City Directories and History: This square house with a wide two-story portico is an excellent example of typical historic Beaufort residences. Built in 1816 as a wedding gift for Sarah Reeves Gibbes by her brothers, and assisted by Philadelphia artisans, it derives its name from her husband, William Wigg Barnwell, a Beaufort farmer and plantation owner. Sarah was the great-granddaughter of famed “Tuscarora Jack” Barnwell, leader of the bloody 1711-1712 expedition against Tuscarora Indians of North Carolina. The three-story white clapboard structure has a two-story veranda across the entire front facing south toward the river. Slender classical columns juxtapose on one another. The house is three bays wide and deep with a central front entrance. The veranda originally faced a formal garden, but that area is now occupied by other houses. The house was formerly located at 800 Prince Street. Listed in the National Register March 24, 1971. [Courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives and History]
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“Built ca. 1816, this twelve-room, three-story frame house was built Gibbes brothers for their sister, Sarah Reeve Gibbes, who married William Barnwell. He was the grandson of the Revolutionary War hero Major Hazzard Wigg. The house is three bays wide and has a two-story porch across the each story supported by six round columns. The structure has a hip roof two interior chimneys.
During the Civil War the house served as Hospital Number 4. It had into use as a tenement apartment by the late 1960’s. In January 1973, the was scheduled for demolition. The Historic Beaufort Foundation moved house in September 1973 from its original location on the southeast corner Prince and Scotts Streets (800 Prince Street), to the present location on King Street. Restored 1976, the Barnwell house is now used as a private residence.”
Information from: Historic Resources of the Lowcountry, The Lowcountry Council of Government, Cynthia C. Jenkins, Preservation Planner – Published, 1979
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