Hampton Plantation facts for kids
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Hampton Plantation
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Hampton Plantation House in 2010
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| Nearest city | McClellanville, South Carolina |
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| Built | 1730 |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000582 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | April 15, 1970 |
| Designated NHL | April 15, 1970 |
Hampton Plantation is a special historic place in McClellanville, South Carolina. It's also known as Hampton Plantation House or Hampton Plantation State Historic Site. This plantation was started way back in 1735. Its main house is famous for being one of the first buildings in the United States to have a "temple front" design. This means it has big columns like an ancient Greek temple. It's also a great example of a Georgian style house made of wood. Because of its importance, it was named a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
Exploring Hampton Plantation Today
Today, Hampton Plantation covers almost 300 acres (about 120 hectares) of land. It sits by Hampton Creek, which flows into the Santee River in South Carolina. Most of the land isn't used for farming anymore. It has gone back to being natural woods and swamps.
The main house is a large, two-and-a-half-story building. It's made of wood with a brick foundation. The most striking part of the house is its front. It has eight large Doric columns that support a fancy carved design and a triangular roof section called a pediment. This special front was added around 1790-1791. People believe it was the very first of its kind in the United States!
A House Built Over Time
The Hampton Plantation house wasn't built all at once. It grew and changed over many years. The first part of the house was built in 1735 by Noe Serre. He was a French Huguenot refugee, meaning he was a French Protestant who had to leave his home. This first part was a two-story building with a central hallway.
In 1757, Daniel Horry bought the property. He made the house much bigger. He added a two-story ballroom on one side and a master bedroom on the other. To make the house look even, he put fake windows on the front of these new parts. The grand front porch with columns was the last big change to the house.
Important Families and a Famous Poet
The Horry family and later owners, like the Pinckney and Rutledge families, were very important in South Carolina. They were powerful in politics and business.
The last private owner of Hampton Plantation was Archibald Rutledge. He was a famous writer and became South Carolina's first official poet. In his 1941 book, Home by the River, Mr. Rutledge wrote about returning to Hampton Plantation in 1937. He had been away for 33 years! He shared stories of how he worked hard to restore the plantation and its 209-year-old house all by himself. His family had owned the land since 1686.
Another famous writer, Pat Conroy, wrote about meeting Archibald Rutledge at Hampton Plantation. Conroy was a teenager who wanted to be a writer. Rutledge talked to him about writing and the long history of the plantation. The state of South Carolina bought the property in 1971, making it a historic site for everyone to visit and learn from.
