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The Ghost of Brick House

© Virginia Marin

The state of South Carolina is divided for all purposes into three sections: the Piedmont, the Midlands and the Low Country. While each section is rich in folklore and ghost stories, I am particularly fond of the Low Country, especially around Edisto where I spent much of my childhood.

Here, on this lovely sea island, the hands of memory have woven blissful dreams of long ago. Silent fingers have stitched tapestries of enduring images which evoke sentiments of the past. If the sands of time could speak, what tales they would tell. At twilight one can imagine the candles being lit to grace a ballroom that will soon be filled with the swish and crinkle of silk and taffeta. The lilting strains of a harpsicord play on the wind, and cause even the most timid soul to hum a beguiling tune.

Sea Island Cotton had brought wealth undetermined to the Carolina planters. As they prospered, they built great town houses in Charleston where they and their families spent the social season. They enlarged their plantations and imported expensive furniture, silver and ornaments from the Continent. But like the proud owners the houses also, in time, died.

The remains of some of these ancient houses stand proudly today - some dressed in glistening white; others seemingly dressed in deepest mourning, with sagging porches and weathered walls. Some boast only skeletal bodies shrouded in liana and creeping ivy.

One such house is Brick House. Like many of the ancient sentinels in the Low Country, Brick House has its ghost story that has been woven into a tapestry of local folklore.

Built in 1720, Brick House was destined to become involved in a romantic triangle. A very beautiful young lady named Amelia came to Brick House to visit her relatives. She had only recently become engaged to a prominent gentleman of a Charleston family, but as twists and turns often lead, she met a wealthy young planter and they immediately fell in love. She wrote to her betrothed to release her from their engagement and he refused, only to present himself at Brick House in demand of an explanation. Amelia tried to explain to him that she no longer loved him, and she desired to marry someone else. The jilted suitor's pleas fell on deaf ears. Leaving Brick House in a rage, he yelled out angrily, "You will never marry him. I would rather see you dead!" Having spoken, he left.

Amelia's wedding day finally arrived, with the death threat having long been forgotten.

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