The Cuthbert House was originally built for the Cuthbert family, wealthy plantation owners who owned nearby Brays Island Plantation. Built around 1811, the Federal-style home in downtown Beaufort was built by John Alexander Cuthbert for his new bride, Mary B. Williamson. Such a beautiful home, we’re lucky to still have it today as a popular bed & breakfast.
The house was a family retreat along the water in downtown Beaufort located at 1203 Bay Street, away from the plantation life and situated in the perfect spot on the Beaufort River’s bluff in order to take advantage of the fresh sea breezes that swept in from the water in the hot summer months, when the Cuthbert family spent the season receiving visits from other prominent families of the area.
In 1861, fearing the imminent arrival of Union troops, the Cuthbert family fled Beaufort as did almost all of the other wealthy property owners in the area. Most of the property in Beaufort was then seized by the U.S. Government and sold at tax sales.
United States Army General Rufus Saxton purchased the home in one of these tax sales for $1,000 and took the house for his own, although it is said that he never actually lived in the house.
General Saxton, for whom the Civil War First South Carolina Volunteers encampment in Port Royal, Camp Saxton, was named, was placed in charge of all of the abandoned plantation property in the Beaufort area in June of 1862. This included plantations, fields and any enslaved people still residing there.
According to the Cuthbert House Inn’s website, “General Saxton was responsible for managing, housing, paying and recruiting the newly freed slave population for the remainder of the war.”
Also serving as a headquarters for Saxton, with it being said that General Sherman was a one time visitor before he marched through both South and North Carolina, the house was home to lots of Union troops constantly going in and out. A piece of history remains today in the old “East Parlor” of the house. Several young soldiers carved their names in the marble mantle of one of the fireplaces, and are still visible today. One had the last name of Dudley, a soldier from somewhere in the Northeast U.S.
According to the website, Saxton owned the house “for the next 10 years and then sold it to a prominent hardware and lumber yard owner, Mr. Duncan Wilson, who expanded it to its present day 10,000 square feet with a unique adaptation from its Federal roots to a masculine Victorian style – the Adams style.”
This included alterations and the addition of rooms, bay windows, Victorian trim and porches on both sides of the central portico, which is what you will currently see on Bay Street.
Today, the historic Cuthbert house is the beautifully restored, well cared for, award-winning Cuthbert House Inn.
It was added to the National Register [of Historic Properties] in 1972.
To learn more about the history of The Cuthbert House Inn and its namesake family, you can visit The Founding of Beaufort and Cuthbert House History. and also check out the original nomination form asking it to be placed on the National Register.
Explore more Beaufort SC history here.
