Miles Brewton House

Miles Brewton was born to a prosperous family on January 29, 1731 here in Charleston. His grandfather, whose name was also Miles, moved to South Carolina from Barbados and became a goldsmith and militia officer. Brewton's father, Robert, was a goldsmith as well. The family's ties to the banking helped prepare Brewton for a career as a merchant. Information about his childhood is not readily available but as a young man he completed his education in England. In the coming years, Brewton participated in a number of business ventures that exported domestic produce and imported slaves. Then in 1759 he increased his wealth and status when he married Mary Izard, who was also from a prosperous family. In addition to his merchant activities, he also acquired a substantial amount of land.

Brewton's wealth enabled him to enter the political arena. From 1765 to his death in 1775, he served in the Commons House of Assembly and represented the parishes of St. Philips, St. John's Colleton, and St. Michael. In 1774, he ran to become a delegate to the First Continental Congress but lost another candidate. However, in January 1775 he was a member of the First Provincial Congress which was held here in Charleston. Brewton was reelected to the Second Provincial Congress that year but he and his family died at sea in August on their way to Philadelphia, where the Congress convened beginning in November.

After Brewton died, his sister Rebecca Brewton Motte inherited the house. In 1780, during the American Revolutionary War (1776-1783), British General Sir Henry Clinton used the house as his headquarters (it appears that other British officers, Lord Rawdon and Lord Cornwallis, also occupied the house during the war). In the 1800s, the house underwent a number of changes including the construction of the brick wall in the 1820s after the failed Denmark Vesey slave insurrection. In 1865 during the Civil War (1861-1865), Union officers occupied the house. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.

Butler, Nicholas Michael. "Brewton, Miles." South Carolina Encyclopedia. Last Updated July 22, 2016. Accessed February 19, 2021. https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/brewton-miles.

Dillon, James. "The Miles Brewton House." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. October 15, 1966. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000699_text.

Halberg, Kayla Boyer. "Miles Brewton House." Society of Architectural Historians. Accessed February 19, 2021. https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/SC-01-019-0026.

"Miles Brewton House." SC Picture Project. Accessed February 19, 2021. https://www.scpictureproject.org/charleston-county/miles-brewton-house.html.

Salley, A. S. “Col. Miles Brewton and Some of His Descendants.” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, vol. 2, no. 2, 1901, pp. 128–152. Retrieved from JSTOR February 18, 2021. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27574951.

Smith, Alice R. Huger & Smith, D.E. Huger. The Dwelling Houses of Charleston South Carolina. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1917, pp. 46–57. https://archive.org/details/dwellinghousesof00smitrich/page/n9/mode/2up.