Bedon-Lucas House

This plantation home was built for Richard Bedon in 1820 as a summer retreat.  The Bedon-Lucas home was built as a high house, as many houses in this area were, because rice was the dominant crop and farmers had to flood the rice fields.  Homes were built high to avoid dam grounds and damage.  Bedon donated his front yard to the city to be developed into a small park before the property was sold to Clarence Lucas in 1840.  Lucas and his descendant family lived here until Mrs. Ruth Lucas, the last owner and resident, had to leave town for medical reasons.  

The home was then rented for some time, but fell into disrepair and suffered damage at the hands of Hurricane Gracie in 1959.  The Colleton County Historical & Preservation Society tried to save the home and even listed it on the state’s list of 11 Most Endangered Structures in South Carolina in 1995.  The society was able to purchase the home in 1996 and renovated and repaired the home to its previous prestige.  The home was renovated once again in 2014; “The front left room has been restored to the mid 1800s while the back bedroom shows a quilt made in 1910 and represents Victorian Culture” (“The Bedon-Lucas House”).