Fort Hill Walking Tour

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The entryway at Fort Hill was a part of the original four-room structure referred to as Clergy Hall. Built for Reverend McElhenney, Clergy Hall functioned as a manse or parsonage as the Reverend attended Hopewell-Keowee Church, today known as Old Stone Church. After McElhenney's death, Floride Bonneau Colhoun became the owner of the 600-acre property. When Floride's son-in-law, John C. Calhoun moved to Clergy Hall with his family, they began the process of expanding the four-room home to eventually include fourteen rooms in all. The arch at the end of this space marks the end of the original structure and the beginning of the Calhoun expansions. This room features a number of Calhoun-Clemson era pieces, including, two matching pier tables on either side and the mirrors above, and the marble top pier table and banjo clock in the lower hallway. The wallpaper throughout the hallway is a reproduction of the 19th century American wallpaper with French borders that hung here from 1825-1854.

2. Fort Hill-Master Bedroom

The Calhoun Master Bedroom functioned both as a bedroom and as a sitting room. The massive Empire bed and Piedmont wardrobe were made by William Knauff. The chinz applique quilt on the bed was made by the Calhoun's youngest daughter, Martha Cornelia Calhoun. The portrait above the bed of Floride Calhoun was painted in 1840 by James Bogle. Also featured in the room are Mr. Calhoun's reclining chair and his traveling trunk bearing his initials. The piano in this room was one of the many owned by Floride Calhoun during her lifetime. Three of Mrs. Calhoun's pianos now reside at Fort Hill. The dress which stands in this room is an example of the fashion of the period made as a part of a Creative Inquiry course offered by Clemson Theater's department. There are two other such costumes in the home.

3. Fort Hill-Nursery and Cornelia's Bedroom

This room beyond the Master Bedroom was enlarged more than once during the Calhoun lifetimes. It served as a children's room and later as the bedroom for the Calhouns' youngest daughter, Martha Cornelia Calhoun. When Cornelia was twelve-years-old, she suffered an accident while playing and faced mobility issues for the rest of her life. This became Cornelia's bedroom as it was easier for her to access rather than joining her siblings in their upstairs bedrooms. In this room, there are a variety of children's toys, like the wooden boat which is a wooden model of the U.S.S. Constitution owned by John Calhoun Clemson. This room also features a three-sided crib used by the Calhoun children and would have been pushed up against the side of the adult's bed. The half-size mahogany bed and dresser belonged to Floride Clemson and were given to her by her aunt Louisa Clemson Washington. The small round table beside the bed was by John C. Calhoun's bedside when he died in Washington, D.C. in 1850. The doll bed on the floor by the bed belonged to Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson and the doll dresser was her great-granddaughter's.

4. Fort Hill-State Dining Room

This state dining room, in conjunction with the parlor next door, acted as the formal entertaining space of the home. The skills of the enslaved domestic laborers made this room function smoothly as the Calhouns hosted numerous guests and prominent politicians. The banquet table in the center of the room seats twelve, and both the table and chairs were designed by Duncan Phyfe around 1820. The table comes to Fort Hill from the Calhouns' time living year-round in Washington, D.C. during John C. Calhoun's tenure as Secretary of War. The table is set with a replica of the Jackson-era White House china and features many original pieces of Calhoun silver. On the wall to the left of the entrance sits the Constitution Side Board. This piece is made from paneling of the Officer's Quarters of the U.S.S. Constitution, also called Old Iron Sides, which was built for the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812. This room also features a number of family portraits, two of John C. Calhoun on the walls to the left of the entrance, Floride Calhoun on the wall next to her daughter, Anna Maria's portrait. Above the hearth sits Floride Calhoun's wedding portrait, and finally, Thomas Green Clemson sits on the wall closest to the entrance.

5. Fort Hill-Parlor

The parlor at Fort Hill was built in 1827 and was the most expensive addition to the house. As a teenager, A.P. Calhoun inscribed in the plaster of the wall by the door, "1827, A.P. Calhoun." This room, along with the State Dining Room next door, was a part of the formal entertaining space of Fort Hill. On November 13th, 1838, Anna Maria Calhoun married Thomas Green Clemson in the parlor. The parlor hosts a variety of important Calhoun-Clemson artifacts including, Floride Calhoun's Gunther and Norwood pianoforte along the left wall. The piano to the right of the entrance was her last piano and is the only piano in the home that is still playable. Thomas G. Clemson was also musically inclined, playing both the violin and the piano during his lifetime, as well as composing eight songs during the Civil War. Not only was he a talented musician, but Mr. Clemson was also a gifted painter and a number of his paintings are on display in this room. The portraits of the Clemson children rest on the west wall, Floride Elizabeth Clemson and John Calhoun Clemson, opposite a large portrait of their mother Anna Maria. The wallpaper in this room is an exact replica of the wallpaper that would have been on display during the families' residencies. The pattern of the wallpaper reflects two important 19th-century cash crops, the cotton blossom and tobacco leaves. The simple wooden, Windsor chair in front of the fireplace is said to have been one of George Washington's camp chairs during the Revolutionary War and the sofa along the right wall came to Fort Hill from Washington's estate, Mt. Vernon. Beside the Windsor chair, sits a burgundy chair and accompanying ankle-rest. This chair was a gift to Thomas Green Clemson from King Leopold I of Belgium. On the armrests of the chair, you can see the likeness of King Leopold I carved into the wood.

6. Upstairs Fort Hill- Andrew Pickens Calhoun Bedroom

The southeast bedroom, also referred to as A.P. Calhoun's bedroom, includes several paintings from Thomas Green Clemson's vast art collection. Paintings include peasant scenes and a likeness of Queen Victoria, King Leopold I's niece. King Leopold specifically granted permission to Clemson to commission artists to reproduce some of the paintings from the king's private art collection, a testament to Clemson's important role in Belgium. This room is mostly associated with the Calhoun's eldest son, Andrew Pickens Calhoun (1811-1865). A.P. married his second wife, Margaret Green on May 5th, 1836, and they had seven children together. In 1854, A.P. purchased fifty enslaved African Americans from his mother, Floride Calhoun, along with Fort Hill plantation. At the time of his death in 1865, there were 139 enslaved African Americans at Fort Hill.

7. Upstairs Fort Hill-Dressing Room (Guest Suite)

Fort Hill had three dressing rooms once the expansions to the home were completed in the 1830s. The family primarily used these dressing rooms for grooming, but they also served as storage areas because of the lack of closet space in the house. This dressing room was the first to be added by the Calhouns in 1825. The English ironstone foot tub with lotus petal design belonged to Floride Calhoun. The Sheraton-style washstand belonged to the Clemsons, and now holds a bowl and pitcher. The wooden towel rack is in a "hairpin" design and would have been used to hang towels. The galvanized metal tub with a sitting shelf was the Calhouns' sitz tub.

8. Upstairs Fort Hill-Patrick Calhoun Bedroom

The northeast corner bedroom was potentially the bedroom of the Calhoun's second eldest son, Patrick Calhoun, named after his paternal grandfather. This room features a bright kimono wallpaper that has been reproduced from the original. There is an oil painting hanging above the fireplace that is a Madonna and Child painted by Thomas Green Clemson. He used his wife, Anna Maria, and his youngest daughter, Nina, as the models for the mother and child. The Clemsons purchased the mahogany sleigh bed while they lived in Europe. A unique, quilted coverlet with an appliqued floral decoration covers the bed. The oval French sewing cabinet is inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and the chest-on-chest would have been used as a linen press.

9. Upstairs Fort Hill-John C. Calhoun Jr. Bedroom

This bedroom is believed to have been a part of the original 1803 cottage structure built for Reverend McElhenny. The room likely belonged to the Calhouns' third son, John Caldwell Jr. (1823-1855). This room contains many paintings of pastoral scenes that were a part of Clemson's art collection. After John C. Calhoun's death on March 31st, 1850, Floride moved to this bedroom. The walnut bonnet chest belonged to Thomas Green Clemson. The maple acorn bed was another Calhoun family piece. The sewing machine belonged to Anna Maria Clemson. Her daughter, Floride Clemson, wrote a poem entitled "That 'Blessed' Sewing Machine" that referred to this machine.

10. Upstairs Fort Hill-Second Dressing Room

This second dressing room served primarily as grooming space for the family but also provided additional storage space for the family's belongings since the home has very little closet space. Seen in this room, and pictured here, are one of Thomas Green Clemson's travel trunks, bearing his initials on the side, a Black mahogany medicine chest on the shelf that likely belonged to Dr. John C. Calhoun Jr., as well as a unique type of tub which belonged to the Clemsons. Called a hat tub, this artifact would have been used almost like a modern-shower. The person being bathed would stand in the middle of the "hat" while an enslaved domestic laborer poured warm water over the bathing person's head, and excess water would be caught by the "brim."

11. Upstairs Fort Hill-Anna Calhoun Childhood Bedroom/Clemson Bedroom

This room served as Anna Calhoun Clemson's childhood bedroom and was later used by the Clemsons as a young married couple from 1840 to 1843. During this time, John C. Calhoun fostered Thomas Green Clemson's interest in scientific agriculture. The Clemson's first three children were born at Fort Hill and their two surviving children later moved with their parents to Cane Break plantation in Saluda, S.C. Clemson purchased Cane Break plantation and thirty enslaved African-Americans from his wife's uncle in January 1844. The Clemsons would later travel to Europe for Mr. Clemson's appointment in Belgium where they would live for six years. Mr. and Mrs. Clemson would retire to Fort Hill after the loss of their two children in the summer of 1872, John Calhoun Clemson and Floride Clemson Lee, whose photographs are on display by the bureau. Over the mantel hangs a self-portrait of Thomas Green Clemson. He was approximately six foot six inches tall, which prompted William Knauff to build a custom seven-foot-long bed that sits in this room. The dresser was also made by Knauff. Next to the bed is Anna's Swiss oak sewing table, and the red and white European chairs on either side of the bed were highly prized by Mr. Clemson.

12. Upstairs Fort Hill-James Edward Calhoun Bedroom

The fourth bedroom, which was originally a dressing room, was likely the bedroom of the fourth son, James Edward Calhoun (1826-1861). Named after James Edward Colhoun, James studied law and eventually went to California to seek a fortune. He died tragically, without children. This is the only bedroom in the home that does not have a fireplace. In addition to being a bedroom, it also served as an overflow room for when the house was full of guests. The single Jenny Lind spool bed belonged to the Clemsons. The small liquor chest atop Clemson's overseas chest belonged to General Andrew Pickens and was used for traveling.

13. Upstairs Fort Hill-William Lowndes Calhoun Bedroom

This last bedroom likely belonged to the youngest Calhoun son, William Lowndes Calhoun (1829-1858). William was a graduate of South Carolina College, and he married Kate Putnam, the widow of his older brother, Dr. John C. Calhoun Jr. The chest, the poplar table, and the pair of glass vases in this room belonged to the Calhouns. The small, red Windsor-style side chair belonged to the Clemsons, as did the three small paintings in this room.

14. Fort Hill-Clergy Hall Kitchen and Calhoun Family Dining Room

The oldest part of Fort Hill was constructed around 1803 to serve as a manse or parsonage for a nearby church, Hopewell-Keowee Presbyterian, today called Old Stone Presbyterian Church. Reverend James McElhenny served as a part-time pastor of the church and built Clergy Hall. In 1810, twenty-five enslaved persons were living with Reverend McElhenny, his wife Susannah Wilkinson, and their family. This room served as the kitchen for Clergy Hall and the large fireplace along one wall was the primary cooking fireplace. During the Calhouns' time, this room became the family dining room and today it is Fort Hill's Gift Shop and small item display room.

15. Fort Hill-Plantation Office/Library

The office, called Mr. Calhoun's Library by Mr. Clemson, is where John C. Calhoun composed many orations and would have conducted the business of the plantation. His "Fort Hill Address" was written here on July 26th, 1831. Many of the artifacts on exhibit in this room are representative of the many roles John C. Calhoun fulfilled as a politician. The plantation-style desk to the left was used by Mr. Calhoun in this office. The kneehole desk in the back-right corner was used in his law office in Abbeville, S.C. The desk in the center of the room belonged to Mr. Calhoun when he served in the U.S. House of Representatives, before and during the War of 1812. The desk to the right of the fireplace is hand carved Swiss oak. Calhoun received it as a gift from the citizens of South Carolina during his first time as Vice President. The chair next to this desk was Mr. Calhoun's Senate chair.

16. Fort Hill-Kitchen

The Fort Hill plantation kitchen, built after 1825, was reconstructed in 1944. The original indoor kitchen was converted into a family dining room when the detached kitchen was constructed. Reconstruction efforts used materials from a 19th-century plantation kitchen owned by the Pinckney family in Pendleton. Enslaved African-Americans were primarily responsible for the cooking and other kitchen duties. Items in the kitchen used for cooking are original to Fort Hill. The original textile equipment, yarn winders, spinning wheels, and looms would have been used in the adjacent spin house and weave room buildings, and the large wash pots would have been used both inside and outside of a separate laundry building. Buildings such as these as well as the original house and field slave quarters, no longer exist; however, stone foundations of early campus buildings were made from recycled fieldstones from the old enslaved quarters.

17. Archaeological Site: Cooks Room

Behind the main dwelling house, there stood a row of outbuildings, built and used by enslaved African Americans, devoted to fulfilling the various needs of a mostly self-sustaining plantation. The Kitchen, Cook’s Room, Laundry, and Smoke House were but a few of these structures now lost. The exterior Kitchen is the only rebuilt outbuilding. The Cook’s Room would have been the domestic quarters belonging to the enslaved cook at Fort Hill. Nelly and Christy were two of the enslaved cooks whose names were recorded in personal correspondence of the family. There were other quarters for enslaved domestic workers near the Cook’s Room; they were built along a row of fig trees.

18. Archaeological Site: Smoke House

Enslaved African Americans built and used all the plantation outbuildings which served a variety of functions. A Smoke House was an important structure; within this building’s walls enslaved persons worked to preserve and prepare meats before the invention of refrigeration. Though the Spring House was able to cool dairy products and keep sweets chilled during the hot summer months, the Smoke House was critical for the preservation of meat.

19. Fort Hill Spring House

Fort Hill had a number of outbuildings that housed the various materials necessary for the operation of the plantation. The Spring House was one of those original structures. This subterranean area was built into the hillside below the house where a natural spring once flowed through the property. The spring provided fresh water and the cave-like structure of the Spring House served to chill food like milk and butter to better preserve them. The Spring House was constructed out of local stone to utilize the coolness of the underground for food preservation. A cistern in the middle allowed water to flow from the natural spring to a gazebo-like structure that sat on the hill above. This structure may have served as a pump house. Enslaved African Americans were responsible for bringing fresh spring water into the home and removing wastewater from the home. The wrought iron bars and steel supports are modern additions to the Spring House to stabilize and protect the structure.

20. Archaeological Site: Domestic Enslaved Quarters

At Fort Hill, some of the enslaved African-Americans worked as domestic and skilled laborers and were tasked with attending to the needs of the Calhouns and their guests. In addition to the Main House, John C. Calhoun’s Office, and the Reconstruction Kitchen, there were numerous other “outbuildings” that served a variety of purposes on the property. Through historical accounts of the property, historians are able to determine the approximate location of some of the outbuildings that would have been the domain of the domestic laborers. Archaeology has opened the door to a more in-depth study of the lives of African-Americans at Fort Hill. Laws and codes prevented many African-Americans from leaving a written record of their lives; this makes a study of the material history they may have left behind invaluable.

21. Fort Hill Slave and Convict Cemetery Historical Marker

One side of the historical marker which stands at the entrance of Woodland Cemetery explains that the site had once been an orchard and the first known burial here was of a child also named John C. Calhoun in 1837. The other side of the marker indicates that enslaved African Americans were buried along the hillside below the Calhoun family plot in graves marked by field-stones. The exact number of enslaved African Americans buried at this site is unknown. Additionally, from 1890 to 1915, convict laborers who died while working to build Clemson College were buried next to the slave cemetery.

22. Calhoun Bottoms Historic Marker

The Calhoun Bottoms Historic Marker commemorates the role of Native Americans and enslaved African-Americans in the development of the land that is now a part of Clemson University. "Calhoun Bottoms" refers to an area of land that was cultivated by enslaved African-Americans for the Calhoun plantation. Today, this land is still cultivated by Clemson University students in the agricultural department.

23. Fort Hill Enslaved Quarters Historical Marker

The quarters for the enslaved African-Americans who labored in the fields at Fort Hill stood approximately one-eigth of a mile from the main house. They were described in 1849 as being made from “stone and joined together like barracks.” During John C. Calhoun’s lifetime, between 70-80 African Americans were enslaved at Fort Hill. This number grew to 139 at the time of A.P. Calhoun’s death. This historic marker, erected in 2016, is a part of Clemson University’s ongoing efforts to tell the full and complete history of the university.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Fort Hill Walking Tour

Created by Fort Hill on May 22nd 2020, 5:47:50 pm.

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Description

On this tour you will gain a fuller understanding of life at Fort Hill. This tour seeks to open the door to the 1800s, from the main house filled to the brim with original artifacts from the Calhoun and Clemson families, to the outbuildings and the domain of the enslaved where archaeology seeks to unlock the stories of the past as yet untold. Walk through the grounds of Clemson University as never before and learn the past behind its creation.

Entries on This Tour

Fort Hill Walking Tour

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