The Woodburn House

 

While we were driving up to Greenville we stopped at an old civil war era house in Pendleton, South Carolina. It was owned originally by Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, an extremely rich man and friend of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. It was built by enslaved people somewhere in between 1828 and 1830. Pinckney then sold it to David S. Taylor (Charles then was appointed by George Washington to the post of United States Minister to France), who resold it to John Bailey Adger, a Presbyterian missionary who used it as a summer home, leaving the plantation under the care of enslaved people, which was not common in the south.

There were lots of children in the Woodburn House. From 0 to 5 the children would sleep in the nursery. After that they graduated to the attic, and when they were 12 they were considered adults. The Woodburn Plantation was also where Jane Edna Hunter was born. She was the creator of the Phillis Wheatley Association, a social services organisation. 

It was really impressive how many artefacts they had at Woodburn, from the house itself and even from other plantation homes of the same time period. We had a great guide too. My favourite part was seeing all the furniture, instruments, china and other things the Pinckneys and Adgers would of used. My second favourite thing was probably seeing the cabins where the enslaved people lived.

Thanks for reading! And until next time, be happy you have probably never had to use a chamber pot, and hopefully never will.