Here is the first of the conundrums. 1006 South Main Street is in Dorchester County and the property records for this address are kept in the Dorchester County Courthouse, but records only date back to the 1880's. The reason for the 1880's date is because Dorchester County as a separate entity didn't exist. The properties in this area of Summerville were part of Colleton County and records were kept at the Colleton County Courthouse. During the Civil War, all the records were moved to Columbia for safe keeping. Unfortunately, General Sherman burned Columbia and all the Colleton County Courthouse records of houses built before 1865 were lost.
The oldest Dorchester County records on hand state Harriet H. Barnwell sold 1006 South Main Street to John Rugheimer in 1881. In the deed of this sale, it mentions a survey being done in 1831. So, now we have the oldest stated date on record. Then, there is a story told by one of its owners, who owned the house after 1978, where they state finding in the upstairs bedroom this saying, "Mary Margaret smoked. 1832." We now have two sources confirming an 1830's date and since someone was living in the house in 1832, it makes sense the house was already in existence and built before 1832. What proof remains of the house being built between 1790 and 1810?
As shown in the South Carolina Department of Archives and History National Register list of 1976, 1006 South Main Street is called the Ancrum House. Porch Rocker Recollections, which was published in 1980, also refers to it as the Ancrum house. The Dorchester County Courthouse records show previous owners, aside from the two already mentioned, were S. Bonsal Brooks, who purchased the property in 1927, Dr. Kenneth Lynch owning it in 1934, and the Fehrs buying it in 1978, which brings us past the 1976 Archives date. No Ancrums are mentioned up to then, which means someone by the name of Ancrum may have owned it at some point, and that obviously would have to be before 1881.
The only Ancrum of any notoriety my research could find from around that time was William Ancrum. He was a wealthy American merchant, slave trader and indigo planter from Charleston, South Carolina who served in the Third General Assembly during the Revolutionary War from 1779–1780, and was around until 1808, which puts him in the 1790 to 1810 period of time. We also know rich Charleston land owners built summer homes in this area of the pineland at that time. Is it possible, this is the Ancrum spoken of? Possible, but it also could have been a relative of this Ancrum. William Ancrum was never married, but he had a brother, George. The George Ancrum name is connected to the Berkeley County Ancrum Plantation.
There is another house bearing the Ancrum name in Summerville. It is located at 515 West Carolina Avenue. According to the National Register, it was constructed circa 1809. It is called the Ancrum-Waring House, but here again, there is bewildering contradictions. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History refers to the house address as 515 and records refer to it as 517 (said to be the second oldest house in town). I have driven down West Carolina and no 515 address exists. Plus, there is a message attached to the record with the words, "stylistic changes; no longer appears to be 1809 but rather 1890." Now, that's very peculiar. So, until further verification, the Ancrum connection to 1006 will remain open to discussion.
There is more conundrums. Today, 1006 South Main Street is a one story home. It has been said the original house had two stories. It appears a fire burned the roof and when it was rebuilt, the roof was lowered to one story. The Ferhs, who owned the house after 1978, said they found two cots in the walls of the rebuilt upstairs where a person cannot stand upright without hitting the roof, which provides proof the area was used as a bedroom at one time. Exactly when the fire took place is unknown, but it had to be before 1978.
To throw more confusion on the matter, one present day real estate source says the home was built in 1982 and was last sold in 1991, while another states the house was built in 1996. How can a house be last sold before it was built. Yet clearly, the known property records show it was built at least sometime before 1881. Let's get on the same page Summerville realtors.
To add more peculiarities to the mix, the property was described as having beautiful brick walkways leading nowhere, the foundations of two slave cottages still visible, a handcuff with chains in the garden, a toppled live oak that once housed a pair of pileated woodpeckers, and the sound of footsteps that fade away.
Here is the peculiarity of all peculiarities. Fern Michaels came to own the house in 1993. A popular Summerville magazine wrote an article about Michaels the author and reported she "bought a 300-hundred year old plantation house (the oldest home in Dorchester County) and embraced her new life as a southern transplant." If this is true, it would put the house's construction approximately in the early 1700's not the 1790s to 1810 stated by Beth's Pineland Village. Michael's did confirm the writing on the rafters "Mary Margaret smoked", but did not mention the "1832 date." Apparently, Mary Margaret did not like the changes the author--who gutted the house--was making. She made her objections known by moving things around, stopping the clocks at 9:10 am once a week, messing around with the author's computer, putting azaleas from the garden on her night stand, and numerous other things. Now, if that is not bewildering and close to downright mysterious, what is?
Seven houses built before 1830 still existed in Summerville at the time Beth's Pineland Village was published. 1006 South Main Street is one of them. If all the written information about the house is true, its construction dates to shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War and near to the time the town of Dorchester on the Ashley River was abandoned (to be modest, the "300 hundred year old" statement is likely a stretch, but then again, who knows.).
1006 South Main Street was around when the little village in the pines was just beginning and residents were doing business at the town market on a street that no longer exists close to where the first town hall used to be. It was reported "every time a child was born in the house, a room was added." The house has changed with the times and so has Summerville. End of mystery, not likely. There could be more to the story, and it's all pretty peculiar to me.
More Summerville stories
1 comment:
I rented an office in the old part of Summerville for years. We experienced ghosts, people walking, chairs being moved and the one ghost would ask :can I smoke in here? It was all so strange but many of my staff experienced her. In fact, when a new hire would come onboard, we never mentioned the ghost, until she appeared to new staff member. It was such an awesome experience. Then a few years ago, I met Fern Michaels and read an artilce about this home she had and we felt that there is a connection between her ghost and ours......very curious, isn't it?
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