Tabby Manse | |
 Tabby Manse - Thomas Fuller House | |
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| Location | 1211 Bay St., Beaufort, South Carolina |
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| Coordinates | 32°25′57.5″N80°40′35.1″W / 32.432639°N 80.676417°W |
| Built | 1786 |
| Part of | Beaufort Historic District (ID69000159 [1] ) |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000745 [2] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 14, 1971 |
| Designated NHLDCP | November 7, 1973 |
Tabby Manse, also known as Thomas Fuller House, is a building in Beaufort, South Carolina. [3] [4]
The house is one of the few remaining early buildings on the South Carolina coast whose exterior walls are built of tabby, a material composed of whole oysters shells and lime from crushed oyster shells. The walls are more than two-feet thick and covered with stucco scored to look like stone blocks. It was built around 1786 by Thomas Fuller, a prominent local planter. [3] Tabby Manse is noted for its classical proportions and superb construction. It is one of only a handful of remaining early American residences whose exterior walls are made entirely of tabby.
Thomas Fuller, a rice and cotton planter built this house, first known as the Fuller mansion as a wedding gift to his bride, Elizabeth Middleton. Descended from Henry Woodward, the first English settler in South Carolina, Elizabeth was a member of three of the most prominent colonial South Carolina families—the Barnwells, the Bulls, and the Middletons. Her great-grandfather, John "Tuscarora Jack" Barnwell, subdued the Indians in the Carolinas, and her first cousin, Arthur Middleton, signed the United States Declaration of Independence.
Upon settling in Sheldon and Beaufort, Thomas Fuller made a fortune as a planter. He and Elizabeth reared their twelve children here, the most prominent being two Harvard-educated sons---Dr. Thomas Fuller, Jr., physician, and Dr. Richard Fuller, lawyer turned Baptist minister, who became a nationally famous preacher and spearheaded the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Federal occupation of Beaufort immediately following the Battle of Port Royal on November 7, 1861, early in the American Civil War, swept away the Fullers, their friends, and their way of life. In early 1862 the Reverend Mansfield French, a Methodist minister sponsored by the American Missionary Association, headed an expedition to Beaufort to care for abandoned slaves and occupied this house. When in 1864 the house was auctioned to pay Federal real estate taxes, French purchased it. Active in Republican politics, he sought unsuccessfully to become the first United States senator of the Reconstruction era from South Carolina. His son, Winchell, founded a Republican newspaper here, The Beaufort Tribune.
In the 1870s when Winchell went bankrupt and moved to Florida, the French family transferred title to Winchell's wife, Emmeline Morrill, a native of Quebec. Her sister, Almira Morrill Onthank, and Almira's nieces, Emma Onthank and Alma and Clara Greenwood, opened a guest house here, which they named Tabby Manse and operated for almost 100 years.
Francis Griswold wrote A Sea Island Lady while staying here in the 1930s, vividly describing the interior as the heart of the house he called Marshlands in his famous novel of the Civil War, patterned after Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
In 1969 a Beaufort native, George Graham Trask, and his wife, Constance Claire Bowen, purchased Tabby Manse from the Greenwood heirs, marking only the third time in almost 200 years the house has changed hands from one family group to another. They restored the dwelling, added a modern kitchen, and created the gardens. Their children---Graham, Christian, and Claire---were the first to grow up here in more than a century.
Tabby Manse gathers its essential architectural features from the inspiration of Andrea Palladio, the 16th-century Vicentine architect of country villas, and from the style of English country houses. These twin influences also inspired Thomas Jefferson in his contemporaneous design of Monticello, the most famous Palladian-style house in America.
The floor plan of Tabby Manse is symmetrical, each room having its twin on the opposite side. The two drawing rooms on the first floor and the one upstairs, called the "ballroom", are paneled in native longleaf pine and cypress. Elegant mantels, contrasting with simple woodwork, are in the high style of the 18th-century English designer Robert Adam. Projecting rear wings give the back rooms direct southern exposure to waterfront views and fresh sea breezes. Except for the 20th-century kitchen addition, the structure remains unchanged from 1786.
Tabby Manse is individually listed in the Historic American Buildings Survey and the National Register of Historic Places. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. [2] It is also a contributing property in the Beaufort Historic District, which is a National Historic Landmark.
Beaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston, which was established in 1670. A city rich in history, culture, southern hospitality, and a seaside charm, Beaufort is affectionally known as the "Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands". The city's population was 13,607 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Island–Bluffton metropolitan area.
Daufuskie Island, located between Hilton Head Island and Savannah, is the southernmost inhabited sea island in South Carolina. It is 5 miles (8 km) long by almost 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide – approximate surface area of 8 square miles (21 km2). With over 3 miles (5 km) of beachfront, Daufuskie is surrounded by the waters of Calibogue Sound, the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. It was listed as a census-designated place in the 2020 census with a population of 557.
The Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, also known as the Gamble Mansion or Gamble Plantation, is a Florida State Park, located in Ellenton, Florida, on 37th Avenue East and US 301. It is home to the Florida Division United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).
Fort Frederick Heritage Preserve is a 3-acre (12,000 m2) property located in Port Royal, South Carolina. Situated along the Beaufort River, the preserve contains the remains of Fort Frederick. Also known as Fort Prince Frederick, the tabby fort was built by the British between 1730 and 1734 to defend against a possible attack from the Spanish at St. Augustine, Florida. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Beaufort Historic District is a historic district in Beaufort, South Carolina. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.
William Barnwell House is a house in Beaufort, South Carolina. It may be included in the Beaufort Historic District, a National Historic Landmark.
The Barnwell-Gough House, also known as Old Barnwell House, is a house built in Beaufort, South Carolina in 1789.
The Robert Smalls House is a historic house at 511 Prince Street in Beaufort, South Carolina. Built in 1843 and altered several times, the house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974 for its association with Robert Smalls (1839-1915). Smalls, born into slavery, achieved notice for commandeering the CSS Planter and sailing her to freedom during the American Civil War. After the war he represented South Carolina in the United States House of Representatives during Reconstruction.
Marshlands, also known as the James Robert Verdier House, is a historic house at 501 Pinckney Street in Beaufort, South Carolina. Built about 1814, it is a high quality and well-preserved example of early Beaufort architecture, showing both Adamesque and West Indian stylistic influences. It is also notable as a home of Dr. James Robert Verdier, who discovered a treatment for yellow fever. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973 for its architectural significance.
Tabby is a type of concrete made by burning oyster shells to create lime, then mixing it with water, sand, ash and broken oyster shells. Tabby was used by early Spanish settlers in present-day Florida, then by British colonists primarily in coastal South Carolina and Georgia. It is a man-made analogue of coquina, a naturally-occurring sedimentary rock derived from shells and also used for building.
Stoney-Baynard Plantation on Hilton Head Island, SC was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The listing included one contributing site on 6 acres (2.4 ha).
Isaac Fripp House Ruins is a historic house ruin and archaeological site located on Saint Helena Island near Frogmore, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The ruins are located at Bay View overlooking the junction of Chowan Creek and the Beaufort River. The two-story, tabby house dates to the early- to mid-19th century. It is associated with Isaac Fripp, a planter of sea island cotton and other staples on St. Helena Island.
Riverside Plantation Tabby Ruins is a historic archeological site located on Saint Helena Island near Frogmore, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The ruins are significant as an example of early- to mid-19th century tabby construction. The ruins are the remains of an outbuilding associated with the Riverside Plantation and have great archaeological potential.
Little Barnwell Island is a historic archeological site located near Port Royal, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The site consists of two shell and earth mounds located on the eastern side of Little Barnwell Island overlooking Whale Branch. The larger of the two mounds is elliptical and once served as the base for a temple or ceremonial building. The mounds and building were probably constructed during the late Savannah II Period ca. A.D. 1500.
Orange Grove Plantation is a historic plantation house and national historic district located on Saint Helena Island near Frogmore, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The district encompasses one contributing building and two contributing sites, and reflects the early-20th century influx of Northerners onto St. Helena Island. The plantation was first recorded in 1753 when Peter Perry purchased 473 acres. Perry owned 46 chattel slaves. The plantation house, built about 1800, was in poor condition when Henry L. Bowles (1866-1932), a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, bought the property in 1928. He demolished it and built the present house in the same year. The property also includes the tabby ruin of the kitchen, built about 1800, and a tabby-walled cemetery containing three early-19th century graves of the Fripp and Perry families.
Pine Island Plantation Complex is a historic hunting plantation complex and national historic district located on Pine Island near Frogmore, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The district encompasses six contributing buildings and one contributing sites, and is an early-20th century hunting plantation. The main house at Pine Island was built about 1904, and is a two-story frame structure built on an existing tabby foundation. The front façade features a full-width two-story porch. Also on the property are the contributing cottage, a toolshed/doghouse, a barn, a pumphouse, an automobile garage, and causeway.
Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins is a historic plantation complex and archaeological site located at Frogmore, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The site, possibly built upon and occupied well before 1783. It includes the ruins and/or archaeological remains of at least 12 tabby structures. They include the main plantation house, a rectangular enclosure consisting of tabby walls, a large tabby kitchen, and five tabby slave quarters. Also on the property were a variety of tabby dependencies including a barn/stable, a smoke house or blade house, a well/dairy house, and a well. The property also includes the Sams family cemetery and Episcopal chapel enclosed by high tabby walls. Other structures include possibly an overseer's house, a granary/mill, and a tabby cotton house. During and subsequent to the American Civil War the Sams Tabby Complex was occupied by freedman. Following the Civil War the plantation house was destroyed by hurricanes.
Callawassie Island is one of hundreds of barrier and sea islands in the southeast corner in the outer coastal plain, making up a portion of Beaufort County, South Carolina.
The Callawassie Sugar Works is a historically significant industrial site at 29 Sugar Mill Drive in Okatie, South Carolina, on Callawassie Island in Beaufort County. The site contains the tabby ruins of two structures and archeological evidence of a third structure. The sugar works, constructed circa 1815–1818, was a complex for processing sugar cane into sugar.
The Parish Church of St. Helena is a historic Anglican church in Beaufort, South Carolina. Founded in 1712, it is among the oldest churches in the United States. Its building—erected in 1724 but expanded and substantially modified in the 19th century—is among the oldest continuously used church buildings in the United States. The church is a contributing property to the Beaufort Historic District, and the broader parish encompasses several sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Beaufort County.
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