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Many old homes and churches in Orangeburg County have survived time and are steeped in the history of area. The following are some of the more historically significant:
Middlepen Plantation (Donald Bruce House) - the oldest home in the county, was built in 1735. The house and grounds can be seen from Highway 301 about two miles north of the Orangeburg city limits. Alexander Samuel Salley Home - is located on Belleville Road, about sixty-five yards from the corner of King's Road in Orangeburg. Salley, the original owner, devoted fifty years to the collection, preservation and publication of historical state records as state historian and was secretary of both the South Carolina Historical Society and the South Carolina Historical Commission. Judge Glover's Home - on Whitman Street in Orangeburg was used as headquarters by General William T. Sherman on February 12, 1865. Built in 1846 by Thomas Worth Glover (1798-1884), teacher, lawyer, legislator, circuit judge and signer of the Ordinance of Secession, the house originally fronted on Russell Street, but has been remodeled several times over the years. Trinity United Methodist Church - was founded in January, 1866, as Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church and was built where the Orangeburg County Courthouse now stands. The present structure on Boulevard was begun in 1928 and completed in 1944. Materials portraying the original church are available and can be viewed by visitors. Walnut Grove Baptist Church - a branch of Four Holes Baptist Church in present Orangeburg County from 1820 to 1869, was admitted to the Charleston Association in 1869 and joined the Orangeburg Association in 1913. Located on S-38-92 four miles south of Highway 301, the present structure was built in 1883. The foundation sills are pegged together and the seats and backs of the pews are hand planed solid wide boards. White House Church - is located on U. S. Highway 301 ten miles north of Orangeburg. The deed by which a four acre tract of land on which White House Church stood, along with an earlier structure known as the "White Meeting House," is the earliest documented record of Methodism in Orangeburg County. The church and property were given to the Methodist Episcopal Church on October 1, 1790. In 1801 and 1803, the society was visited by Francis Asbury, pioneer Bishop of American Methodism. Zion Church - five miles south of Orangeburg on U. S. Highway 301, is believed to be one of the earliest Methodist churches in the area. The original building was built before the Civil War and replaced in the 1880's. In about 1843, appointed ministers replaced circuit riders. Early in the 1930's, Zion was abandoned as a full-time church when its members moved to nearby Cope and Orangeburg. The Pioneer Graveyard - on Bull Street in Orangeburg was the burial site for many early inhabitants from the first settlement of Orangeburg Township in 1735 until the founding of various denominational cemeteries. This first church in the Orangeburg area was erected soon after settlement began by the Swiss and German settlers of the Reverend John Giessendanner's congregation. Grave of Major John Majoribanks - was located where the British army encamped at Wantoot Plantation, home of Daniel Ravenel, after the Battle of Eutaw Springs. Now under Lake Moultrie, it was about 25 miles southeast of St. John's Parish, five miles west of Bonneau. Major Majoribanks died and was buried there on October 22, 1781. The grave was moved to a site on S. C. Highway 6, 2.5 miles east of Eutawville at Eutaw Springs in 1941 by the South Carolina Public Service Authority. Miller Cemetery - located on S-38-122, one-half mile east of Jameson, is the burial site of the Miller family from the early 1800's. The genealogical connections of this family with many of Orangeburg District's oldest families make it historically significant to this area. The three remaining gravestones were erected in 1836 to John Miller (1750-1824; his wife, Margaret Ott Miller; and their son, John Miller, Jr.) For information concerning other historical sites, contact the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce at P. O. Box 328, Orangeburg, SC 29116 or call (803)534-6821. |