City Directories and History: In 1979, this was listed as the Ora A.R.P. Manse having served as the manse from about 1880-1900.
“John Hunter II is said to have built the former manse at Ora, or Scuffletown at that time. Through inheritance, William Hunter acquired the homestead which went next to Doctor Samuel Marvin Hunter. When Doctor Hunter moved to Greenville County in 1880, the property appears to have been bought from the Hunter estate by the mother of Will J. Fleming. The latter moved a portion of the Hunter house from its original site and incorporated it into the newer Fleming residence.
At a later time Will Fleming gave the house to the Associate Reformed Church to be used as a manse. The earliest records show that the Reverend John Renwick, Jr., was the first pastor of Bethel (Ora) in 1812, but he resided in Newberry County. The Reverend Renwick resigned in 1825, and for the next eleven years supply pastors served the church. Around the turn of the century, the Reverend Boyce Hemphill Grier and family were living in the manse (date of gift of manse to the church is un-known). Doctor I. N. Kennedy assumed pastoral duties at Bethel in 1912, and moved his family into the manse. Some additions were made to the house at that time. Margaret Kennedy Blakely (Mrs. Milton Blakely) of Laurens was bom in the manse.
Since that time Bethel has built a new dwelling house for its pastors, and the old manse presently is occupied by Ansel Trammell and family.”
Information from: The Laurens County Sketchbook, Author – J.S. Bolick, 1973
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