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Hutchinson House (Edisto Island, South Carolina)

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Coordinates: 32°34′11″N 80°15′25.45″W / 32.56972°N 80.2570694°W / 32.56972; -80.2570694
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Hutchinson House
Hutchinson House, photographed in 2013
Hutchinson House (Edisto Island, South Carolina) is located in South Carolina
Hutchinson House (Edisto Island, South Carolina)
Hutchinson House (Edisto Island, South Carolina) is located in the United States
Hutchinson House (Edisto Island, South Carolina)
Location7666 Point of Pines Rd., Edisto Island, South Carolina
Coordinates32°34′11″N 80°15′25.45″W / 32.56972°N 80.2570694°W / 32.56972; -80.2570694
Builtc. 1885
NRHP reference No.86003218[1]
Added to NRHPMay 5, 1987
The Hutchinson House as it was originally constructed, circa 1900.

The Hutchinson House is the oldest identified house on Edisto Island, South Carolina associated with the black community after the American Civil War. It was the residence of Henry Hutchinson, a freed slave.

History

Following the Civil War, Jim Hutchinson worked to assemble groups of freed blacks who would collectively purchase land on Edisto Island. Each contributor then received a fractional interest in the lands acquired. Jim Hutchinson's children built their own homes and farms on the land Jim had acquired. One of his children was Henry Hutchinson. Henry Hutchinson's house is the only one remaining.[2] Henry Hutchinson is said to have built the house at the time of his marriage to Rosa Swinton in 1885 and resided here until his death in 1940. This home, like many other homes built during that time, reflected the pride and independence for the new black farmers and the Edisto community after the Civil War. This custom well-crafted home was built barely 20 years after the Civil War ended by Henry Hutchinson, Jack Miller, and their uncle John Pearson Hutchinson (who was an unlicensed black architect).[3]

Henry was a noteworthy post-war Sea Island Cotton planter and was recorded in the News and Courier in 1905 & 1909 as having brought the first bag to the Charleston market for several years running. Henry consigned his crop to Dill, Ball & Company who was his factor. Henry owned and operated a cotton gin on the island from about 1900 into the 1920s. The gin was located in a cotton house adjacent to his home. The cotton house was formerly a part of Clark Plantation and adjacent to the Clark Plantation house. Henry purchased and refurbished the building after the Civil War. The cotton gin he operated was notably a McCarthy gin powered by a coal-fired steam engine. Henry ginned his own Sea Island Cotton crop and the cotton produced by other freedmen on Edisto Island from about 1900 into the 1920s. Henry consigned not only his own crop but that of his neighbor's whose cotton he ginned, acting as an intermediary for sales and loans for his neighbors and Dill, Ball & Co. When the Boll Weevil destroyed the crop's viability on Edisto in the early 1920s, Henry continued to plant the cash crop in some capacity and was recorded in the Charleston Evening Post on June 8th 1930 as having grown the first cotton blossoms of the year for South Carolina. The Hutchinson House is considered one of many symbols of hard work, self-reliance, and success for Edisto’s emerging African American community. [4]

The house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.[5] The house and property were purchased by the Edisto Island Open Land Trust, a local non-profit land conservation organization, in 2016.[6][7] The EIOLT began stabilization of the structure in 2017 and is planning to restore the house to its original condition.[8][9] As of 2019, the property is now publicly accessible from a small parking lot, although access beyond this parking lot is currently restricted.

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ Behre, Robert (February 4, 1996). "Preserving black history". Charleston Post & Courier. pp. A1. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  3. ^ Estevez, Greg (October 20, 2019). Edisto Island : The African American Journey. USA: Kindle Publishing Direct. p. 166-167. ISBN 9781794499218.
  4. ^ Gyselinck, Julie (May 24, 2018). "Hutchinson House: Home Sweet Home". Explore Edisto Online Magazine: 66-67. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  5. ^ "Hutchinson House, Charleston County (Point of Pines Rd., Edisto Island)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved Dec 2, 2012.
  6. ^ "Hutchinson House Property".
  7. ^ Behre, Robert (July 8, 2017). "Charleston County's Henry Hutchinson House — built by a 'black king of Edisto' — has brighter future". The Post and COurier.
  8. ^ Behre, Robert (December 14, 2017). "Historic Henry Hutchinson house on Edisto Island now a happy camper as it awaits restoration". The Post and Courier.
  9. ^ "The Henry Hutchinson House".


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