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Architectural HIstory
Archeological surveys in the 1990s revealed an earlier habitation stood here in the 1700s, most likely positioned on this spot to catch cool breezes coming off the Atlantic and Port Royal Sound. None of this original structure is visible today; the architecture comprising the surviving ruins was completed in two phases. Erected before 1800, the main house or "Old House" had the basic shape of a rectangular prism.
In the early 19th century George Edwards' redesigned the building into a tripartite form by adding double-height flanking wings, connected to the existing structure with screen walls and a "U-shaped" covered porch. The remodeled home had 1400 square-feet of living space—sufficient for the Edwards family but impractical to host any number of houseguests.
The large tabby outbuilding to the northwest most likely housed domestic slaves. The two smaller structures adjacent to the flanking wings possibly served as kitchens or storerooms.
Construction Methods
The Edwards house is one of the Low Country's outstanding examples of tabby construction. Tabby is a mix of lime, water, sand and oyster shells "quarried" from Native American shell-middens. Shells were burned in oak kilns making lime and used whole in the mix.
Tabby walls are cast in layered sections pouring wet mix into wooden molds. In 1796 the Duc de La Rochefaucauld observed, "The mortar is pounded in with force, and, when they are brim full left for two or three days."
House and Grounds
The oil painting Rosehill-on-the-Combahee depicts a landscape thought to closely resemble the Edwards house in its heyday. A more detailed picture of the mansion on Spring Island, with its terraced gardens and oak allées bordered by cotton fields, comes from the pages of Federal Sgt. Frederick Holohan's diary.
February 5, 1862, he wrote, "…Magnificent avenues of live oaks led away in three directions at least for half a mile, and the immediate grounds were enclosed by a fence of ossage, orange, trimmed as rectangular as a stone wall and ornamental shrubbery adorned the grounds. Flowers grew every-where in profusion and everything about us was calculated to delight the eye and overpower the senses with beauty and fragrance!"
Artisans and Builders
George Edwards' slaves would have done basic construction work on the main house. In addition highly skilled bondsmen such as masons and plasterers were needed to build fireplaces, fabricate plaster moldings. Men were 'hired out' from neighboring plantations to complete construction work requiring special expertise. This system was one of the few ways a slave could earn money and in some cases, purchase freedom.
Artifacts (eg. chinaware) reflecting European design tastes have been recovered at the Edwards house. Such products were not necessarily imported. Wealthy Charlestonians might purchase house-ware from Europe, but South Carolina was a regional center for ideas and fashions, supporting its own craft industry.