USA > South Carolina > Historic houses of South Carolina > Part 4
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THE ELMS
The intimate daily chronicles of Goose Creek between the years 1754 and 1781 may be found in the journal of Mrs. Ann Manigault, whose grandson, Gabriel Manigault, married Mar- garet Izard, and who is mentioned frequently as "Grandson G." This private record deals with the different prominent families of the settlement, and contains many intimate items of people prominent in colonial life, among others the family of Izards, who spread out at one time in several branches in the neighborhood, and whose home place, "The Elms," was on Goose Creek. Mr. Joseph Ioor Waring, a descendant of one of the Waring settlers of the Dorchester and Goose Creek neighborhood, says that all that remains of this fine old home of a prominent family is "A single tall column of the lofty porch, standing like a monument over its departed glory." In this house Mr. Izard entertained LaFayette very lavishly when he made his tour of the country, one of the octagonal shaped wings of the house being fitted up in great elegance for his entertainment; here he spent a night, and over after- wards this wing was known as LaFayette's Lodge."
Says Mr. Waring, "It is difficult now to find even a path leading to the old house. Around the ruins, in the spring of the year, amongst wild grasses and weeds, bulbs and garden plants still grow, marking the site of the flower garden." The family, like the home, has vanished, but in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston hangs a large double portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Izard, painted by the celebrated artist Copley. This
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ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
picture was found in London for Mr. Charles I. Manigault, a grandson of the originals of the portrait.
The Izard family intermarried, among others, with the family of the last Royal Governor, Campbell, but before that time the will of Ralph Izard bequeaths (1722-1724) "All that my tract of land situate, lying and being on or near the south side of Goose Creek in the County of Berkley." A memorial tablet to his memory, and his hatchment, may be seen on the walls of Goose Creek Church, and his remains are interred in the cemetery just outside.
Part of the northern portion of the Elms, an Izard estate. after passing through several hands, came finally into the pos- session of Dr. Eli Geddings, a famous physician of Charleston. His property is described as "Bounding north on Crowfield."
The city residence of the Izard family is found still stand- ing in Charleston ; a square brick building on the north side of Broad street one door west of King.
MEDWAY AND ITS NEIGHBORS
Medway is sometimes called the Back River Place, and "Back River, " says Oldmixon, the historian, "falls in Cooper River about two miles above Goose Creek." At the confluence of Cooper River with this its second western branch, lying between Goose Creek and Back River is a considerable extent of arable land separated into several plantations.
The first of these, lying on the eastern side of Goose Creek, is known as Red Bank, and on this place there was formerly an extensive pottery for the manufacture of tile, etc. A little beyond Red Bank on the western side of Back River is Par- nassus, once owned by the Tennent family. Here is a beautiful avenue of oaks. Near this avenue is a lonely head- stone inscribed :
"Rose; a faithful servant."
a mute reminder of the deep affection which existed between master and servant in the days gone by. Away out in the woods were two more grave stones inscribed respectively "Hector" and "Joe." These are said to mark the burial
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
places of two noted "deer drivers," who were buried on two well-known "stands." More reminders of the old days when the deer driver was a valued, possession, and generally a very lazy but privileged fellow, whose main responsibility was the care of the horses and hunting dogs.
Beyond Parnassus, situated on a bluff on Back River, is the ancient house called Medway. This house was built in 1682. It is by far the most interesting and best preserved, as well as oldest, house of early times. This was the home of the first Landgrave Smith, who was Governor of the Colony. It is said to be the first brick house built outside of Charleston. Its curious old Dutch gables are very quaint. The ceilings are low, the rooms spacious and the fireplaces huge. Near the house is the grave of Governor Smith, marked with a heavy slab, where sleeps the former master of Medway and "some- time" Governor of the Colony of South Carolina.
To this gentleman has been falsely ascribed the first culti- vation of rice in the colony, "but," says Mr. Salley, "the first settlers of South Carolina who came over in 1670 came with instructions from the Lords Proprietors to attempt the culti- vation of rice, and it had become a considerable industry in the province before Landgrave Smith came into the province in 1684."
Mr. William Dunlopp was in 1687 "Lycenced To joine to- gether in the holy Estate of Matrimony . Thomas Smith Esq and Sabina de Vignon Dowager Van wernhaut provided there be noe lawfull Lett shewne to you to the contrary." Tradition has it that this wife was a beautiful Baroness, and the "Ancient Lady" has much to say on this subject. She also says, "We see that drink was served to guests in goblets of pure silver in 1692. Yes, the Blakes, Boones, and many other gentlemen were asked into the Back river parlor to drink beer, smoke a pipe, and take a sly chew from the landgrave . Tobacco Box.' "' . Her description of Back River mansion is from "heresay"; "I am told that it is a low building, with a dutch roof. of very inferior bricks, yet such is the strength and quantity of mortar, which holds them together, that it continues a strong and very comfortable dwelling. It remained
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THOMAS SMITH One of the Landgraves of South Carolina. From a painting
"MEDWAY" ON BACK RIVER First brick house built outside of Charleston. Home of Landgrave Thomas Smith. From an old print
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ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
many years in the family," but the place is now in possession of Me. Samuel G. Stoney, who is preserving all its quaint and rural charm.
Many ghosts are said to walk inside of these low-ceilinged rooms, with their large fireplaces and narrow windows. At a certain window, with its small panes of glass, is seen some- times a shadowy lady, who sits and watches for the coming of the young husband who never returned, having met his death while deer hunting. In another room he who is so bold as to sleep therein sometimes wakes in the night to see an old gen- tleman seated comfortably in front of the fireplace smoking his pipe.
"It was just the place for ghosts to walk, for strange voices to be heard, for unusual things to happen," says John Ben- nett, who has immortalized the atmosphere of romantic mystery with which Medway is enveloped in his book, "The Treasure of Pierre Gailliard," in which he revives the eerie sense of desolation and haunting allurement found only in the discovery of a well-built brick house in such an isolated spot.
In an old walled cemetery at Medway on a part of the original tract, is a moss-covered slab of marble over the re- mains of Rev. Elias Prioleau, a native of Poms and Saintonge, one of the Huguenot emigrants who, on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, came with others to South Carolina. Accord- ing to a mural tablet erected to his memory in the Huguenot Church, Charleston, he became a minister of that faith, and the stone at Medway also recites this fact, and states that this family sprang from one of the Doges of Venice. Miss M. Elise Langley, of Charleston, S. C., has in her possession some inter- esting documents or mementos of Antoine Prioli, who died in Venice 1623, and from whom the family sprang. The Rev. Elias Prioleau died at his farm on Back River on Midway, now Medway, in St. James, Goose Creek, and there his re- mains repose.
DEAN HALL
At what is known as the T, Cooper River divides into two branches, to the east and to the west. Many large plantations
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
lie along both banks of both branches. Fronting the Cooper River proper, directly opposite to where it branches, stands what is known as Coming's Tee plantation on which is found a beautiful house. . If the reader will picture the capital letter T, and place Coming Tee at the place where the shank of the letter joins the arms, he will have a working conception of this river and the plantations in the vicinity. The left arm of the T will correspond to the western branch, and the right arm of the T will correspond to the eastern branch. Strangely enough each branch divides in turn, or rather is formed by two branches joining to form the head-waters of the rivers, those of the western or left hand branch of Cooper River being Wadboo and Biggon Creeks, and those of the eastern branch being Quinby Creek and the river itself. There is another peculiar fact to be noted in connection with the two branches of this river, and one that will serve to assist the reader in visualizing the lay of the land, and that is that the Colleton family (from whom the county derives its name) owned a Barony at the head of each main branch of the river. On the western bank of the left hand branch lay Fairlawn Barony, and a little further, on the right of the left hand branch, was Wadboo Barony, while the grant of a Barony of 1200 acres, called the "Cypress Barony," is situated on the head-waters of the eastern branch of Cooper River around Huger's Bridge. Many of the houses on Cooper River still standing are found upon portions of land formerly belonging to the Colleton family, but now in possession of various other old families of that section.
A great curve occurs in Cooper River to the west just before it divides at the T, and upon a peninsular, nearly an island, formed by this great curve and the turn of the western branch is located Dean Hall plantation, an enchantingly situated country place. With the handsome house and the outbuildings Dean Hall is said to look more like a village than a plantation, and is rightly considered one of the show places of the river, having been set in fine order by its latest owner, Ben- jamin Kittredge.
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" DEAN HALL" COOPER RIVER, BELOW THE TEE
24 ~5W
MAIM PATIENCE AND HER PET GOBBLER
ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
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The exact age of Dean Hall and the buildings thereon is not known, but a clue is afforded by an advertisement appear- ing in the South Carolina Gazette September 2nd, 1757, when the place was for sale. If was then the property of Sir Alex- ander Nesbit, a Scotch Baronet, and was bought in by his sons, Sir John and Alexander. Sir John married a Miss Allston, but was, before his marriage, a man of sporting instincts and affable manners. He caused many a flutter in the dove-cote if an incident taken from Irving's "History of the Turf in South Carolina" is to be believed. Many of the gentlemen of the neighboring plantations were ardent followers of the Sport of Kings. Strangely enough this apparently idle hobby was destined to have a deep significance at the time of the Revo- Intionary war, because the "Swamp Fox," Marion, and his men, commanded the use of extraordinarily well-bred horses in their guerilla warfare against the British, and other cav- alry leaders know where to apply for a good mount.
Chief among these men who raised good horses were Daniel Ravenel of Wantoot, and the Harlestons. The love of the sport, as well as some of the original stock, survived the Revo- lution. In February, 1796, a race was run between John Ran- dolph, of Virginia, and Sir John Nesbit of Dean Hall. Each rode his own horse; Randolph won. Many of the married fair ones were heard to confess after the race was over, that although Mr. Randolph had won the race Sir John had won their hearts, and that they much preferred him in a match to his more successful competitor.
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The sporting instinct has manifested itself in a succession of owners, and although rice planting was the chief industry, hunting has flourished there. This is very natural on account of the fact that the plantation rice fields, alternately flowed (flooded) and drained, afforded splendid reserves for wild durk and deer, in conjunction with the pond-like place where the water was compounded for irrigating the rice fields in time of drought.
The house itself is of brick, set six feet from the ground upon an arched foundation. A veranda surrounds three sides of the lower story, its low, over-hanging eaves imparting a
3
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
tropical appearance to the entire building. This veranda, reached by a double flight of stone steps, is also the entrance," giving access to the hallway which runs the entire length of the square establishment, dividing the house, and affording ventilation as well as light. Upstairs, there being no piazza, all the rooms look out over the river into the park-like woods. of the estate. Thus, because of its favorable situation for water sports, hunting and inland excursions into adjacent fields and woods, Dean Hall has been the scene of much cul- tured hospitality, and during the lifetime of the Nesbits it was visited by an English scientist, Sir Charles Lyell. During the occupancy of the Carsons Dean Hall not only housed many distinguished visitors, but also had much to show them when they arrived in the way of paintings and sculpture, and many rare and valuable books.
Concerning his family, Mr. James P. Carson has this to say: "The name Carson is quite common throughout the country and frequent advertisements concerning property owned by them were seen in the Gazette before and after the Revolution. There was a Dr. James Carson who owned planta- tions around here, and there are Carsons buried in the church yard on Edisto Island, but none of these are my kindred. As a small boy at the circus which I attended with my father we met Elisha Carson, who was my father's cousin. There was a William Carson, who was also a cousin, and to avoid the miscarriage of their letters my father inserted the A in his name.
"James Carson, my grandfather, was born in 1774, and in 1816 died at the age of 12, and is buried at Ballston Spa, New York. At an early age he came to Charleston and was a factor, the firm name was Carson and Snowden, which was dissolved in 1797. He then continued the business, and on his retirement was succeeded by his clerks, Kershaw and Cunningham, who, in their turn, were succeeded by Robertson and Blacklock.
"James Carson (1774-1816) married Elizabeth Neyle (1764-1848) on May 6, 1796. She was the daughter of Samson Neyle, a prominent merchant ; she probably had money, was ten years older than James, who evidently had the commercial
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ON COOPER RIVER FROM CHARLESTON
instinct. They had two children, Laura, who married Henry Brevoort in 1816, and my father, William A., who married Caroline Petigru in 1840. In 1805 James bought the Stuart house at the corner of Tradd and Orange Streets, which re- mained in the family until about 1850."
In 1820 William A. Carson, who married Caroline Petrigru, a daughter of Hon. James L. Petigru, the brilliant lawyer, bought Dean Hall. This was found to be the most valuable piece of his property at the time of his death, which occurred during the year 1854, at which time he was a wealthy man and left much property to his executors and trustees for the benefit of his wife and children.
The "Ball Book" says that at one time Dean Hall was bought by "Elias Nonus," who had inherited a fortune from his uncle, Hugh Swinton Ball. He married Miss Odenheimer, daughter of Bishop Odenheimer, of New Jersey, moved to Pennsylvania in 1865, and died there in 1872.
In writing of the Carson tenure of the property, Mr. James Carson says, "My father, William A. Carson, was a rice planter who wore out his life watching a salty river, and died at the age of 56, when I was 10 years old." The property was sold by Mr. James Carson to the present owner, Mr. Benja- min Kittredge, of California, who married Miss Elizabeth Marshall, of Charleston.
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CHAPTER III WESTERN BRANCH OF COOPER RIVER .. ABOVE THE "TEE"
COMINGTEE AND BEYOND ON THE EASTERN SIDE
HIRTY miles from its mouth at Charles- ton, Cooper River divides into two branches, eastern and western, like the letter T. On the little peninsula thus formed Captain Coming settled, and named the place " Coming's Tee." The original grant did not cover the whole of the present Comingtee planta- tion, for the next owner, Elias Ball, purchased and added two adjoining tracts in 1703 and 1704, and in 1735 bought a third tract, described by his son in 1752 as "lying between the T of the river, lands of his own, a creek between Nicholas Harleston (then owner of Rice Hope) and the northwestern branch of Cooper River."
The plantation has always been considered as two tracts, "Comingtee" and "Stoke." "Coming's Tee" was settled by Capt. John Coming and his wife, Affra Harleston (a sister of John Harleston, of Mollins, Essex County, England). John Coming was a half-brother of William Ball, farmer of the Devonshire section in England, who never came to America, but sent his brother, Elias Ball, in his place at the time of Capt. Coming's death. These are the same Charleston Com- ings mentioned in Charleston history as owning land at "Oyster Point," and as giving "Glebe lands" to St. Philip's Church.
After Capt. Coming's death his half-brother. Elias Ball, came over to America to look after the estates of the widow Coming. He married Mrs. Coming's sister, Elizabeth Harle- ston. Capt. Coming and his wife were childless, and after the death of the latter some time in 1698 or 1699 Coming Tee
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WESTERN BRANCH OF COOPER RIVER
passed to Elias Ball. who was hardly more than a youth when he took possession of his inheritance: but he was a great sportsman and frequently commanded scouting parties after Indians. His first wife died about 1720, and 11 months later he married Mary Delamere, a girl the age of his eldest daughter.
Of Mary little is known, and nothing remains of her per- soual belongings but two books, a prayer book of the Church of England and a collection of quaint old pamphlets bound together in one volume. A human touch concerning the life of these dead and gone people is found in accounts of the eleven months following the death of the first Mrs. Elias Ball, and the trouble the bereaved and perplexed widower had with his children. It is said that in his memorandum book the name of "Mary Delamere" is scrawled across page after page right through the daily accounts. The way out of all perplexities was beginning to present itself, with the result that Elias married Mary.
There were soon two sets of children, as Mary had by this marriage seven, two of whom died young, and two girls died at about fifteen years of age, but another daughter, Eleanor Ball, lived and married Colonel Henry Laurens, the celebrated patriot. The exact date of Elias' death can only be surmised, but Eleanor Laurens' name appears in his will in 1750, and in a codicil in 1751. His burial place also is a matter of conjecture, supposedly in West St. Philip's Churchyard in Charleston.
The Balls were English people from Devonshire, and in the Ball Book's description of the house that Elias Ball built in Carolina, a map of Devonshire, England, from Speed's Atlas, is shown. This map contains Ball places in England, "Stoke," and "Combe-in-tene" settlements near the mouth of the River Tyne, and reveals the similar relative positions of the "Stoke" and "Coming Tee" tracts on Cooper River in America, to their English counterparts.
The Carolina Stoke had a barn, and negro houses, and was where the Brick Mill builded by Elias Ball now stands. The name Stoke appears in the will of Elias Ball when he leaves
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
the plantation under discussion to his nephew, John Ball, Jr., but the dwelling house was always on Comingtee, which also had its own barn, corn house, negro quarters and. gang of negroes.
The first owner of Comingtee, Capt. Coming, probably built on or near the site of the present dwelling. It is not known whether he or Elias Ball built the brick house now there, and there is no clue to the exact date of this building, but it is said to be one of the two oldest houses in the Parish (the other being Exeter, high up on the Western Branch).
Tradition has it that the bricks for this structure were brought from England, and it is thought that the brick house was built by Elias Ball, while the Comings dwelt in a wooden cottage which stood on the neighboring slope, opposite the large sycamores in the avenue, and which was standing as late as the year 1865, at which time it gave evidence of being quite an old place. In front of this wooden house were two beautiful live oaks which still mark the spot. For many years it was used as the overseer's residence, but after the overseers lived at Stoke it became the sick-house, or plantation hospital for the negroes. Rumor held that, as is the case with most old plantations, the family burying ground was near the house, and as the graveyard at Comingtee was thought to be near the wooden house, it would seem that this was the original dwelling.
A family memorandum book says that there were two houses at Comingtee in the day of the first and second Elias; in proof of this an entry in 1736 is made, "To half a days work on the old house." Some house, old or new, underwent repairs and alterations after 1731, and in 1738 "something was done" to the garret windows of the brick house that took several days' work. In 1743 and 1763 the house was shingled, and was repaired at a cost of 400 pounds.
The Ball Book says: "The old brick house was built, as was then customary, without piazzas. This was evidenced by the horizontal bands in relief on each side and gable of the building (known in architecture as ' lines of relief ') placed there for artistic effect. . . The old house contained origin-
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"COMING TEE" HOUSE, ON COOPER RIVER Where the river divides into two branches
STRAWBERRY CHAPEL, COOPER RIVER
WESTERN BRANCH OF COOPER RIVER
ally only two rooms on each floor, with no passage-way between the two lower rooms. Into the larger of these the front door. opened. The staircase also came down into this larger room. - At a later day the panelled partition was erected, forming a passage-way, and cutting off the South room from the stair- way. The rooms on both floors had the old-time wide fire- places with high mantels, and heavy cornices around the room. Wooden panelling cut off deep closets on each side of the chimneys on both lower and upper stories, with narrow gable windows in them for light. When the piazzas were added, the lower rooms were so much darkened that it became necessary to remove the lower closets and enlarge the gable windows to double their original size. The house when built was not rough-cast, as it has been for over a hundred years, but was of plain brick-work, finished with pointing mortar." A wooden addition as large as the original house was added in 1833 or 1834 by John Ball, the owner at that time.
Both the house and the wooden addition have deep cellars with fireplaces large enough to roast an ox, and no doubt many a turnspit has sat here in this corner (himself half roasted) when helping to prepare a roast pig or Christmas turkey for the guests above,
Comingtee had a beautiful old-fashioned garden with a straight walk down the middle, between flower beds bordered with jonquils, snowdrops and sweet old-fashioned roses, while crepe-myrtle trees faced each other across this walk. An old brass dial in a sunny spot marked the passage of the hours.
This place is beautifully situated and easy of access. In addition to the water front there are two land approaches to Comingtee ; one the avenue which comes to the house from the north and leads from the public road that goes up the western branch to upper St. John's and its settlements; the other (called quaintly the "So' Boy Avenue") leads to the house from the public road that winds up along the eastern branch, leading over Bonneau's Ferry to French Santee.
On this plantation there is a chain of reservoirs for flooding the adjacent rice fields at need, and the one between Coming- tee and Fishpond (the Harleston place) has been much dis-
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HISTORIC HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA
cussed and disputed about. It was supposed to belong jointly, and the full history of this reserve would embrace the history of the entire countryside until 1874 when agreement was made concerning the break in the dam which caused the first quarrel.
The first Elias, called " 'Red Cap," lived at the plantation until 1740, then he moved to Charleston, and his son Elias took possession. About this time John Coming Ball, second son of the first Elias, married; he built and settled at "Hyde Park," a plantation on the eastern branch. Elias, the second, was a bachelor, and becoming lonely he built and settled at "Kensington, " the next plantation to Hyde Park, in order to be near his brother. He subsequently married Mrs. . Lydia Chicken, a widow, and their son, the third Elias, inherited and dwelt at Comingtee. Elias the second was buried, by his own request, from his old home there.
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