Day 58 - South Carolina

Day 58

December 8

Lexington, South Carolina

Dear Miss Smith,
    Our stop today was the Lexington County Museum! It's not actually a museum in the usual sense of the word, but a 7 acre area in the heart of Lexington that consists of 36 historic structures and buildings! The "museum" (It seems weird to call it that, since it's not all contained in one building.) has several restored houses and their outbuildings, barns, a school, and also a post office!The post office is the original Lexington County post office and is believed to have been built around 1790!

Leaphart/Harman House

    After browsing through the exhibits in the main museum building and exhibit hall, we headed outside to the first house, the Leaphart/Harman House. This house was built some around 1800 and has been home to only two families in it's 200 year history. I thought the brick chimney was really cool. It has a diagonal pattern in the bricks! We were told that that diagonal pattern is the last remaining example in the county.
    From there we debated where to head next. Across the street were several houses, the post office and school, while on this side was the John Fox House, the most notable building in the museum, and all it's outbuildings. We ended up deciding to cross the street first.

Corley Log House

    After stopping in the post office and school, we headed to the oldest documented house in Lexington, constructed in 1771: the Corley Log house. The original owner, Laurance Corley, owned the land that became the town of Lexington! The log cabin consisted of one downstairs room and a loft. Wow, I think I would have gone stir crazy in the winter! It was so tiny and not really any windows!

Daniel Koon house

    The Daniel Koon house made me think of a little model house for some reason. I think maybe because of the green shutters and white siding . . . and the fact that it was small. :)

Hazelius House

    The coolest part of the Hazelius house was the corner where you could see evidence of an attempt to set fire to the house by Federal troops in 1865. That, and learning that this house was the location where Charlie Tillman wrote the gospel song "Give Me That Old Time Religion!" :)

John Fox House

    The John Fox House is really a neat looking house, two stories tall with a long porch with white pillars along the front of the house, and a row of windows above the porch roof on the upper story. It was the first building in Lexington County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house features furniture and other artifacts made in Lexington County that show how the house would have been set up around the middle of the nineteenth century. It has six bedrooms, but originally had more!
    We could have spent more time walking around and taking a closer look at all the outbuildings but instead Priscilla thought it would be a good idea to start the drive to Redcliffe and get part way there.

 We did check out a few of the buildings though before leaving. The Wadlington Pigeon House is a very unique looking building! It's octagonal shape with a peaked roof, and 112 access holes. I guess the octagonal ornamental architecture style was popular in the 1850s, but it's kinda rare to find now. There's only one other pigeon house from that period still known to exist in South Carolina.

    After all that walking, it felt good to sit in the vehicle! Actually it put me to sleep for a while. We're now at an RV park where we'll spend the night. And Priscilla just informed me that she and Susanna are going to take the dogs out, so I think I'll stop writing and join them.

Hope everything is going well there!

-Abigail