Yes, it is in South Carolina, but this building easily could be located in any number of places in Europe. Where is it? Send your best guess – plus your name and hometown to feedback@statehousereport.com. In the subject line, write: “Mystery Photo guess.”
Last week’s mystery
Loyal reader Barry Wingard of Florence sent in a Mystery Photo showing house ruins that we published on March 9. It was a tough one – a photo that showed ruins of a big house at Sams Plantation on Dataw island.
Congratulations to the three readers who correctly identified the tabby ruins: George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Marvin Mitchum of Moncks Corner; and Philip Cromer of Beaufort, who noted that his wife’s ancestors “built the plantation and his son, Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams, added the wings.”
Graf added: “According to tabbyruins.com, William Sams purchased Dataw Island in 1783 and began construction of a tabby plantation devoted to sea island cotton. His son, B. B. Sams, inherited the plantation in 1808 and expanded it to include approximately 15 tabby buildings. Not only was this a large plantation that included its own chapel and cemetery, but it was also unusual in that nearly all the structures were built of tabby. Sams died in 1855, and the federal government took over the island in 1863 because of overdue taxes. A fire destroyed the plantation in 1876.”
Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!