Millford Plantation

Millford Plantation, also spelled Milford Plantation, is a historic plantation house near Pinewood in Clarendon County, South Carolina. Located along South Carolina Highway 261 in the High Hills of Santee, the property is best known for its monumental Greek Revival mansion, its unusually complete interiors, and its association with the political and plantation elite of the antebellum state. Because of its remote setting and extravagant scale, the house was sometimes called “Manning’s Folly.” It is now preserved as a historic house museum and architectural landmark rather than operating as a commercial agricultural plantation. The mansion was constructed between 1839 and 1841 for John Laurence Manning and his wife, Susan Frances Hampton Manning. Manning later served as governor of South Carolina from 1852 to 1854. The house was built during a period when South Carolina’s plantation economy depended heavily on the forced labor of enslaved African Americans. Manning enslaved approximately 670 people, making the site inseparable from the history of slavery, racial power, and wealth accumulation in the antebellum South. Much of the money used for the project probably came from Susan Hampton Manning’s inheritance from the wealthy Hampton family. Architecturally, Millford is distinguished by a two-story façade with six monumental Corinthian columns set on granite bases, thick brick walls made partly on the premises, tall windows, and a dramatic circular staircase beneath a domed cylindrical chamber. Granite was transported from Rhode Island. Nathaniel F. Potter of Providence, Rhode Island, is associated with the building and may have prepared its design. The interiors continue the classical program through carefully proportioned rooms, decorative details, and furniture commissioned for the house. Millford is particularly significant for its Duncan Phyfe furnishings. Between 1840 and 1844, the Mannings placed four orders with D. Phyfe & Son for 72 objects. More than 50 pieces remain at the property, an exceptional survival of a large, unified commission from a single American cabinetmaker. Furniture in the entrance hall, parlors, dining room, and other spaces reflects Phyfe’s late Grecian style, while the formal parlors use costly rosewood and other materials to express the household’s wealth and social ambitions. The Manning family retained the property through the economic disruption that followed the Civil War. In 1902 it was sold to Mary Clark Thompson of New York and subsequently remained with members of the Clark family, who used it mainly as a seasonal retreat and for hunting and fishing. In 1992, Richard Hampton Jenrette acquired the house and approximately 400 acres from Clark descendants. He undertook an extensive restoration and worked to reunite the mansion with original furnishings. In December 2008, he donated Millford to the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust, an organization established to preserve important examples of classical American domestic architecture and decorative arts. Millford was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973. A supporters’ organization, Friends of Millford, was formed in 2012. The property’s present significance combines architectural preservation, material-culture scholarship, and interpretation of the plantation’s enslaved labor system and broader historical context.

Millford Plantation was built in Clarendon County, South Carolina, between 1839 and 1841 for John L. Manning and Susan Frances Hampton Manning. The project produced one of the most ambitious Greek Revival residences in the United States. Its scale was remarkable for a rural location in the High Hills of Santee, which contributed to the contemporary nickname “Manning’s Folly.” Nathaniel F. Potter of Providence, Rhode Island, is identified with the construction and may have been responsible for the design. The building used brick manufactured on the property and granite shipped from Rhode Island. Its six Corinthian columns, monumental portico, deep walls, large windows, and unusual circular staircase created an imposing classical composition. The house was financed within the economic and social system of the antebellum plantation South. Susan Hampton Manning was a member of the wealthy Hampton family, and her inheritance likely contributed substantially to the construction cost. John L. Manning was a major slaveholder who enslaved about 670 people of African descent. This history is fundamental to understanding the property: the house’s architectural refinement and furnishings were enabled by a slave-based economy and by the political power of the plantation elite. Manning later became governor of South Carolina from 1852 to 1854. Susan Hampton Manning died in 1845 after giving birth to her third child. Manning remarried Sally Bland Clarke in 1848 and had four additional children. During the Civil War’s final weeks, Union troops threatened the residence. On April 19, 1865, Brigadier General Edward E. Potter spared the house after a conversation with Manning; Potter was the brother of the building’s associated designer, Nathaniel F. Potter. The episode became part of Millford’s preservation lore, although the property’s survival also reflected the broader decisions and circumstances of the war’s closing period. The Manning family and descendants retained Millford through the postwar economic collapse and into the twentieth century. Mary Clark Thompson of New York purchased the property in 1902. After her death in 1923, it passed to two nephews and remained in the Clark family until 1992. During that period it functioned primarily as a winter residence and a place for hunting and fishing rather than as a public museum. Millford’s decorative-arts history is unusually cohesive. The Mannings commissioned 72 objects from D. Phyfe & Son between 1840 and 1844, and more than 50 survive at the house. The furniture represents Duncan Phyfe’s late Grecian style, with polished wood surfaces, restrained carving, volutes, classical supports, and distinctive feet. Walnut appears in the entrance hall, while the double parlors contain more expensive rosewood furniture suited to formal entertaining. The dining room includes an elliptical mahogany table and French Restoration-style armchairs. The fact that a single cabinetmaking firm furnished nearly every room makes the collection exceptionally useful for studying the relationship between architecture, interiors, patronage, and social display. The property entered the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1973. In 1992, preservationist and financier Richard Hampton Jenrette, a collateral descendant of Susan Hampton Manning, acquired the house and about 400 acres. He directed a meticulous restoration and pursued the return of original furnishings through research, purchases, and gifts from descendants. His work at Millford received South Carolina preservation recognition, including a state historic-preservation award in 1995 and a governor’s award in 2006. Jenrette donated Millford to the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust in December 2008. The trust’s mission is to preserve classical American residential architecture and associated fine and decorative arts from the first half of the nineteenth century. Friends of Millford was organized in 2012 to support the property. Millford’s current identity is therefore that of a preserved historic place: an architecturally important Greek Revival house, a major surviving Duncan Phyfe interior, and a site requiring interpretation of both its artistic achievements and its origins in slavery and plantation wealth.

• 2012

  Friends of Millford is established

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  A volunteer and supporter organization is formed to help sustain interest in Millford and its preservation.

• 2008

  Preservation trust receives the property

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Jenrette donates Millford to the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust.

• 1992

  Jenrette acquires and restores Millford

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Richard Hampton Jenrette acquires the house and approximately 400 acres and begins an extensive restoration and furnishing-recovery program.

• 1973

  National Historic Landmark designation

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Millford is designated a National Historic Landmark for its historic and artistic importance.

• 1971

  National Register listing

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Millford is entered on the National Register of Historic Places.

• 1902

  Property leaves the Manning family

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Mary Clark Thompson purchases Millford from the Manning family and begins the property’s long association with the Clark family.

• 1865

  House survives a wartime threat

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Union troops threaten the residence near the end of the Civil War, but Brigadier General Edward E. Potter permits it to remain standing.

• 1841

  Mansion is completed

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The monumental residence is completed, with its Corinthian portico, thick brick walls, granite elements, and distinctive circular staircase.

• 1840

  Duncan Phyfe commissions begin

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The Mannings begin placing furniture orders with D. Phyfe & Son, ultimately commissioning 72 objects between 1840 and 1844.

• 1839

  Construction begins

  [1]Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Construction of the Greek Revival mansion begins for John L. Manning and Susan Frances Hampton Manning in the High Hills of Santee.

A nonprofit-preserved historic house and cultural landmark centered on Greek Revival architecture, American decorative arts, and the documented history of slavery and plantation society in South Carolina.

• Historic architecture · 1839

  Millford Greek Revival Mansion

  The principal offering of the site is the preserved two-story Greek Revival residence. Its monumental Corinthian portico, brick construction, granite bases, tall windows, thick walls, domed stair chamber, and carefully proportioned interior rooms make it an important American example of high-style nineteenth-century domestic architecture. It is interpreted as both an architectural achievement and a product of the antebellum slave economy.

• Decorative arts collection · 1840

  Duncan Phyfe furnishings

  Millford retains more than 50 pieces from a 72-object commission placed with D. Phyfe & Son between 1840 and 1844. The collection includes Grecian-style furniture for the entrance hall, parlors, dining room, and other spaces, with walnut, rosewood, mahogany, classical supports, polished surfaces, and French Restoration influences. Its unusually unified placement within the house makes it a major resource for studying Phyfe’s late career.

• Heritage tourism and education

  Historic house interpretation

  Millford functions as a preserved historic site where the architecture, furnishings, ownership history, Civil War survival, and relationship to enslaved labor can be interpreted together. Public access and stewardship are associated with the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust rather than with ordinary retail or hospitality operations.

• 2008

  Transfer to the Classical American Homes Preservation TrustM&A

  Background

  Jenrette had established a foundation dedicated to preserving classical American houses and their fine and decorative arts.

  Action taken

  Millford Plantation was donated to the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust for long-term stewardship and public-oriented preservation.

  Aftermath

  The property became part of a nonprofit preservation organization rather than remaining a privately held seasonal residence.

  Source

• 1992

  Comprehensive restoration and furnishing-recovery programStrategy

  Background

  After acquiring Millford and its surrounding acreage, Richard Hampton Jenrette sought to preserve the architecture and recover the original interior scheme, although fewer than half of the original furnishings remained in the house.

  Action taken

  Jenrette commissioned research, documentation, scholarly consultation, acquisitions, and family donations to return original or associated Duncan Phyfe furniture to its intended rooms.

  Aftermath

  The program substantially strengthened Millford’s value as an integrated architectural and decorative-arts monument and supported its later transfer to a preservation trust.

  Source

1. 1Millford Plantationen.wikipedia.org