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Millford Plantation
Pinewood, South Carolina |
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Milford Plantation
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Location of Millford Plantation, South Carolina
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| Location: | On SC 261 west of Pinewood, South Carolina |
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| Area: | 712 acres (2.88 km2) surrounding house (out of 4,251 acres (17.20 km2) total) |
| Built: | 1839 |
| Architect: | Unknown; builder Nathaniel F. Potter of Providence, Rhode Island |
| Architectural style: | Greek Revival |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 71000808[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | November 19, 1971[1] |
| Designated NHL: | November 7, 1973[2] |
Millford Plantation (also spelled Milford) is an historic place located on SC 261 west of Pinewood, South Carolina. Its monumental two-story Greek Revival mansion built in 1839 for John L. Manning, Governor of South Carolina from 1852 to 1854, and his wife, Susan Frances Hampton Manning, has been called "South Carolina's finest residential example of the Greek Revival style."[3] It was called Manning's Folly, though, when first built because of its remote location in the High Hills of Santee section of the state and because of its elaborate details. On November 19, 1971, Millford Plantation, also called the Governor John L. Manning House, was added to the National Register of Historic Places and on November 7, 1973, it was declared a National Historic Landmark.[2][2][4][5]
Millford Plantation is one of three National Historic Landmarks located on SC 261, the Kings Highway, in the High Hills of Santee. The other two are Borough House Plantation and Church of the Holy Cross, both in Stateburg.
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Millford Plantation's monumental two-story Greek Revival mansion was built in 1839 for John L. Manning and his wife, Susan Frances Hampton Manning by Nathaniel F. Potter of Providence, Rhode Island, who may have also done the design work. Its facade features six large carved columns on granite bases that support the portico. Its 2-foot-thick (0.61 m) walls are of brick made on the premises while the granite was shipped from Rhode Island. The central interior feature is an "unsupported flying circular staircase in the central rotunda."[2] John and Susan Manning furnished Millford in the Empire style including "an enormous quantity of Duncan Phyfe furniture," much of which is still in the house.[6]
Susan Frances Hampton was the daughter of General Wade Hampton I and his wife, Mary Cantey, and half-sister of Colonel Wade Hampton II, who, though he alone inherited their father's considerable fortune, shared it equally with her and another sister. She died in 1845 giving birth to her third child with John L. Manning. In 1848 Manning married Sally Bland Clarke and had four children by her.[7]
Millford was threatened with destruction by Union troops on April 19, 1865, but was saved by the intervention of their commander, Brigadier General Edward E. Potter of New York, whose exchange with Governor Manning was recorded as follows:[6]
Millford Plantation remained in the Manning family until 1903 when it was sold to Mary Clark Thompson. It remained in the Clark family until recently.[6][8]
Millford Plantation was bought in 1992 and meticulously restored by Richard Hampton Jenrette, one of the founders of the New York investment banking firm, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and a collateral descendant of Susan Hampton Manning.
In 1995, Jenrette received a South Carolina Historic Preservation Award for Millford and in 2006 he received the Governor's Award for his work on Millford and the Robert William Roper House in Charleston, another National Historic Landmark he owns and restored.[3][6][9][10]
The mansion was donated in December 2008 to the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust.
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