USA > South Carolina > Historic houses of South Carolina > Part 24
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From Marion C. H. by China Grove to Georgetown, 60 miles, daily.
From Georgetown to Charleston, 60 miles, daily.
From Charleston by Jacksonboro to Savannah, 111 miles, daily.
From Cheraw by Montpelier to Fayetteville. 66 miles, daily. From Charleston by the South Carolina Railroad to Augusta, 135 miles, daily.
From Charleston to Columbia by Railroad, via Branchville Orangeburg, 124 miles, daily.
From Yorkville by Laurensville to Abbeville, 104 miles, three times a week.
From Abbeville by Petersburg, Ga., to Milledgeville, 115 miles, three times a week.
From Charleston by Pineville to Camden, 141 miles, twice a week.
From Columbia by Laurensville to Greenville, 115 miles, twice a week.
From Greenville by Merrittsville to Ashville, N. C., 62 miles, twice a week.
From Greenville by Abbeville to Augusta, Ga., 150 miles, twice a week.
From Columbia by Winnsboro to Yorkville, 79 miles, twice a week.
From Cheraw by Wadesboro, N. C., to Salisbury, 84 miles, twice a week.
From Abbeville to Edgefield C. H. to Cooker's Spring, 63 miles, twice a week.
From Pendleton by Carnesville, Ga., Bushville and Gillsville, 78 miles, once a week.
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THE CRAIG HOUSE
HE Craig house in Chesterfield District is a valuable contribution from the little known section of our State.
In Gregg's "History of the Old Cheraws," the statement is made that many of the records of Chesterfield County remain in a good state of preser- vation, but few are to be found in the public offices of Marlboro. Unfortunately for the history of justice as administered in the Cheraws District, all the Circuit Court records, with those of Darlington County, were de- stroyed with the burning of the Court House about 1804.
The Court House of Marlboro was first located near Gard- ner's Bluff, afterwards removed lower down on the main river road above Crooked Creek, and there continued until the ex- treme unhealthiness of the locality rendered a change neces- sary, when finally Marlboro Court House was located at the present seat, Bennettsville. For Chesterfield the site of the present Court House was chosen, and for Darlington also, after a great deal of discussion, the present site was selected.
The District of Cheraws was divided by the celebrated County Court Act of 1785 and the Cheraws District became the three counties enumerated, which three counties are sup- posed to have been named in honor of the Duke of Marlboro, Colonel Darlington, who distinguished himself in the War of the Revolution, and the Earl of Chesterfield.
So sparse were the settlements in the neighborhood that a few years before nothing but an old Indian trail led from this point to Camden. It has been an interesting task to locate an authentic house connected with the history of these primitive days and sparse settlements, and this has been successfully accomplished through the kindness of W. D. Craig, of Chesterfield, S. C. Further search in history but confirms his statements.
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In the history of the old Cheraws, the name of Alexander Craig appears in the records of Chesterfield during the Revo- lutionary War. He was elected County Judge for Chester- field in 1793 and we find him as late as 1798 appearing in connection with the establishing of the boundary line, accord- ing to Gregg.
The Craig House in Chesterfield was built in 179S by John Craig, a Revolutionary soldier and the younger of three brothers. Gregg's History states that he was still a young man at the time of the Revolutionary War and was long after known as a worthy man and a useful citizen, having been con- nected for many years with the Court of Common Pleas and Ordinary for that district.
The history of the family so far as ascertainable is that three brothers, James, Alexander and John, came from the Upsher part of Ireland about 1770. They settled in Chester- field County, Virginia, between Richmond and Petersburg. John and Alexander moved from there to Cheraws District; they lost connection with James, supposing that he either died or was killed during the Revolutionary War. John and Alex- ander Craig, with others, organized Chesterfield County, S. C., as has been previously stated.
In 1795 John Craig married Sarah Chapman, whose people had emigrated from Westmoreland, Va., and whose brother, Captain John Chapman, of Revolutionary fame, lived in this old home until his death, They reared a large family and their descendants yet reside in Chesterfield.
It was this John Craig who built the old Craig homestead, which still stands, a fourteen-room house with a basement under the whole foundation. This house was one of a half dozen family residences that made up the village of Chester- field and is the only one loft standing to-day. There were no hotels in this little village in those days and this Craig house entertained all the great men who visited there. Chesterfield being the county seat, many of the most distinguishd men of the state stayed under the roof of this house.
Under the old régime a review was held once a year, called the Governor's Review, at which the Governor or one of his
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CHANCELLOR JOHNSON'S HOME, NEAR MAR'S BLUFF, OLD CHERAW
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staff inspected the military organizations at the county-seat. The great folk were entertained at the Craig place. This gen- eral muster far exceeded Christmas or the Fourth of July in excitement, for the house was filled from attie to cellar and everyone on the plantation, white or colored, was worked to the utmost to get ready for this great day.
In the kitchen, the old Dutch oven, which held half of a beef and half a dozen turkeys at one time, was cleaned out and filled to the full with good things to eat. The cattle and horses were taken away to make room for the equipments of the military aides.
Court time was hardly less exciting and one room in this old house is still known as "The Judge's room, " because it was reserved for the chancellors and judges. The room across from this room possesses peculiar interest, it is known as "McDuf- fie's room." A tradition that does not accord with the general accepted story of George McDuffie's life has it that MeDuffie was not born but came up one morning like "Topsy" on the old Camden Road near Sugar Loaf Mountain in this county, at a spot that is still pointed out by the older citizens as the place where McDuffie was discovered by a philanthropic gentle- man going from Cheraw to Camden in his carriage.
The story goes that he saw MeDuffie sitting by the road crying and finding out that McDuffie had an aspiration to be "somebody, " questioned him. He found that McDuffie's tears were caused because he was hedged about by so many obstacles. The gentleman decided that he had found a good instrument for some of his surplus dollars, so he decided to interest him- self in this young man and he started George McDuffie on his way to an education. McDuffie's struggles for means with which to finish his education at the South Carolina College brought him to this old house and here he stopped and occupied a room while he taught school in Chesterfield.
There are many things to support this tradition, among them being the fact that James McDuffie who was raised in this same section, claimed and was acknowledged to be George McDuffie's nephew. He ( James) belonged to the Eighth South Carolina Regiment and was killed in the battles around Rich-
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mond. His widow was on the Confederate pension roll until her death a few years ago.
From this old house have gone soldiers for every war since the Revolution and they seem to have adopted the Spartan Mother's Motto, either "To bring back the shield or to be brought back on it."
After the death of John Craig and of his wife, Sarah Chap- man, this house came into the possession of their youngest son, W. E. Craig. We learn that W. E. Craig married a Miss Parke, whose brother, Dr. James Parke, having just finished his education as a surgeon in Ireland, went from this house to the Mexican War in 1846-18 and was killed. Later on in the Civil War another brother of Mrs. Craig, R. D. Parke, having had small-pox while studying medicine in Dublin, was put in charge of the small-pox hospital in Charlotte, N. C.
Another warrior connected with this house was General Blakeney, a nephew of John Craig and also of his wife. He had spent a good part of his boyhood days in this house. He was a captain in the Mexican War. The name Blakeney is still found in Kershaw County.
To continue the war record-the morning of April 13th, 1861, was a memorable time for this household. The news came that Fort Sumter had been fired upon. M. J. and J. M. Hough (who had been boarding at this house for a considerable time) and T. P. Craig (oldest son of the household) proceeded at once to Charleston where J. A. Craig (another son) was a student at the Citadel Academy. This cadet corps was soon to engage in action.
In 1864 J. A. Craig and W. D. Craig (sons of W. E. Craig) after being in service on the Carolina coast, went to Virginia not knowing where they would be assigned. This led to a peculiar gathering together of the threads of family ties. Upon getting off the train at Walthall Junction, the two brothers went immediately into a hot skirmish in which W. D. Craig received a flesh wound, the scar of which he still bears and strangely enough this happened almost on the threshold of the old Craig home in Virginia from whence his grandparents had departed about a century before. This old Virginia house was
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then occupied by a Craig family, supposed to be descendants of James Craig, the missing brother. Hagood in Memoirs of the War of Secession, mentions this old Craig house in Virginia.
The two Craig brothers did their part and on May 16th, 1864, J. A. Craig was killed and W. D. Craig received a wound inflicted by three minnie balls, again this fatality occurred on home ground, happening almost on the Craig farm in Chester- field County, Va.
The war record continues, for James Craig, who was born and reared in this house, was captain of one of the companies in the Fourth South Carolina Cavalry.
A curious detail of life connected with the Craig homestead concerns London, a colored boy about five years old. Discov- ered in a huckleberry patch and brought to the village to be taken care of, he was bound to W. E. Craig and lived there as houseboy until he was old enough to join the United States Army. He is supposed to be the first colored man from this section to join the United States Army.
The final history of the house is that the only daughter of W. E. Craig married W. J. Hanna, and came into possession after the death of her mother. Her two sons, W. J., Jr., and J. W. Hanna, volunteered and served through the Spanish- American War. W. J. Hanna did service during the World War.
The picture of the Craig house shows in the foreground an old tree, quite the most ancient and historic in the county. The dwelling is an interesting type of a two-story house, evidently built of primitive materials, the wood being cut upon the hold- ings of the builder. No doubt in its day this place constituted a mansion. It is evident that the planters evolved their own style of architecture for all over the up-country is found the same general type of home. Evidently the two-story house with hall running through it, and piazzas in front, with kitchen in the ell at the rear, was found best adapted for the living needs of the family, slaves not being so ordinary to the up- country people as to the big rice planters in the low-country.
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LAURENS-TOWN AND COUNTY
It was in the village of Laurens, S. C., that at one time Andrew Johnson worked at the tailor's trade. His residence and tailor's shop with signboard have been pointed out with much interest to curious visitors. He came to Laurens in 1827, from Raleigh, N. C., where he was born, and remained there as a journeyman tailor for two years. During that time he be- came engaged to a young lady in the neighborhood, but told one of his friends that he saw by her mother's manner that he was not favorably looked upon, the mother having told Johnson that her daughter should not marry a tailor. He was so mor- tified by the rebuff that he left Laurens the next day.
His father (town constable in Raleigh, messenger of the bank, and sexton of the church) died when the son Andrew was two years old. The boy never went to school a day in his life, and after his marriage he was taught by his wife to read and cipher. He continued as a tailor, going from Laurens to Greenville, S. C., and thence to Greenville, Tennessee, where he married Miss MeCarthy of that town.
Step by step he ascended the political ladder ; first elected to town council, then as mayor, in a few years he was elected to Legislature. State Senator, Congressman and Governor of the State he became in turn, then rose to United States Sen- ator, Military Governor of Tennessee by President Lincoln, and Vice-President under the same, at whose death he as- sumed the Presidency of the country, the highest office in the land.
MUSGROVE'S MILL
Laurens County, so called for Henry Laurens, is rich in history. On the Enoree River, near the town of Laurens, stands Musgrove's Mill, now owned by the Thornwell Orphan- age. This was the scene, during the Revolution, of a spirited action, "one of the hardest fought with small arms.". Mc- Crady, in his "South Carolina in the Revolution" says: "It is remarkable that few American historians have at all noticed this important and hard-fought battle. Hill in his narrative (Sumter MSS) complains that none of the historians who have
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written of the Revolution in the State have mentioned it." Captain Hammond's account appears in Johnson's "Tradi- tions of the Revolution, " and it is briefly described by McCall in his "History of Georgia"; Draper gives a full and particu- lar account of it in "King's Mountain and Its Heroes." In none of the accounts, however, is "Dicey's Ride" mentioned, vet Dicey was as great a heroine as our country produced, and her deed deserves recognition.
An old mill once stood at Milton, in the long ago; a most important spot during stage-coach days, and we might say especially interesting as it was just off this old stage road that the little band of patriots was massacred by "Bloody Bill" (Cunningham). This spot is recorded as Hay's Station, but is near Milton. The old stone or rock building still stands.
"Another old mill over one hundred years old, and still at work, is near Clinton. In that time it has not passed out of the same family." This description probably refers to Mus- grove's Mill, already mentioned; it is given by a resident of Clinton.
McCrady says : "In 1780 after the battle at the Old Iron Works, or second battle of Cedar Springs, on the 8th of April, Colonel Ferguson sent bis wounded to Musgrove's Mills on the south side of the Enoree River, in what is now Laurens County. Ferguson set out (after receiving an express from Col- onel Turnbull) . pushed on, and marched to Colonel Winn's plantation about eight miles west of Winnsboro, where he halted and lay, awaiting news from Camden."
On the American side, McDowell, having been kept well informed of Ferguson's movements, and having learned that a party of loyalists were stationed at Musgrove's Mills, he conceived the idea that, as the road was open, the post vul- nerable, and the term of enlistment of Col. Shelby's men about to expire, a pressing motive presented itself to embrace this opportunity of striking the British another blow.
Colonels Shelby and Clark were appointed to lead, and with them were Captains James McCall and Samuel Hammond. The day before the expedition started these men were joined
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by a Virginian, Colonel James Williams, who was rough, rash and fearless, whose ambition for glory led him to the use of means not overscrupulous in the accomplishment of his ends, but whose fearlessness led him into the thick of the fight, and who here freely poured out his blood and yielded up his life for his country. Colonel Brandon, Colonel James Stein and Major McJunkin joined the party, and recruited the strength of the mountain men with a few followers. Shelby attributed the valor and persistency of the battle to the great number of officers who were with him as volunteers.
Colonel Innes and Major Fraser, the British officers, had their headquarters at Edward Musgrove's residence. The Americans, by a clever ruse, drew the British from their post of vantage to a rude breastwork they had erected, and although the battle was hard fought the British lost 63 killed, 90 wounded, and 70 prisoners, while the Americans made good their escape. During an advance of forty, and a retreat of fifty miles, the Americans never stopped to eat, but made usc of peaches and green corn for their support. In less than three days this party of two hundred marched 100 miles, fought a battle and brought off with them 70 prisoners.
ROSEMONT
In Laurens County there are possibly three or four old houses of sufficient note to warrant consideration. The first is "Rosemont, " the ancestral home of the Cunninghams, a singu- lar feature being that though the family were Tories during the Revolution, a later member of the family, Miss Ann Pamela Cunningham, was the originator of the idea to buy Mt. Vernon and was made the first regent of the Mt. Vernon Association.
The ignorance in regard to Mt. Vernon, the home of Wash- ington, is deplorable. It is not generally known that the women of America bought Mt. Vernon in 1858, and have re- stored and maintained it ever since without a penny from the
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United States or from any State. This great accomplishment is strong evidence of woman's administrative and executive ability, and the men of America should give recognition and acknowledgement to the great fact.
George Washington died December 14, 1799, and for half a century Mount Vernon seemed neglected and forgotten. In 1854 John Augustine Washington, owner of the estate, made repeated efforts to sell the property to the United States and to the State of Virginia. Every effort failed.
At last a noble and patriotic spirited woman of South Carolina, Miss Ann Pamela Cunningham, seeing the adver- tisements in a newspaper, was seized with the desire to stimu- late the women of America into acquiring and restoring Mount Vernon.
Miss Cunningham was a daughter of Captain Robert Cun- ningham, of Laurens District, a distinguished soldier of the War of 1812, and was educated at Brahamville Academy near Columbia by Julia Pierpont, of Vermont (then Mrs. Marks), at the celebrated school founded by her husband and herself at this place, where so many Southern women of culture and refinement received their early education, among others the mother of President Roosevelt. Miss Cunningham carried her ideas concerning Washington's Home into effect after the most Herculean efforts. She finally founded "The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union" and became the first regent. She appointed as vice-regents one lady from each State.
The immediate object of this first woman's society was to raise funds for the purchase of two hundred acres of the Mount Vernon estate, including the mansion and the tomb wherein repose the mortal remains of General Washington. The ulti- mate design was to teach the people of the United States to remember Washington and his great achievements.
The association appealed to the country for $200,000, the price demanded for this portion of Mount Vernon. The pledge given was the preservation and restoration of the home of Washington. The money was raised by the women of that time, their greatest help being the orator of that day, Edward Everett, who by his lectures on Washington raised $70,000.
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Miss Cunningham lost her health so completely in her great effort of going from place to place, interviewing Senators and men of public affairs that she finally was carried about upon an invalid's air-bed from which she used only to address influen- tial gatherings which might assist in her patriotic enterprise.
It is needless here to recount the disasters and discourage- ments which attended the initiative efforts of this small band of devoted women. One formidable cause of opposition, scarce credible in our day, was the prejudice then prevailing against women as workers in any public affairs. But inspired by the enthusiasm of Miss Cunningham the feat was finally accom- plished, and although the Civil War halted the work of the association, no vandal hand was raised against this shrine of a nation. After the Civil War friends arose on every side, material aid flowed in, not only in money, building materials, fertilizers, food for the stock, but assistance came in all shapes. The press throughout the land stood by the association. The Masonic lodges responded to the call to save the great Mason's home from destruction. Wall Street's brokers' board sent money, while little children clubbed together to rebuild a gate. Others to rebuild the colonnades. The work progressed steadily year by year.
The necessary repairs accomplished, then came the task of restoration. In the mansion the replacement of such furniture as was owned by Washington has been accomplished where possible; when this was not obtainable, furniture of historic value and of the past century style has been placed in the rooms. The bedstead on which General Washington died stands in his room, mirrors are restored to their former posi- tions. Nellie Custis' piano stands in the music room again and Washington's flute lies upon it. Clocks are returned to their mantels, chairs, tables and a sideboard have resumed their places. The large silver-mounted platean, used at Wash- ington's state dinners, is now returned to Mount Vernon, a recent gift from a vice regent, herself a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington.
There are also many other historic and valuable relics of Washington and his time. The garden is as he left it, with
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the quaint box-wood hedges and borders. The old-time roses, pinks, lilies, mignonette, sweet William, lilacs, magnolia trees, and acacias, and even the greenhouses and servants' quarters are restored and are as Washington saw them. The lawns he loved, the trees he planted, all are there, silent but eloquent.
The dream of the enthusiastic founder of the Mount Vernon Association is realized. The home of Washington is restored, and has become the shrine of liberty-loving pilgrims from home and foreign lands, and left as a heritage to Americans as is shown in this extract from the farewell address of the founder of the association to her women associates, given after twenty years of service, on June 1, 1874 :
"Ladies, the home of Washington is in your charge; see to it that you keep it the home of Washington, Let no irreverent hand change it; no vandal hands desecrate it with the fingers of progress!
"Those who go to the home in which he lived and died, wish to see in what he lived and died !
"Let one spot in this grand country of ours be saved from change.
"Upon you rests this duty."
Miss Cunningham's own home, "Rosemont," is located in the western part of Laurens County, S. C., five miles south- west of Cross Hill, on the east bank of the Saluda River. It is the best-known residence in upper South Carolina, and was the home of the Cunningham family. It has been said that the brick was brought from England, and the inside woodwork was of English oak, also brought over from the old country, but this is an error, as Mr. A. S. Salley shows in quoting from a journal kept by an old school teacher in the "Up Country," Reuben Pylis, who says that about the year 1790, while a school boy in his teens, "I went to a Stephen Herd, who taught on Saluda River. Boarded at Patrick Cunningham's, where my father was working on a fine new house."
This "fine new house" had decorated fireplaces. Much of the old furniture is still there, including a handsome secretary and large mahogany table, while rare paintings adorn the walls of the living-room. In the state drawing-room mirrors
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are let into panels between the deep-set windows, and these dim old looking-glasses give the low-ceilinged room a curious air of mystery and enchantment hard to describe-an eerie sense of forgotten presences hard to convoy in words. A brother of Miss Pamela's, Clarence Cunningham, a classmate of Presi- dent Wilson at Princeton, lives there alone in this shadowy old home of long ago, hidden away in Laurens County, but worthy to become a South Carolina shrine in memory of Miss Pamela Cunningham and her great work at Mount Vernon.
STONEY POINT
Although Rosemont is in Laurens County it is nearer Greenwood, S. C., than to the town of Laurens, and not many miles from Rosemont, in Greenwood County, so Mr. H. L. Watson, the editor of The Index-Journal, of Greenwood, says, ''is Stoney Point, home of the Smiths, into which family for- mer Congressman Aiken married, and I think also former Governor Aiken, 1844-1846."'
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