Hightower Hall

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Hightower Hall
Hightower Hall.jpg
Hightower Hall, March 2012
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LocationCounty Road 165, near McConnells, South Carolina
Coordinates 34°52′52″N81°10′53″W / 34.88111°N 81.18139°W / 34.88111; -81.18139 Coordinates: 34°52′52″N81°10′53″W / 34.88111°N 81.18139°W / 34.88111; -81.18139
Area23.9 acres (9.7 ha)
Builtc. 1854 (1854)
Built byCranford, O.P.
Architectural styleItalian Villa
NRHP reference No. 82003907 [1]
Added to NRHPJune 28, 1982

Hightower Hall (Forrest Hall) is a historic home located near McConnells, York County, South Carolina. Completed in 1856, Hightower Hall is a two-story, weatherboarded frame dwelling in a vernacular interpretation of the Italianate style. [2] The front facade features a prominent three-story tower that rises ten feet above the main roof of the house. It also has a low-pitched roof, deep eaves, decorative brackets and verandahs. Also on the property are two barns and two slave cabins. [3] [4]

Contents

History

Construction began in 1854 by John Simpson Bratton Jr. and Harriet Rainy Bratton. In 1856 the home was completed and was called Forrest Hall. In 1888 John Bratton died, followed by his wife Harriet in 1912. Sophia (Bratton) Witherspoon, the daughter of John and Harriet, and her husband Robert Witherspoon gained ownership. [2]

The home was purchased by Mr. R. F. Draper, and IBM executive, in 1958 where it gained the name "Hightower Hall." The family acquired an additional 1,285 acres by the time of his death in 1995. Brattonsville Historic District purchased the property and surrounding 485 acres of the Draper Estate with help from the Nation Ford Land Trust, the Friends of Historic Brattonsville and the York County Council. The remaining property was purchased by the State of South Carolina, becoming part of the South Carolina Wildlife Management system. [2]

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. [1]

Hightower Hall is now part of Historic Brattonsville and is open as a historic house museum.

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James Rufus Bratton was a doctor, army surgeon, civic leader, and leader in the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina with whom he was guilty of committing numerous crimes. Bratton trained in medicine in Philadelphia in the 1840s but spent most of his life in Yorkville, South Carolina. He joined the Confederate Army as an assistant surgeon in April 1861, the opening month of the American Civil War. After the war, he became an opponent of Reconstruction and a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. He was one of the leaders linked in the lynching and killing of local black leader Jim Williams. This led to a string of violent attacks which eventually led to a large group of York County blacks emigrating to Liberia. Bratton fled to London, Ontario, to escape prosecution, but later was able to return to South Carolina, where he pursued his career in medicine for the remainder of his life.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Culture & Heritage Museums". www.chmuseums.org. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  3. John Wells; Suzanne P. Wylie; Linda VanderBroek (December 1981). "Hightower Hall" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  4. "Hightower Hall, York County (S.C. Sec. Rd. 165, Brattonsville vicinity)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 2014-07-01.