City Directories and History: Probably one of the oldest houses on Edisto Island, the Old House Plantation predates the Revolutionary period and has a floor plan indicative of that era. Originally a rather small one-and-one half story house with a gable roof and on a basement-height brick supports, the house was likely built by William Jenkins between 1735 and 1760.
Old House Plantation NR File Photo / SC Dept. of Archives and History
The house reflects architectural trends in the three centuries of its existence: basic pre-Revolutionary country house design, nineteenth century Greek Revival with touches of Adamesque, as in the symmetry of slender windows to each side of the front doorway, and twentieth century additions of a modern kitchen, bathrooms, central air conditioning and heating. The exterior was extensively altered in the first half of the nineteenth century by the addition of a porch with Tuscan columns at front and engaged columns at rear, the porch covered by a pediment with a keystoned fanlight, two front dormers, Palladian front door with keystoned fanlight, and original boarding between brick supports to form the basement, later replaced by open header brickwork. The commissary was constructed ca. 1898 to serve three plantations: Old House, Oak Island, and Cassina Point. It is a one-story, with loft, rectangular, weatherboard-clad building with a front-gable roof. Listed in the National Register May 14, 1971.
Other sources of interest: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61 and the Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917
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NATIONAL REGISTER – IMAGES(S) “Increase”
TEXT – NR NOMINATION
NATIONAL REGISTER – IMAGES(S)
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MY Name is Edith I will be age 74 on January 20, 2024. I can remember going to the old house with my mom, she was a cook. When she had to clean the house before the Langley’s return for a visit. She would let me dust the furniture using a very dark oil polish. One day I drop the oil on the oriental rug I hope she was able to clean it up she never mentioned it to me or spoke of it again. I was so sorry I was afraid she would have gotten in trouble to this day I have no idea if she were able to get the stain out of the rug. Later the Langley sold the house to the Hamptons. Mrs. Hampton always wore her hair braided around her head in a halo they lived in Columbia, S.C. They had one daughter my Mother called her name Rabb. My mother love the family and they showed they appreciated financially and would never miss a Christmas visiting us with gifts. They were like Santa at Christmas. We miss them when they were no longer able to visit because of they age. They finally sold the house and that was the end of my visit to the old house on the Island. I always wanted to visit the old house again. My mom was born at the old house plantation in 1927. Her grand father worked as a Foreman on the plantation. My mother’s father moved them of the plantation in the mid 1930, at our present resident on Edisto Island. Mary my mother cooked for families on the beach, D.D. Dodge Plantation, and Botany Bay plantation for Ms. Pepper.