City Directories and History: “On Centennial Street in Clinton stands a brick veneered building oblong in shape with outsized windows and a front stoop to balance each of the two stories.
In its original form, the dwelling was a frame structure made of ten-inch outside boards. It had a wide central hall and four practically square rooms on each floor. A section extending from the rear to form an ell was the kitchen and dining area. A wide piazza extended across the front and down one side of the first floor. Two inside chimneys made available a fireplace for each room. The rear grounds were given over to a vegetable garden, an orchard and a cow lot with barns.
The builder is thought to have been Will Griffin, or probably his father; it is still known as the old Griffin house. The date of erection is speculated to have been in the late 1800’s. Around the turn of the century the Griffin property was purchased by Robert James Copeland, a Confederate War veteran. With “Uncle Robin” lived his daughters and a son, R. J. Copeland, II, with his family.
In 1939, the property again changed ownership. Doctor St. Clair Hayes, beloved Clinton physician and noted surgeon, acquired the property and began a program of modernization. Additional rooms were added to each side, making the practically square structure oblong in shape. The granite pillars supporting the structure were reinforced with a brick underpinning, at which time the wide boards were brick veneered. The long porch was replaced by a front stoop for each story. A third chimney was added to the left rear.
The present owner of the Griffin house, now containing four spacious rental apartments, is Mrs. Peggy Sprunt Danzler of New Orleans, Louisiana, a niece of Doctor Hayes. Mrs. Pearl S. Stone, a sister of the late Doctor Hayes, occupies one of the apartments. It was she who supervised the landscaping of the grounds.”
Information from: The Laurens County Sketchbook, Author – J.S. Bolick, 1973
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