Description

Much remains of Fort Dorchester's tabby-and-brick powder magazine. Constructed in 1757, the massive magazine walls measured 8’ high x 2' thick and spread over 100 square feet. In addition to the magazine, the Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site includes a brick bell tower and a cemetery.

History

The fortified town of Dorchester was established in 1695, and the magazine was built in 1757. During the Revolutionary War, the famous heroes Francis Marion and Nathanael Greene were at Dorchester. The town was abandoned in 1788. 

The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 1969.

Location

GPS: N 32°56.829 and W 80°10.212

Address: Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site, 300 State Park Road, Summerville, SC 29485

Accessibility: Located near Charleston, off Interstate 26, the park charges $2 for
admission, is open 9am-5pm daily, and has a parking lot near the fort.

For more information on the state park, see http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/colonialdorchester/introduction.aspx.
For more historical information on Dorchester. see Daniel J. Bell's Old Dorchester State Park: Visitor’s Guide. 

The coastal town of Beaufort, located roughly halfway between Savannah and Charleston, was the center for British tabby, starting around 1700. Today, Beaufort County has the highest concentration of tabby in the United States. (For more information on Beaufort tabby, see Daniel Adams’ article, “Tabby: The Oyster Shell Concrete of the Lowcountry,” Beaufort County Library.) 

Because Beaufort has maintained many edifices, the tabby is covered with stucco or other material, and the buildings are occupied. Therefore, most of Beaufort’s tabby structures are beyond the scope of this blog about abandoned ruins of exposed oyster shell concrete. However, glimpses of tabby can be seen at sites listed below:

The Arsenal

The Arsenal is the one tabby building in this list where the oyster shell concrete is not visible. However, it is included because it is the Visitor Center and a good place for information. Originally made of brick and tabby in 1795, the Arsenal was rebuilt in 1852 and renovated in 1934.
























Location

GPS: N 32°25.959 and W 80°40.234

Address: 713 Craven St., Beaufort, SC 29902

Accessibility: Open Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday 12pm-5pm. For more information, go to http://www.beaufortsc.org/.

St. Helena's Episcopal Church

The church and cemetery are surrounded by tabby walls. The church was constructed in 1724 and expanded in 1842.

Location

GPS: N 32°26.054 and W 80°40.455

Address:  505 Church Street

Accessibility: The tabby walls are outside in the church yard and can be seen any time, but to tour the church and attend services, see the church website at http://www.sthelenas1712.org/.

Bay Street Building Exterior


A sign indicates that this Bay Street building was constructed circa 1760.

Location

GPS: N 32°25.851 and W 80°40.240

Address:  715 Bay Street. Look at the side of the building extending into a narrow alley. 

Accessibility: Bay Street is Beaufort's key location for shops, restaurants, etc. Park in one of the Bay Street lots and walk to this and the next two sites.

Verdier House

Constructed circa 1804, this Federal-Style mansion is now a museum. Although it costs $10 to tour the house, the ground floor is free and open to the public. The ground floor displays a sliver of tabby, forming the base of the walls, along with other historical artifacts. 

Location

GPS: N 32°25.845 and W 80°40.256

Address:  801 Bay St.

Accessibility:  Open Monday-Saturday 10am-4pm. Although it costs $10 to tour the house, the ground floor (with tabby sample and other artifacts) is free and open to the public. For more information, see the Historic Beaufort Foundation website at https://www.historicbeaufort.org/verdier-house.php. 

Tabby Sea Wall

The sea wall is of undetermined date and origin.

Location

GPS: N 32°25.837 and W 80°40.172

Address: Located at the east end of Bay Street between Carteret and New Streets, at the Stephen Elliott Park.

Description

Hilton Head Island's Stoney-Baynard Ruins consist of the remnant of the tabby plantation house, the tabby foundations of two slave cabins, and the tabby chimney of the kitchen. 

History

Captain John "Saucy Jack" Stoney began construction of his house in 1793, as part of the Braddock Point Plantation that produced sea island cotton. William Edings Baynard purchased it in 1845, but the family fled when Union soldiers arrived in 1861. It burned in 1867.

Location 

GPS: N 32°07.737 and  W 80°48.840

Address: 87 Plantation Dr., Hilton Head Island, SC 29928

Accessibility: The ruins are located in Baynard Park in Hilton Head's Sea Pines Plantation, which costs $6 to enter. The park sits in a subdivision on Plantation Drive past Baynard Cove Road and Marsh Drive. There is a small parking lot, facing a hill that leads to the ruins.

For more information, go to http://www.exploreseapines.com/historical-sites.asp.

Description

A fence encloses three standing tabby chimneys of slave cabins, with additional tabby rubble on the ground. In the woods next to the fence is another tabby remnant. According to the Heritage Library Foundation, “The tabby used is a distinct mix containing whole clam shell in addition to the normal oyster shell aggregate.   Broken brick, glass and ceramics are also spotted in the tabby.” 

History

Established in 1762, Fish Haul Plantation gets it name from the adjoining Fish Haul Creek. It also goes by the name Drayton Plantation from owner Thomas Fenwick Drayton, a Confederate general who used his family home as his headquarters in 1861. Union forces captured the property, giving a portion of it to former slaves. The freed slaves who received some of the property formed Mitchelville, the nation’s first freedmen’s village.

Location

GPS:  N 32°18.291and W 80°38.555

Address: 70 Baygall Rd., Hilton Head Island, SC 29928

Accessibility: The ruins are enclosed in a fence next to Barker Field; another tabby remnant
is situated in adjacent woods.

For more information see the Heritage Library Foundation.

Description

The church walls of the Chapel of Ease remain intact, and a small cemetery is close by. It is a rare example of a tabby church ruin--Old Sheldon Church is more brick than tabby, while other tabby churches (such as ones in Darien, GA) are functioning churches, not ruins.

History

Constructed about 1740, it was a "chapel of ease" for planters in the vicinity of St. Helena Island who lived too far from the Anglican (now Episcopal) parish church in Beaufort, SC. In 1812 it became a parish church but was abandoned during the Civil War. Methodist freedmen used the church after the Civil War until it was destroyed by fire in 1886.

It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 6, 1988.

Location         

GPS: N 32° 22.543 and W 80°34.604

Address: 17 Land’s End Road, St. Helena Island, SC 29920

Accessibility: Enter the island on Sea Island Parkway  (U.S. Highway 21); turn right 
onto Martin Luther King Drive; go 1.5 miles, staying on the road as it turns into
Land’s End Road; the ruins will be on the left with an area to pull over in front
 of the church.

For more information, see South Carolina Department of Archives.