William Baker House The William Baker House is significant as a vernacular version of Classical Revival architecture. The present house, which dates to the late 1820s or early 1830s, was built by William Baker II, or his son William Baker III. The house is situated at a relatively high elevation in the sandhills and provides a view of Columbia, seen across the Congaree River and Congaree Swamp. The two-storied frame structure sits on a high basement, which enables a view of the hand-hewn logs and pegging. This house features a v-crimp metal roof and full-length hipped-roof veranda, surmounted by a center balcony with pediment. A simple balustrade connects the square columns on both levels. Two interior chimneys protrude from the medium pitched gable roof. The front entrance contains a paneled door enclosed by sidelights and a transom; the rear entrance is identical, but without the transom. The interior walls are plastered and feature wainscoting and doors that are marbleized, using the technique of featherpainting. Fireplaces are plain with dentil molding around the mantels. Wide, heart-pine flooring is found in each room. A wooden outbuilding and family cemetery are included in the nominated property. Listed in the National Register March 8, 1978. - Bill Fitzpatrick's Photographs of The Magnificent Historic Register Landmarks of South Carolina

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Caption Source: The National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form; South Carolina Department of Archives and History

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David Houser House

The David Houser House is regarded as a local landmark significant not only for its architecture, but also for its association with David Houser, a prominent citizen of the St. Matthews Parish, Orangeburg District. David Houser built his house in 1829 on his plantation, which he called Oak Grove. The land had been bequeathed to him by his father Andrew Houser, Jr., who was a soldier in the American Revolution. David was a planter who also operated a saw and grist mill. An indication of his financial success is the fact that in just thirty years, his plantation grew from the original 500-acre tract to approximately 4,800 acres. The “I-House” type house is a typical upcountry farmhouse with some Federal style features on the interior. The house is a two-story wood frame residence, rectangular in plan, and has a one-story front porch and rear addition. A vernacular building, simplicity and skilled craftsmanship characterize its design and construction. The two-story beaded weatherboarded core of the house has a gable roof, with a stuccoed brick exterior chimney with corbeled cap centered at each gable end. Included in the nomination are several outbuildings: the original smokehouse, a part of the nineteenth century Dutch oven, a frame building believed to have once been bedrooms attached to the rear of the house, a barn, a servant’s house, a workshop, and the family cemetery where David Houser is buried. Listed in the National Register November 25, 1980.

Colonel Olin M. Dantzler House

(Crutchfield House) The Dantzler House is the oldest standing residence in St. Matthews. It is an excellent representative of Southern antebellum summerhouse construction and has been admirably adapted as a permanent residence. This one-story raised cottage with truncated, hipped roof was constructed ca.1850 as a seasonal residence for the Jacob M. Dantzler family of Orangeburg County. As originally built, the house was rectangular with identical side facades. The original cypress shingle roof has been covered with galvanized metal. The house sits seven feet above ground upon brick pilings with lattice framework between the supports. The northern façade has wooden steps leading to a piazza with flat roof supported by six square paneled columns. In 1852 Olin Miller Dantzler, son of Jacob Dantzler, married and moved into this summerhouse as his permanent residence. Though a planter by profession in the Orangeburg district, Olin Dantzler served his state and country both politically and militarily. As a member of the South Carolina Senate in 1858, Dantzler tried to convince his fellow legislators that peaceful compromise was better than a military confrontation between the North and South. He offered several compromise proposals, but eventually joined the Confederate forces, though he was strongly opposed to the war. Several outbuildings, including a barn, several sheds, visitors’ cottage and a pigeon house are included on the acreage. Listed in the National Register March 30, 1973.

Colonel J.A. Banks House

The Colonel J.A. Banks house was built ca.1893 as a residence for South Carolina State Representative and State Senator Col. J. A. Banks, and rebuilt in 1909-1910. According to an early photograph, the original house was one-story with a gable roof, two interior chimneys, and a porch spanning the breadth of the façade. With the 1909-1910 remodeling, the house took its present form. The house is significant both as a free interpretation of Classical and Victorian elements, and for its association with a locally prominent individual. This unique house was composed in the exuberant fashion common to the early twentieth century. The building incorporates certain features of the residual Queen Anne style - the asymmetrical plan, the variegated roofline, and multiple textures. Significant architectural features include: two Neo-Classical colossal Corinthian porticos; the juxtaposition of the colossal order with the lesser Ionic order on the façade; the concave recess of the second floor façade balcony, in response to the convex colossal portico; the gable pediments with Palladian windows; the elliptical arch of the stair hall; and the original leaded and beveled windows and mirrors. Two one-story, weatherboarded outbuildings are included in the nominated property: a fowl house and a workshop. Listed in the National Register January 24, 1980.

Haigler House

The Haigler House is a single-family dwelling located on approximately fifteen acres of land in rural Calhoun County near Cameron. Built circa 1893 by Thomas Shadrack Haigler, the simple Queen Anne farmhouse is accentuated with Folk Victorian decorative details and contains approximately 3000 square feet of exterior porches. The porch construction features decorative spindlework, including turned supports, delicate gingerbread, and carved brackets. The house is the central building of a small rural homestead that includes several outbuildings including an icehouse, a springhouse, and a chicken coop/pony stall. When the main block of the house was built, a separate kitchen was likely connected with a breezeway, yet the house was soon enlarged, probably to accommodate the eleven children raised in the house. The house is oriented towards a dirt road which at one time was a county road leading to a now-abandoned church. Cotton fields surround the house, which are still cultivated today. The Haigler House is also significant as the history of the Haigler family reflects early European immigration to this area, the establishment of the Lutheran Church in the southeast, and the rise of cotton as a cash crop and accompanying wealth it created in the state. Listed in the National Register October 12, 2001.

Midway Plantation

William Russell Thomson (1761-1807) built the original Midway Plantation, probably ca. 1785, although little of this structure remains. Midway was so named because it was located between Belleville, the family home of William Russell Thomson, and Bellbroughton, owned by Mrs. Thomson’s father. After Thomson’s death the plantation became the property of his son, Charles Robert Thompson. While the house was built much earlier, the present façade was not added until later, ca. 1859. The present Midway is a two-story antebellum frame building with both Greek Revival and Federal influences. The front façade features a pediment and a two-tiered portico with four Tuscan columns on both levels. Each level features a central entranceway with three-paneled sidelights, semi-circular fanlights, and flanking pilasters topped by an entablature. The rear wing and porch were added around 1900. The vestiges of a landscaped garden featuring camellias, magnolias, and cedars surround Midway Plantation. This site is also significant as having been the past residence of prominent figures, particularly from the prominent Thomson family, in the military, political and social history of South Carolina and both Calhoun and Orangeburg counties for more than 170 years. Listed in the National Register May 28, 1976.

Oakland Plantation

Built around 1800, Oakland is significant as an excellent example of a raised cottage, typical of the early nineteenth century houses built in lowcountry South Carolina. The one-and-one half story clapboard house remains as originally designed except for two flanking wings, set back from the façade. The house sits on a brick foundation and has an enclosed basement. A medium gable roof extends over the front porch, supported by six square columns and featuring a wooden balustrade with latticework (added in the 1880s) and shiplap walls. The sills are hand-hewn pine, at least 18 inches wide, and extend the length and breadth of the house without piecing. The front entrance is flanked on either side by full-length French windows, lengthened from multi-paned windows. The rear portico has been enclosed and is used as a sun porch. A wide central hall runs the length of the house and is divided by a spindlework screen, added in the late nineteenth century. A local political leader and grandson of a Revolutionary War hero, William Sabb Thomson, originally inhabited Oakland Plantation House. Thomson served as state senator from the Parish of St. Matthews from 1830-34. A typical planter of the early nineteenth century, he was educated by tutors and was a member of a family that owned several plantations (including Midway) in Calhoun County, then part of Orangeburg District. Oakland is still surrounded by farmland, and the house and one outbuilding, the original kitchen, are situated on a one-acre lot. Listed in the National Register May 30, 1975.

Ulmer-Summers House

Significant as one of the few examples of late eighteenth century domestic, folk architecture still extant in this region of the state, the Ulmer-Summers House was originally constructed on land granted to John Jacob Ulmer in 1757. The earliest section of the Ulmer-Summers house was built before the turn of the eighteenth century at the edge of a millpond. The house was probably a dogtrot when first built. In 1852, it was decided that the site near the millpond was dangerous to the health of the house’s inhabitants and Ulmer was ordered to destroy the pond’s dam. Before doing so, he moved the house to another tract of land approximately one mile away and renovated the house simultaneously. Set on a low brick foundation, the Ulmer-Summers house is a clapboard frame structure. The medium-gable roof projects over the front elevation and the porch is supported by two square columns, in antis; porch walls are shiplap. The three pedimented dormers and the double tandem stair were added during remodeling in 1960. For a period in excess of 200 years, the Ulmer and Summers families cultivated the land surrounding their house, raising indigo, cotton and grain. In the late nineteenth century, David Summers planted a grove of pecan trees and developed the project into a thriving business—Golden Kernel Pecan Company—that, at the time of nomination, is still in operation. Listed in the National Register October 25, 1973.

Calhoun County Library

As one of St. Matthews’ oldest buildings, the Calhoun County Library is significant for its pleasing Greek Revival architectural proportions and its creative use as a public library and museum. The one-story, medium-gabled white clapboard structure was originally built in 1877 as a residence and has been adapted for use since 1949 as a county library. The front façade features a three-bay, square-columned entrance porch, and extending from the left and right wings are two smaller porches of similar design that enhance the building’s symmetry. An L-shaped porch with unadorned square columns extends across the left elevation, a portion of which has been enclosed to meet additional space requirements of the library. It is an excellent example of the adaptive use of a residential structure in an increasingly commercial district. The main entrance is a four-panel double-door with sidelights and fanlight that fill the library’s reading room with abundant natural light. The building sits on a spacious lot near the center of St. Matthews in the original residential district. Listed in the National Register May 29, 1975.

William Baker House

The William Baker House is significant as a vernacular version of Classical Revival architecture. The present house, which dates to the late 1820s or early 1830s, was built by William Baker II, or his son William Baker III. The house is situated at a relatively high elevation in the sandhills and provides a view of Columbia, seen across the Congaree River and Congaree Swamp. The two-storied frame structure sits on a high basement, which enables a view of the hand-hewn logs and pegging. This house features a v-crimp metal roof and full-length hipped-roof veranda, surmounted by a center balcony with pediment. A simple balustrade connects the square columns on both levels. Two interior chimneys protrude from the medium pitched gable roof. The front entrance contains a paneled door enclosed by sidelights and a transom; the rear entrance is identical, but without the transom. The interior walls are plastered and feature wainscoting and doors that are marbleized, using the technique of featherpainting. Fireplaces are plain with dentil molding around the mantels. Wide, heart-pine flooring is found in each room. A wooden outbuilding and family cemetery are included in the nominated property. Listed in the National Register March 8, 1978.