1950 Rutledge Road
McClellanville, South Carolina 29458
Hours: Year-round: Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m.-4 p.m.
April 1 - Labor Day: Thursday-Monday, 1 p.m.-4 p.m.
Park is open year-round, Thursday-Monday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Admission charged
Telephone: (803) 546-9361
Begun in the mid-1700s, this Greek Revival house was constructed of yellow pine and cypress. It began as a simple six-room farmhouse, and by the 1780s consisted of 12 large rooms, including the elegant ballroom. Shortly before a visit by President George Washington in 1791, the Rutledges added the Adam-style portico.
Through the years, the Rutledges managed what has been called one of the grandest homes and most prosperous agricultural enterprises in America. However, the Civil War brought about a decline of Hampton Plantation. The house went unpainted; cotton was stored in the ballroom; and by 1923, the home was abandoned.
In 1937 Archibald Hamilton Rutledge, the first poet laureate of South Carolina, returned to his boyhood home and restored it to its original charm. The interior of the home is left unfinished to highlight the architectural detail. The cutaway sections of walls and ceilings allow visitors to follow the building’s stages of construction.
While there, many tourists take time to explore some of the 322-acre grounds surrounding the mansion. The two and one-half mile hiking trail allow visitors to experience nature and wildlife that are a reminder of the earliest days of plantation life.
The plantation is host to several educational events throughout the year. Teachers and homeschooling parents will be interested in two established study tours available for students.
Archibald Hamilton Rutledge (1883-1973)
Recipient of 17 honorary degrees and more than 30 awards, Archibald Hamilton Rutledge was named the first poet laureate of South Carolina. He wrote more than 1,000 poems, essays, short stories, and articles, most of which were published in popular magazines and literary journals. They have also been published in various collections of his works.
Rutledge was born on October 23, 1883, in McClellanville, South Carolina. He attended Porter Military Academy in Charleston and Union College in New York. In 1904 Rutledge accepted a teaching position at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, where he remained until his retirement in 1937. He married Florence Louise Hart in 1907; they had three sons. After the death of his first wife in 1934, Rutledge married his childhood sweetheart, Alice Lucus, in 1936.
The landscape and social activities of Hampton Plantation, his family home, was the focus of much of Rutledge's writing throughout the years. Stories of hunting and nature walks in the woods of Hampton were well received by the readers of popular magazines.
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