Brewton, Esquire's House on White-Point for Mr. Moncrieff .- If on inspection of the above mentioned work, and twenty seven years experience, both in theory and prac- tice, in noblemen and gentlemen's seats, be sufficient to recom- mend; he flatters himself to give satisfaction to any gentle- man, either by plans, sections, elevations, or executions, at his house in King Street, next door to Mr. Wainwright's, where architecture is taught by a peculiar method never published in any book extant.
N. B. As Miles Brewton Esquire's dining room is of a new construction with respect to the finishing of windows and
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doorways it has been industriously propagated by some (be- lieved to be Mr. Kinsey Burden, a carpenter) that the said Waite did not do the architecture, and conduct the execution thereof. Therefore the said Waite begs leave to do himself justice in this public manner, and assure all gentlemen, that he the said Waite, did construct every individual part and drawed the same at large for the joiner to work by, and conducted the execution therof. Any man that can prove to the countrary, the said Waite promises to pay him One Hundred Guineas, as witness my hand, this 22nd day of August, 1769."
"EZRA WAITE."
The Pringle house is one of the oldest houses in Charleston and known as one of the best preserved and most elegant speci- mens of Colonial architecture in the country. Miles Brewton, for whom the house was built, and his whole family were lost at sea. The house then passed to his two sisters, of whom Mrs. Rebecca Motte was one. She was living in it at the time of the occupation of the city by the British. It was seized and used by Lord Rawdon and Col. Nesbit Balfour, Commandant of Charleston. An interesting item concerning Rebecca Motte is that a tablet has been erected to her memory in the vestibule of St. Philip's Church, by the Rebecca Motte Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The marble of the tablet erected to her memory was the top of a "pier Table" in her home. The first tablet erected to Mrs. Rebecca Motte's memory was also a marble which had served as the top of a pier table in her country home, and it was also set up in St. Philip's Church but was destroyed in the burning of the first Church on the present site, on February 15th, 1836.
There are traces of Lord Rawdon's occupancy still visible in the Miles Brewton house, for the portrait so valued of Mr. Brewton bears the mark of a sword thrust through it by one of his officers, and the marble mantel in one of the parlors has a slight sketch made by some sharp instrument, of a burly Englishman, with the swords of Sir H. Clinton above it. It was in this room that Lord Rawdon gave audience to the little sons of Col. Isaac Hayne, who came with a relative to plead for their father's life.
At that time and for long years after, the garden at the
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- back of the house went down to Legare Street, and Lord Raw- don is said to have cut a wooden gate in the high brick wall that surrounded the premises, that he might have easy access through the garden wall to another colonial house in Legare Street, where his suite resided.
The house itself has been altered but very little since it was built in 1765, thus preserving its former glory. It is a three story brick building, with double piazzas each supported by impressive stone pillars. Like most of the houses of this date the wide hall has two large rooms on either side. On the third floor is to be found the long drawing-room that reaches across the front of the house. The beautiful and artistic carvings and panelings of this old home are of great importance and reflect the character of its builder, Miles Brewton.
HEYWARD HOUSE
Judge Thomas Heyward's house on the west side of Church Street, just north of Tradd, was at one time consid- ered one of the most splendid homes in Charleston. Although not so large, nor the enrichments so profuse, this old home has many features in common with the Brewton house. Formerly double verandas adorned this three story brick structure. In the rear is a long brick building where McLane opened his famous billiard parlor and bar about 1830. The Heyward house rises to fame, however, in being the place selected to house President Washington during his visit to Charleston, that being the most prominent event in the annals of the city.
The President had journeyed by land, stopping at George- town, South Carolina, and arrived opposite the city at what is now Mt. Pleasant, on the 2nd day of May, 1791. A com- mittee consisting of Hon. John Bee Holmes, Recorder, in his official robes, General C. C. Pinckney, and Edward Rutledge, Esq., had crossed the river to meet him, and accompanied him in a barge rowed by the twelve American captains of vessels then in port, and commanded by Captain Cochran. A flotilla of boats of all sizes and kinds, filled with ladies and gentlemen, and two bands of music, attended him over. As he approached the town a salute of artillery was fired. The following extract
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is taken from a paper giving an account of the proceedings of. the City Council in anticipation of the President's arrival:
"The Intendant and Committee appointed to make the necessary arrangements for the reception and entertainment of George Washington, Esquire, President of the United States, on his arrival in Charleston, recommended that the house of Thomas Heyward, Esq., in Church Street, at present in occupation of Mrs. Rebecca Jamieson, be taken for the use of the President during his residence in this city, together with the furniture, for which the sum of £60 be paid, it being the lowest rate at which the said house can be procured."
The President spent a week in Charleston, there was a series of balls, dinners, breakfasts and other entertainments, and every attention that hospitality, public and private, could devise was shown him. One of the handsomest entertainments given in his honor was a splendid concert and ball at the "Exchange,""' on which occasion the ladies wore bandeaux of white ribbon interwoven in their hair, with Washington's por- trait and the words "long live the President" painted on them. The late Mr. Charles Fraser says: "Every hand that could hold a pencil, professional or amateur, was enlisted to fur- nish them."
The week spent in the old Heyward home by our first Presi- dent is not the only honor of which this dwelling boasts. It may well be proud of its first owner, Judge Thomas Heyward, a grandson of Captain Thomas Heyward, who served in the British Colonial Army. When the Indians surrendered the occupation of their lands beyond the Combee River, Captain Heyward acquired a portion of these lands and thenceforth his descendants became residents of that part of the province.
In March, 1775, the Provincial Congress enlisted two regi- ments, and Judge Thomas Heyward was appointed Captain of the first company. A year later he was chosen, with ten other men, to report a form of government for the colonies. Judge Heyward's name appears among the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, an honor which was conferred upon only prominent men of his generation.
The Heyward family was one of the first to give much
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JUDGE HEYWARD'S MANSION, CHURCH STREET, CHARLESTON, AS IT WAS WHEN PRESIDENT WASHINGTON WAS THERE ENTERTAINED IN 1791
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From an old print
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attention to the cultivation of rice, owning large bodies of land adapted to-cultivation of this .grain, by the success of which they amassed considerable fortune.
The State of South Carolina has erected a monument over the grave of Judge Heyward in Jasper County and his body lies buried in a plot on the plantation that belonged to him in the Revolutionary days.
RUTLEDGE HOUSE
The square brick house on Broad Street, now owned and occupied by Mr. R. G. Rhett, was at one time the home of Dic- tator Rutledge. It is set upon a tall brick foundation with three additional stories above. The main entrance is in the form of a portico, which is reached on either side by a double flight of marble steps, protected by an ingenious extension of the portico. The whole facade of the building is very hand- some and is adorned by this portico on the first two stories and a veranda extending across the face of the house on the second floor. All of this iron work was added to the house about 1850, when it was owned and occupied by William S. Gadsden, father of Norman P. and grandfather of Messrs. William and Dwight Gadsden.
The inside of this interesting home is finished with hard- wood floors and walls, which latter are adorned with rare paintings. The rooms to the right upon entering are con- nected and are used as reception rooms, while the correspond- ing rooms to the left are used as dining and breakfast rooms, the household offices being downstairs in the basement. Up stairs a magnificent ball room occupies the entire front of this establishment, while the wings are used as guest rooms and private sitting rooms. The third floor is given over to sleeping apartments.
Mrs. Rhett (née Blanche Salley) has seen to it that this splendid mansion has received the dignified furnishings due such a historic house. In addition to the many Rhett heir- looms of furniture, paintings, silver, cut glass, etc., she has so arranged that their full artistic possibilities are utilized, and has produced a home of dignity and delight.
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John Rutledge was the son of a physician, John Rutledge, . who came to South Carolina about 1739, and Sarah Hext. The young John and his brothers, Edward and Hugh, were sent to England to receive an education. They all became lawyers in Charleston. John and Edward were members of the Con- tinental Congress at Philadelphia in 1774 and also in 1775. After a battle fought in the harbor during the Revolution on the 12th of November, John Rutledge was made a member of the Council of Safety. He was soon afterwards chosen as first president of the separate and independent State of South Carolina, and was called "Dictator," being allowed absolute authority in his efforts for the safety of the State.
Some of the Revolutionary scenes which took place in and near the home of the "Dictator" are told in the Diary of Cap- tain Barnard Elliott :
"(Gen'l Orders.) 28 March, Parole, Aera. Ordered, that Col. Robert's regiment of artillery and all the militia now in Chas. Town under the command of Col. Pinckney do, at 11 o'clock this morning, draw up two deep in Broad Street, on the side opposite St. Michael's Church. The regiment of ar- tillery with two field pieces on the right, in order to receive the Hon'ble John Rutledge, Esq., constitutionally appointed by the Hon'ble the Legislature as President and Commander- in-Chief of the same, with the honors due that station. Or- dered that should there not be room enough for the militia under Col. Pinckney in Broad Street from the State House to the Exchange, then that the remainder draw up on the Bay two deep as before, with their backs to the houses extending themselves from Guerard's corner on their left as far along the Bay as may be. in that manner. Col. Robert's regiment to fire 13 guns when President's appointment has been read, at Rutledge House. Two sentries to be placed at Presi- dent's door."
OTHER HOUSES
East of the Rutledge house on Broad Street stands a sub- stantial building of the same type, said to have been erected by a Mr. Bellinger as a copy of a house in England. It is stated that Mr. Bellinger never lived in this house and it is perhaps best known as the residence of Bishop Nor-
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"DICTATOR" RUTLEDGE'S HOME, BROAD STREET CHARLESTON Now R. G. Rhett residence
THE PAUL HOUSE, BROAD AND CHURCH STREETS, CHARLESTON From a print Another house said to be Dictator Rutledge's
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throp a kinsman of the Bellingers. It is now used as the "Episcopal Residence.
The old Izard house stands next east of the Bellinger house. It is said to have been erected previous to 1757 and has escaped all the great fires, standing to-day a monument of colonial days. This house was for many years the residence of Judge George Bryan, the son of Judge George S. Bryan, the son of Jonathan Bryan, who was a son of George Bryan, Judge of Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and who was a delegate to the First Colonial Congress in 1765. On the maternal side the Bryan's are connected with the Lathams, Dwights, John- sons and Broughtons.
To the west of the Rutledge house stood St. Andrew's Hall, which for many years was the favorite place for fashionable assemblies and public meetings. It was the home of St. An- drew's Society, founded in 1729 by Scotch immigrants. His- torically it is famous as the meeting place of the State Convention which, December 20th, 1860, there passed the Ordi- nance of Secession, the act which inaugurated the great War of Secession. When General LaFayette visited the city, ar- riving March 14th, 1825, he was assigned, being the guest of the city, to St. Andrew's Hall, as his residence.
A house sometimes spoken of as the Rutledge house, but better known as the "Paul House," is a colonial brick struc- ture at the southwest corner of Broad and Church Streets. Although the first floor has been altered into business offices, the upstairs is essentially the same as it was in the olden days. Its interior is finished as are all the early Georgian houses, with rooms of panelled wood and possesses high decorated cor- nices and wainscoating. In this old house is found the char- acteristic "Beufet" near the mantelpiece. It is desirable that this house should be kept intact on account of its purity of style, and as a relic of Colonial days.
CHAPTER II ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLES- TON TO THE "TEE"
BELVIDERE AND ITS NEIGHBORS COOPER RIVER
HE handsome- estate called Belvidere,. now in possession of the Charleston Country Club, and formerly the resi- dence of three Colonial Governors, Craven, Johnson and Glen, and of two wealthy families, the Manigaults and Shubricks, is situated on the west side of the Cooper River, north of Charles- ton, on what is vulgarly called The Neck. The present house was built about the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th cen- tury. This home of the Shubrick family has a long and inter- esting history, of which space does not permit more than a brief mention, connected with Magnolia Umbra and the Cartaret Tract, which lies adjacent to the south where the old Powder-Horn buildings now are; the former site of "Exmount."
The Shubrick family were wealthy English merchants and shipowners who bought the site before the Revolutionary War, building thereon and calling the place Belvidere. General William Moultrie mentions this spot in his memoirs by saying that at the. evacuation of Charleston, "The American Army was kept at Shubrick's farm until the British embarked, to avoid collision between the troops."
Just after the Revolution, one Sunday when the family were returning from church, they saw a smoke in the distance, and on reaching the farm (then three miles out from town) they found the house burned to the ground. The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser, in March, 1796, says: " Belvidere, the
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ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
elegant seat of Thomas Shubrick, Esq., three miles from this city, was yesterday morning destroyed by fire. We are in- formed that all the furniture except what was in the lower story was consumed."
Tradition has it that this first house was set on fire to cover traces of theft by a negro slave girl who was infatuated with the handsome English gardener. He instigated the theft of the family jewels, which he duly received, fled the country, and left the unfortunate negress to face all consequences. In her frantic endeavor to hide one crime she committed another, and added arson to theft. She is said to have confessed to both of these crimes at her trial, and for them she was hung. Some say her ghost haunts the long double avenue where she was wont to meet her accomplice and quondam lover.
The present establishment, and second house to occupy this spot, is a square wooden structure set on a brick basement five feet in height. From this ascends the house which has two stories and an attic. The house proper contains eight rooms, exclusive of basement offices and attic rooms. Beside the main building two tower-like wings project on the north and south corners of the house ; these are entirely independent, and partake of the nature of "block-houses," evidently erected as defences against Indians. The only visible connection these two flanking buildings have with the main mansion is found in the substantial brick wall connecting all their basements, which wall forms a sheltering parapet.
Belvidere house faces westward, but has an open lawn not only to the rear on the east, but to the north and south also, where small formal flower gardens lie in the enclosures formed by the block-houses, after the manner of old fashioned wall-gardens.
The approach to this staunchly constructed house is through a magnificent double avenue of venerable oaks lining the semi-circular driveway. Directly in front of the house is a grassy sward, bisected by a formal pathway leading up to the stone steps and flagstone terrace. This latter forms a rather unusual entrance for a southern home, but affords a delight- ful promenade from which a scene of rare beauty is enjoyed.
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This is particularly true on an autumn afternoon when the western sky is ablaze with crimson and gold. Then the trunks of the great oaks of the avenue show purple-black against the flaming sky, while their gnarled branches make perfect gothic arches for a leafy roof, through the interstices of which pours a mellow haze. In the pathway forming an aisle to this cathe- dral of the out-of-doors, the last faint rays of daylight meet and mingle with quivering lances of light from the "Sublime, Sweet Evening Star."
The stone terrace gives direct access, through an arched door with carved lintels and intricate fan-lights, to a front hall. From out of this hall open four doors, one of which gives access to the large rear room, one to the side hall containing the stairways, and one on each side to two delightful airy rooms, on the north and south respectively, with high ceilings and open fireplaces. The chimneys of Belvidere are so placed as to afford warmth to four rooms at one time, front and rear on each of the stories.
Just inside of the front door are to be found latticed jalousie blinds, lending an air of enchantment to the otherwise plain hall, and producing a mysterious atmosphere as though some dark-eyed beauty might here secretly look forth at a booted and spurred cavalier as he clattered up the avenue on his coal-black charger while the plume from his bonnet waved gaily in the breeze. A "Romeo Balcony" over the front en- trance adds to, rather than detracts from, the air of discreet romancing which the whole house produces. This curved bal- cony, with the exception of five well placed windows with solid wooden shutters, forms the only break in the straight, plain exterior of the house.
Occupying the rear of the house both up and down stairs are two beautifully proportioned rooms which are quite un- usually large and command an unobstructed view of the whole Belvidere tract to the south, east and north. Further afield the view is wonderful, including glimpses of the city and har- bor, Cooper and Wando Rivers, Daniel's Island, and the mainland beyond in Christ Church Parish. This large room downstairs was evidently the state dining-room, and the cor-
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· responding apartment upstairs was the ballroom. On the lower main floor a flat-roofed piazza forms an agreeable and dignified finish to the rear exterior, across the whole width of which it extends and from which the same unbroken pano- rama as seen from the dining and ball rooms can be enjoyed.
Some of the special interior architectural features are the stairway with its mahogany balustrade and newel post, the large arched window on the landing, and the half-window found on the stairway leading to the attic. These excite the admiration of visitors to Belvidere, and bespeak refinement of taste, and abundant means in securing the correct execu- tion of detail.
Perfect simplicity occurs again in the Adam design found in the decoration of this house. This is true of the ornamenta- tion over the doors of the large ballroom and decoration of the mantelpiece. The scenes over the doors are pastoral in subject, representing a shepherd piping to his sheep, or wooing in rustic style. The mantel is decorated in a way quite out of the ordinary, with a sea-weed and sea-shell motif, the use of which may be ascribed to sentiment owing to the fact that the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Shubrick were all gallant sailors.
Capt. Templer Shubrick, one of the sons, distinguished himself in the war with the Barbary pirates, and was sent home with dispatches telling of victory. He sailed on the Sloop-of-war "Hornet" which foundered at sea and was never again heard of. Another son, Capt. Edward Rutledge Shu- brick, also died at sea, and the officers and sailors of his ship, the frigate "Columbia," asked the privilege of erecting his monument, which now stands in the eastern cemetery of St. Philip's Church.
It was the father of these young men, Thomas Shubrick. who built the house. He was a daring soldier of the Revolu- tion and for his patriotism his estate was sequestered by the British. His wife was a famous beauty, Miss Sarah Motte, who was selected, because of her beauty of face and form and charm of mind and manner, to sit opposite to President Wash- ington at a dinner given to him upon the occasion of his visit to Charleston in 1791.
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In spite of his estates having Been sequestered, Thomas Shubrick must have either retained or regained Belvidere, advertising for a miller in 1806 or 1807. The property was inherited by Capt. Templer Shubrick, and after his tragic death his widow returned to her northern home, leaving the estate in trust for her son Edmund, then an infant. The property was later acquired by Capt. Edward Rutledge about the year 1834, and according to a deed of marriage settlement Capt. Rutledge gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Har- riet Horry Rutledge, who married St. Julien Ravenel in 1851. By various processes the property passed through the hands of a Mr. Brewster, the Magnolia Cemetery Company, and Mr. C. O. Witte. From the latter was purchased the present por- tion constituting the Country Club and containing the mansion house called Belvidere.
THE RAT TRAP
Across the Broad Path from "Belvedere," according to Judge H. A. M. Smith, and situated on the Ashley river, was a plantation known as The Rat Trap, later changed to Dr. Harris' Hayfield Farm.
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