WILLIAM PETTUS HOUSE Contributed by Dora Gaston; annotated by Louise Pettus (The following is an excerpt from Alfred M. Grist’s column “Just A-Rolling Along the Way—Log of the Green Chevrolet As It Voyages Over More of York County,” which ran for many years in the Yorkville Enquirer during the 1920s and 1930s.
It was found in a scrapbook of Dora Gaston’s grandmother with no date.) “…. Several weeks ago while over in Fort Mill township, with Rev. G. C. Epps and Mr. S. L. Coltharp, I visited a very remarkably constructed old house and one that though quite old now, as houses go, is destined to stand there for quite a spell yet, unless by carelessness it should be destroyed by fire.1 “This Fort Mill house was built in 1810 by one Mr. [William] Pettus. It is a tradition that the house was five years in building. The method of building then was for a contractor to start building several houses at the same time. As material was gathered at one house site the builder would take his force there and go as far as the material would build, and then move to the next in rotation, giving the various house owners time to accumulate more material for further work.
“This house of Mr. Pettus has a stone foundation and a deep and large basement which always stays dry. Well above the ground level the house is weather boarded on the outside with brick inside and a plaster coating an inch or more thick inside. Practically all of the sills are of oak, 10 or 12 inches square and hand-hewed; the joists, floor, sills and the rafters are also hand-hewn and very heavy and close together. The floor planks are all six or eight inches wide and perhaps are an inch and a half thick, these having been sawed with the old-time whip saw. There is a big and wide porch in front. There is no lock on the front door and never was, the door being fastened inside with a heavy bar.
“The fireplace and mantel in the main sitting room is a masterpiece. The fireplace is fully eight feet wide and nearly six feet high. The mantel reaches up to the ceiling, perhaps 10 or 11 feet, and all of it is paneled with hand-carved decorations. A very handsome piece of work. This room all around is wainscoted with paneled sections and about three feet high. In the opposite end of the house is another room with a big fireplace, but not as large as in the main room. The house has seven rooms and a passage or hall with the necessary stairway to the second floor.
“This Mr. Pettus, so tradition says, was a very wealthy and hospitable citizen in his time and entertained lavishly. The farm then included 600 acres and is now owned by S. A. Epps, grandson of Pettus, who was also the father-in-law of the late Stephen P. Sutton.”
In the 1920s Stephen Epps, writing to Tennessee relatives, described the interior of the house in much the same vein as Alfred Grist, and then added: “There were also outside—the kitchen, dairy and servants’ quarters. They had their own hat factory, shoe shop and weaving room. “The house was located about 300 yards from a spring flowing from an immense rock, covering at least half an acre of ground. It is still in use today and has as fine flow of good water as there in the state. Later a well was dug nearer the house, 70 feet deep, through 40 feet of solid rock. The well is still in use.” The weaving room mentioned above is borne out by an entry in John Springs’ Store Account Book with this 1810 entry: “March 2nd 1810 then settled all accounts between Carpenter Sam & William Pettus to this day, after the said Sam’s finishing the dwelling House of said Pettus and laying the upper floor of the Loom House said floor to be rough laid down but to be ploughed & grooved [sz’c] and a pair of plain Stairs run up to second floor then the said Pettus to pay off a note of Twenty Dollars to Robert Bell and pay to said Sam thirty Dollars when he gets a return of his cotton, & sd Pettus then to pay same next Christmas one hundred and ten Dollars; being in all one hundred and sixty Dollars when the above work is done settled in the presence of
‘Vs/ Daniel Sturgis “/s/ James Richardson”
Pettus’ wealth was mostly from his father-in-law Samuel Knox whose daughter, Mary, he married in 1789. William Pettus served in the SC House of Representatives, 1810-1816.
R&R Notes: The Springs Journals (1806-1833), in Fort Mill, S.C. also records the carpenter’s name – Sam.
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