This building is
believed to be the oldest house in Eutawville. It was built as a summer
house by Captain Peter Charles Gaillard of Haydon Hill Plantation and
his son-in-law, Dr. Thomas William Porcher, of Walworth Plantation in
the mid-1830s.
The large plantation owners
in nearby St. Stephen’s Parish believed that the vapor-like miasma that came
up from the swamps and lowlands during the evenings caused chills and fever
that often proved fatal. According to M. C. Orvin’s Berkeley County history,
in 1793, James Sinkler of St. Stephen’s Parish, observed that those who
lived in the nearby pinelands seemed to avoid the illnesses. As an
experiment, he built a summer home in such a location and moved his family
there in June. When he returned his healthy family to their plantation in
November, friends and relatives were easily convinced of the benefits of a
seasonal move. This was the beginning of Pineville, the first such village
in the south, and families from both St. Stephen’s and Upper-St. John’s
moved there during the summer.
In 1833, an epidemic of
fever threw gloom over the village in Pineville. Since many of the planters
had already obtained property in Upper St. John’s and had built large homes
there, they began another village and called it Eutaw (a Cherokee word
meaning "pine tree"). After Captain Gaillard and Dr. Porcher built this
first house, others followed. They were all similar in design, with long
porches across the front to take advantage of the summer breezes. These
summer houses were simple wooden structures without ornamentation, usually
two stories and with fireplaces for cool autumn evenings.
For social reasons, these
houses were built near each other, and families and friends were able to
enjoy many pleasant gatherings. It was said that the summer residents left
the plantations when "the chinaberry trees began to bloom in the spring, and
returned after the first frost in November when the sweet potato vines
died".
Some of the unique features
of this summer house are the enclosed upper portion of the front porch which
traps the rising warm air under the roof. By opening and closing the roof
dormer, a blanket of warm air wraps the upper floor in the winter or allows
it to rise into the atmosphere in the summer months. The small windows to
the upstairs bedrooms are also of interest. In the front hallway and living
room, note the three original cypress plank doors on wooden hinges. The
stairs to the bedrooms ascend from what was originally the back porch of the
house.
Most of these summer houses
have either disappeared or have been made into comfortable year-round
residences.
In 1882, the Ladies Sewing
Society, the precursor to the Ladies Auxiliary and later the Episcopal
Church Women (ECW), purchased this house from Dr. Thomas Porcher for the sum
of $400. It was to be used as the Parish Rectory. Since then, it has been
known as The Rectory and has housed a number of Episcopal ministers and
their families.
After the Reverend Lincoln
Taylor left in July, 1946, the building was rented and eventually fell into
disrepair. In 1983, the congregation of Epiphany began a renovation of the
old house which took almost two years to complete.
The current residents of
the Rectory are The Very Reverend John F. Scott, Jr. and his wife, Toni,
proprietor of the popular Parish House Tea Room. They have been living there
since Father John began his service at Epiphany on June 1, 1993.
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