Historic Beaufort Foundation’s annual Fall Festival of Houses and Gardens provides a very rare vantage point in a selection of private homes representing three centuries of Beaufort architecture normally not open to the public. This year’s event is scheduled for October 19th and October 20th.
Just as Charleston and Savannah developed a unique individual styles of residential architecture in the early years of the 18th Century, so did their smaller neighbor located between the two on Port Royal Island in the Old Beaufort District. South Carolina’s second oldest town, Beaufort founded in 1711, did not grow as fast as the two larger more urban towns did but was just as strategically settled on a bend in the Beaufort River.
“The Fall Festival of Houses & Gardens is the best time to experience Beaufort’s extraordinary setting and architecture as gracious property owners open their private homes and exquisite gardens to public view.” said Cynthia Jenkins, executive director of Historic Beaufort Foundation.
“We are so fortunate each year to have owners of these magnificent properties offer them to us for these tours. To be invited to walk through these homes and gardens is a rare treat. The Sunday brunch at Tombee will be exceptional, as this was one of the Lowcountry jewels restored by Savannah preservationist Jim Williams in the 1970s.”
The festival offers two different tours as well as a luncheon, on two different days.
Saturday, October 19 – Tour of the Beaufort Historic District, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The Saturday walking tour will lead visitors through a historic and architectural timeline dating from the late 18th century and into the late 19th century.
Saturday’s Tour highlights include the Elizabeth Hext House (Riverview), ca. 1805-25; the Elizabeth Barnwell Gough House, ca. 1800; the John A. Cuthbert House, ca. 1810; and the James Rhett House (Rhett’s Folly), ca. 1886.
Also featured will be St. Helena’s Anglican Church, ca. 1817-1842; the E.A. Scheper House, ca. 1890; and the McGrath-Scheper House, ca. 1852
The John Mark Verdier House, ca. 1804, which underwent a comprehensive exterior renovation in 2021 followed by a rare restoration in 2023 of the Federal Period door surround and entrance, will also be on the tour this year. This year’s Saturday properties are located throughout Beaufort’s National Historic Landmark district.
Sunday, October 20 – Southern Brunch & Tour at historic Tombee on St. Helena Island, 9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Historic Tombee, ca. 1790-1800, is the focus of the Sunday Southern Brunch & Tour. Visitors will experience a Southern brunch and an exclusive tour of one of the few surviving pre-Civil War houses remaining on any of the Beaufort Sea Islands.
Rarely open to tours, Tombee is privately owned and is an outstanding example of the Beaufort Style of architecture applied to a Federal Period residence. Constructed on a raised tabby foundation, the two-story house was built in a T-shape with three main rooms on each floor, with a central hall.
The house and grounds remained in the hands of descendants of formerly enslaved people until 1971. Well-known Savannah preservationist and antique dealer Jim Williams sensitively restored the house and grounds in the mid 1970’s. Interior architectural details were carefully preserved during the restoration.
Tombee was the 39th restoration completed by Williams and the first of two in Beaufort County. The house was listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Details about the home and life on the property were chronicled by author Theodore Rosengarten in his book “Tombee: Portrait of a Cotton Planter,” based on the plantation journal of Thomas B. Chaplin. Chaplin’s diary recorded events that were part of daily life and agricultural pursuits in the mid-19th century at Tombee and St. Helena Island. Births, deaths, and marriages of both white and enslaved people were recorded.
For more information and tickets, visit Historic Beaufort Foundation.
