USA > South Carolina > Historic houses of South Carolina > Part 3
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Near Belvidere lay, says the same authority, the Burnham Grant, some acres of which were west of the Broad Path, and some east; upon the portion lying east was found Cochran's Ship Yard, on Ship Yard Creek, the name then given Long Point Creek. This tract was afterwards broken up into small farms, and passed into the hands of various persons of note, Mr. Joel Poinsette acquiring one portion which was separated from Belvidere by Shubrick Avenue.
THE FOUR MILE HOUSE
Proceeding to the north, on the Broad Path is found an interesting edifice by the roadside. It is commonly called the Four Mile House, for many years a noted road-house or tavern for travelers on the road to and from Charleston. This inn was kept, about the year 1812, by a man named Fischer, and his wife, who robbed and murdered many persons who put up at this ancient hostelry. These two were finally brought to
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" BELVIDERE" THE OLD SHUBRICK HOME. NOW THE CHARLESTON COUNTRY CLUB HOUSE
ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
trial for the murder of one of several travelers who mysteri- ut i disappeared after taking shelter at their inn, and were . convicted and hung. An account of their trial, etc., may be had trom reading " The Dungeon and the Gallows, " by John Blake White, published in the "Charleston Book" (1845). Mrs. Fischer was said to have been a beautiful woman, who expected to be spared on this account ; accordingly she dressed for the hanging in her wedding finery, but all of her arts availed naught, and she, with her partner, suffered the penalty of the Law at Charleston's "Tyburn Hill," then just north of the present Line Street.
BELMONT
Near the Four Mile House, north of the lands known as MeLaughlin's Grant, and east of the public road, was Belmont, the country seat for many years of Chief Justice Charles Pinckney and his descendants, which appears in an old deed as being on "Cupar" River.
The late Mrs. St. Julien Ravenel, a descendant of Eliza Lucas Pinckney, describes the house as "a delightful resi- dence, a large brick house, standing, as most of the country houses did, a few hundred yards from the water's edge, on a semi-circular headland making out into a bold ercek, a branch of the Cooper River."
Quotations from a letter of Mrs. Pinckney state that "The Enemy" was at Belmont in 1780, and "destroyed everything in the house." Also Garden, in his anecdotes, states that Colonel Monterief, of the British Army, destroyed certain oak trees of remarkable beauty which had been planted by Mrs. Pinckney's deceased husband. Apparently the house was de- stroyed sometime between 1780 and 1785.
STROMBOLI
A grant to John Pendarvis and the next to John Ladson wenn to have been the last grants of land which crossed the hook from river to river. Upon one of these grants was Totaled Stromboli, north of Belmont on Long Point Creek, and east of the public road.
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Some time before 1719, 158 acres of this land became vested in Thomas Elliott ( Eleott), and his will (1731) mentions a house there, it being his residence.
Some portion of these last grants passed to John Clement, who established Clement's Ferry; 15 acres of this tract Clem- ent apparently called Dover, and 15 acres on the other side of the Cooper River bore the name of Calais. On these were the respective landings for the ferry, the signs for which read "From Dover to Calais."
In 1817 Adam Tunno acquired the ferry tract containing 65 acres, a few days later Dover and Calais (15 acres each) were sold to Gordon and Spring. Later the portion called Dover was returned to the ferry tract which had been sold by Tunno to Nathaniel Heyward, who devised it to his daugh- ter Elizabeth (wife of Charles Manigault) and the whole tract became part of the Manigault farm known as Marshlands, conveyed by Dr. Gabriel Manigault in 1880 to Mrs. Cecelia Lawton, who conveyed the part containing the residence to the Government. This is now embraced in the Navy Yard reservation.
MARSHLAND AND ITS NEIGHBORS
About four miles above Belvidere, on the same side of the Cooper River, stands a fine old house, which, according to Mrs. Cecelia Lawton, one of the later owners of Marshlands, was built by John Ball, one of the numerous Balls, and later ac- quired by Nathaniel Heyward, who devised it to his daugh- ter, Elizabeth, along with the ferry tract that he had purchased from Tunno, which was included in the Manigault farm, better known as Marshlands.
There are many Balls of one family, and to add to the con- fusion attendant upon properly placing a Ball in town or county there are in South Carolina two families of this name absolutely unconnected by ties of blood. Representing the smaller family is Mr. Wm. Ball, Editor of The State, pub- lished at Columbia, S. C.
A clever relation of the "Big Ball" connection, Miss Caro- line Moreland, has a delightful way of distinguishing the inter-
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ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
locking branches of the larger family. She differentiates them by bestowing titles derived from the names of the streets upon which they now reside, as for instance, the "Presidential" Balls, who reside on President Street, and the "Kingly" and "Queenly" Balls, who live on King and Queen Streets respec- tively. According to her method of nomenclature the "Bully" Balls belong on Bull Street in the old house, and the "New"' Balls have their habitation in a new house on New Street. Nor does she omit that charming branch of the family, the Jack Balls, who live on Pitt Street.
Marshlands has been incorporated in the Navy Yard re- serve. The building itself is a four story structure including its attie and a brick basement that is unusually high from the ground. At the time that it was built it was a dwelling of great magnificence, with fine examples of hand-carved wood- work inside, and mahogany doors and finishings, the front elevation showing a structure of about the same period as Belvidere. The tall gabled house, whose windows once over- looked a broad domain and commanded a view of the waters of the Cooper River, is now used as an office building. If houses have thoughts then this old place, modeled after the residence of an English country gentleman, must sometimes hark back to the good old days when family life went on within its walls.
In the southwest room upstairs is found in a closet by the chimney place a secret passage. It seems that in former days many colonial residences boasted of these inclosures, some- times said to have been used as retreats in times of danger, and as methods of escape during Indian attacks. In some old houses these secret stairways were called "Chambermaid stairs"; the most modern building containing a set is that at Cote Bas, farther up on the Cooper River, built about 1850. Underground passages are found in the remains of Yeamans Hall. Goose Creek, and in the structure still standing at Mul- berry on Cooper River, and at Fenwick Castle on John's Island. Some authorities dispute this fact, but others admit the presence of these underground passages, one of which the writer has traversed.
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In the Navy Yard the Headquarters Building was erected upon the site of the old Turnbull mansion, the original stone steps of which are yet to be found leading directly to the mag- nificent avenue of oaks marking the walk to the river landing. Near Marshlands to the north were the plantations "Retreat" and "Palmettoes," adjoining Goose Creek.
QUARTER HOUSE
West of Marshlands over on the State road just below the turn where it divides into two branches, there stands a brick pillar marking the entrance of the old race course of the old Jockey Club's property. MeCrady's "History of South Caro- lina Under Proprietary Government" (page 345) says that in 1707 "The neck of land between the Cooper and Ashley Rivers, about six miles in length was well settled. One passed about this time in riding up the road which Archdale described as so beautiful, the plantations of Mathews, Green, Starkey, Gray, Grimball, Dickerson and Izard on the Cooper; and fur- ther up those of Sir John Yeamans, Landgrave Bellinger, Colonel Gibbs, Mr. Schenkingh, Colonel Moore and Col- onel Quarry."
Bearing out the truth of Mr. MeCrady's statement in the light of later research Judge Henry A. M. Smith, in Vol. XIX South Carolina Historical Magazine, traces the titles of land grants from Charleston neck north to Yeamans Hall. In this article Stock Prior was described as a part of the Christo- pher Smith property, later known as "Izard's Quarter House plantation."
On Stock Prior the Broad Path, or country road from Charleston, made a fork : the right hand road at this fork went northwardly to St. James, Goose Creek, the Congarees, etc., while the left hand road went southwestwardly to the ferry across Ashley River, and up along the river to Dorchester. In a ditch at the side of the left hand road, by the railway tracks, is a granite post marking the parish line. This road leads to what is now known as Bee's Ferry, but it was established by Edmund Bellinger, second Landgrave of that name, who mar- ried Elizabeth Butler, daughter of Shem Butler and sister of
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"YEAMANS' HALL" GOOSE CREEK
ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
Joseph, and lived at Stoney Point ( sometimes called Altaraxes and Rocky Point) although he owned much property in other parts of the low country. "Shem Town" was at one time something of a settlement, and Bellinger's Ferry was well known, as several Public Acts of the Assembly deal with vest- ing the right of the ferry in Mrs. Bellinger and her children.
Judge Smith states that just south of this fork in the Broad Path, and near the point where the road divides on the north, on the east side of the public road was an "Ordinary" or inn that existed from an early date and was called the Quarter House.
The Quarter House is frequently mentioned in early rec- ords. An Act in 1721 directs that "The road from Charles- ton to the Quarter House be made 40 feet in breadth, " and an advertisement in 1731 names the owner. . "' On Saturday the 4th of March next at the dwelling house of Mr. Hill Croft, deceased, commonly called Quarter House." Again, Thomas Cooper offers a reward for a horse that had strayed or been stolen if returned to him in Charles Town or to Mrs. Croft of the Quarter House.
Another advertisement dealing with this locality tells of the loss of a snuff-mill; "Lost on Saturday last between Charlestown and the Quarter House a Snuff-mill, with a silver Hinge and plaits on Top and Bottom. Engraven on the Top- Quod tibi hoc alteri-, on the Bottom-Non tibi ne alteri- John Hay. Whoever brings the said Snuff-mill to James Pain, Merchant in Charlestown, shall have 20s Reward."
The muster ground for the militia was here, and Gibbes' Documentary History says that in 1761 "Mr. Henry Middle- ton, coming from his plantation on Goose Creek met about forty Catawba Indians at the Quarter House." This place survived for many years, and was long called by the original name, even as late as 1832, when Wm. Dry offers to sell pine lumber at his "plantation by the Quarter House."
YEAMANS' HALL
Yeamans' Hall is said to have been bought from the heirs of Governor Yeamans by Governor Thomas Smith, and presented
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
to his son. Certainly a Governor .Smith occupied it about 1693. Until shattered by the earthquake . in 1886 this large two-story building set on a high basement was fairly well preserved. The surroundings are particularly beautiful, and in the family burying ground are found Poyas, Lockwood and Smith tombstones.
GOOSE CREEK SETTLEMENT
Goose Creek, sometimes spelled "Goose Crick, " is one of the oldest settlements in the state outside of Charleston. The church still standing there was begun in 1714 and completed in 1719. Tradition has it that it was spared during the Revo- Intion because of the fact that above its chancel there are the Royal Arms of England. In an historical sketch of this spot Judge Henry A. M. Smith says, "There was a very large set- tlement in Goose Creek at an early period. The early grants date as early as 1672 and 1673, and by 1680 all the lands on both sides of Goose Creek as far as Back River and Foster's Creek, and even to the headwaters of Goose Creek within five miles of the present town of Summerville, were taken up, and taken up almost entirely by Church of England people."
In 1732, according to Mr. Salley, an advertisement ap- peared in the Gazette designed "To encourage Tradesmen to settle contiguouslvin the Parish of St. James's on Goose Creek, John Lloyd, Esq., will grant building leases of 64 acres of land, viz., 8 Lotts consisting of 8 acres cach Lott, all fronting the Broad Path. from the Brow of the Hill Mr. Rich Walker now lives on, to the Fence joining Mr. Hume's Land, on the North West side of the Broad Path. The Land is all cleared, and very proper for either Pasture, Corn or Rice, within 20 miles of Charlestown, and four of Goose Creek Bridge; and the Trades thought most proper to settle on it are, a Smith, Car- penter, Wheel-wright, Bricklayer, Butcher, Taylor, Shoe- maker and a Tanner."
Judge Smith states that at Goose Creek "The only excep- tion to the English settlements was a settlement of Hugue- nots. . . . One of the first, or rather, the two first to settle there were the brothers, Abraham Fleury de la Plein and
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ST. JAMES' CHURCH, GOOSE CREEK
ST. JAMES' CHURCH, INTERIOR
ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
Isaac Fleury de la Plein, who both received grants which be- came the center of a Nttle. French settlement. Isaac Porcher, the ancestor of the Porcher family in South Carolina, first settled in this country at St. James, Goose Creek, where he 'lived his life' and died."
THE OAKS
The beautiful manor house of the Middleton family was called The Oaks, and stood where Mr. Edwin Parsons has erected his magnificent home in colonial period architecture, a fitting and dignified successor to the old mansion which stood at the head of an avenue of venerable oaks which for nearly a quarter of a mile form a continuous arch over the broad approach to the house. These live oaks were planted, so it is said, in 1680, and the first mansion was built soon afterwards, survived the Revolutionary War and was burned in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
With an instinct for what was appropriate, the moving picture director who filmed "Little Miss Rebellion" selected, for some of the scenes of this story starring Dorothy Gish, this house, and used the avenue of giant oak trees as part of a scene depicting Juvenile Royalty accompanied by her mounted suite. The ensemble of this company in gorgeous uniforms and courtly trappings for their mounts revived for a few brief moments upon the screen all that colorful and stir- ring life of colonial days and flashed into existence the at- mosphere of "Courtly knights and Ladies Faire" native to this fine old place ; and that this type of life was by no means foreign to the Middleton family the following extract from the scrap book of Mr. Frank Holmes shows :
"Died at sea on the passage from London to Charleston, South Carolina, in October 1789, Lady Mary Middleton, the daughter of the unfortunate Earl of Cromartie and relict of the late Henry Middleton of S. C.
"The Earl had been banished from England for holding a correspondence with the 'Old Pretender,' who died at Rome in 1765 aged 78 years, his son Charles Edward at Florence in 1788 at an advanced age. His brother the Cardinal of York died at Rome aged 82 years."
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
CROWFIELD
Crowfield Hall, four miles from the Parish Church, was called after family property of the same name in England, said by Wm. Middleton as late as 1876 to belong to the family, and found in possession of Admiral Sr. G. Brook Middleton.
When Wm. Middleton, the son of Arthur Middleton who first built on Crowfield, returned to England (1758-1784) to take charge of the English Crowfield, he neglected very much the Goose Creek namesake. Mr. Rawlins Lowndes bought it in 1776 and resold it to Thomas Middleton, 1778, who then advertised it again for sale in 1786 as "containing 1400 acres of land on which stood a very commodious dwelling house of excellent brick, having twelve good rooms with fireplaces in each, besides four rooms in the cellar also with fireplaces." Crowfield, like Bloomfield, another Middleton place, boasted of unusually fine surroundings, comprising lawns, woodlands and formal gardens.
Goose Creek and its vicinity was famous for its scientific horticulturists, and the gardens prospered accordingly. "Not many miles from this locality," says Mr. J. I. Waring, "was situated the botanical garden of Andrew Michaux, the horti- culturist. Its site has been located by the broken parts of many flower pots."
Eliza Lucas, in a letter to her friend "Miss Bartlett," gives a long account of an "agreeable tour" to Goose Creek, and describes Crowfield as "a seat of the Middleton Family" . . The tour was designed to show her those parts of the country in which are "Several very handsome gentleman's seats, at all of wch we were entertained with the most friendly politeness. The first we arrived at was Crowfield, Mr. Wm. Middleton's seat, where we spent a most agreeable week. The house stands a mile from but in sight of the road, and makes a very handsome appearance; as you draw nearer now beauties dis- cover themselves: first the beautiful vine mantling the wall. laden with delicious clusters, next a large pond in the midst of a spacious green presents itself as you enter the gate. The house is well furnished, the rooms well contrived and elegantly
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ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
furnished. . From the back door is a wide walk a thousand feet long, each side of wch nearest the house is a grass plat orna- mented in a serpentine manner with flowers; next to that on the right hand is what immediately struck my rural taste, a thicket of young, tall live oaks, where a variety of airy chor- isters poured forth their melody-and my darling the mock- ing-bird, joyned in the concert, enchanted me with his har- mony. Opposite on the left hand is a large square bowling green, sunk a little below the level of the rest of the garden, with a walk quite round bordered by a double row of fine large flowering Laurel and Catalpas-wch afford both shade and beauty, My letter will be of unreasonable length if I don't pass over the mounts, wilderness, etc., and come to the boun- dary of this charming spot, where is a large fish pond with a mount rising out of the middle the top of weh is level with the dwelling house, and upon it is a Roman temple. On each side are other large fish ponds, properly disposed wch form a fine prospect of water from the house -- beyond this are the smiling fields dressed in vivid green."
The property was in the possession of Henry A. Middleton at the time of his death, and in March, 1876, The Washington Chronicle says, Henry Middleton of Asheville, N. C., for- merly of Charleston S.C. died yesterday at the residence of his brother, Commodore Middleton U.S. Navy, at the age of 79; he graduated at West Point 1816 but shortly after resigned his commission to engage in literary pursuits, married a niece of Sir Henry Pollock, resided for a long time in England and France, and was the author of several works of political char- acter; his father, the late Hon. Henry Middleton, was Gov- ernor of South Carolina and member of Congress in 1816 where he served until appointed to represent our government at St. Petersburg, his residence for 10 years. His grandfather was Arthur Middleton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and his great grandfather Henry Middleton was one of the presidents of the first Congress in 1774, the father of the latter, Arthur Middleton, was one of the first Royal Governors of the colony.
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
OTRANTO
Otranto was another Middleton residence. While Edward lived at The Oaks Arthur dwelt at the Otranto plantation, his residence being at the spot where the Otranto Club House now stands; but Mr. Waring states that "The place now known as 'Crovatts' was the original Otranto, and was owned by the Hamiltons, who constructed a private race track, which started in front of the house and ran in a circle for one mile, in order that guests could sit on the piazza and have a full view of the course and races."
"From 1796 to 1806 the Reverend Mr. Porgson," says Dr. Burgess in his chronicles of St. Mark's Parish, "occupied the house known now as the Otranto Club House as a rectory." But this is not the first parsonage for Goose Creek church. The first one, according to Dr. Burgess, was the old brick par- sonage at Goose Creek built about or just after 1714 when the present church was built. An old plat represents the form and shape of 100 acres of land given by Capt. Benjamin Schen- kingh to the parish; "One acre thereof for to build a church on, and the rest for ye use of the Rector or Minister of said Parish, for ye time being, " the conveyance from him, "ye said Schenkingh, to the Church Commissioners" being dated 1706. At the same time there was donated by Arthur C. Middleton four acres upon which the first parsonage was erected. Evi- dently something happened to the original parsonage, as Mr. Porgson occupied the present club house in 1796, the avenue of which tradition says was planted by Captain John Cantey.
The good parson Porgson was a devoted disciple of Isaak Walton, and could not refrain from his favorite sport even on Sunday. One Sunday morning while walking to church carry- ing his sermon under one arm and his fishing rod on his shoulder he stopped on the bridge to see how the fish were biting. He suddenly hooked a large trout, and in his anxiety to land his fish he forgot his sermon, which slipped from be- neath his arm and fell into the water; there being a strong ebb tide it Hoated away, and the congregation probably had no ser- mon that day even if the minister had his trout.
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"MEDWAY," ON BACK RIVER, ABOVE GOOSE ( REEK The house of Landgrave Smith and now owned by Mr. S. G. Proney The oldest quick house in South Carolina outside of Charleston
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OTRANTO CLUB HOUSE. GOOSE CREEK
ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
According to Dr. Johnson, tradition has it that the ro- mantic marriage of "Mad Archie" Campbell, famous in the Revolution, to a young lady of Charleston took place at the rectory of St. James, Goose Creek, and that they were married by the then rector, the Rev. Mr. Ellington. "Mad Archie" Campbell was a member of the family of the Duke of Argyle, to which family the last Royal Governor, who lived on Meeting Street in what is now the Huger house, also belonged.
According to the chronicles of the Brisbane family, com- piled by E. Haviland Hillman, F.S.G., from 1801 to 1804 Otranto was owned by John Stanyarne Brisbane (Born 1773 --- died 1850), son of James, and grandson of William the Emi- grant. "When John Brisbane's father, James Brisbane, was banished from Charleston in 1782 he intended taking John with him, but at the last moment, as the vessel was about to sail, John got into one of the small boats on which passengers had come on board, hid under a seat and returned to shore, where he remained with an old aunt, probably Susannah Stan- varne. He married, 19th March, 1795, Maria Hall, the daughter of the Hon. George Abbott Hall and Lois Mathews. From 1801 to 1804 he owned the plantation on Goose Creek called Otranto, where the Otranto Hunting Club now is, and later had his country seat at Malona (Acabee Woods), Ashley River."
At one time Otranto Club was the residence of Dr. Garden, well-known botanist and correspondent of Linnaeus, the natur- alist, who named our beautiful Gardenia after his correspon- dent. "Subsequently," says Mr. Waring, "it was owned by Mr. Philip Porcher, and was once known as 'Goslington,' meaning Little Goose, a name said to have been bestowed upon it by the Hon. James L. Petigru on the occasion of a brilliant dinner party given in the ancient building, now the Otranto Club House.
It is a low structure with attics and dormer windows; the porch is about one foot from the ground and extends around three sides of the building ; its roof is supported by heavy brick columns. It is situated on a hill leading down to Goose Creek, and is altogether charming in conception and execution. Frank
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
E. Slyde, a man of artistic nature and appreciative of all that is fine in these old southern places. connected with the National Headquarters of the War Camp Community Service, recently visited this place, and speaks of the Club House at Goose Creek as a place where "One need but release his imagination to see the gay folks at the various parties in the beautiful, plain, quaint rooms with the furnishings so odd, and to hear the clink of glasses and the hale and hearty salutation of 'Heigh-ho, friend, we bid you enter.' "'
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