113 Ashley Avenue Bennett - Hayne House
Circa 1800
This two-and-one-half-story Adam Style house was
built circa 1800 by Thomas Bennett, Jr., (1781-1865).
Bennett served as intendent of Charleston (1812-1813)
and governor of South Carolina (1820-1822). The frame
structure rests on a raised basement with a gable
roof highlighted on both north and south elevations
by a central pediment lunette and flanked by paired
gabled dormers. The five-bay wide main facade has
a central door framed by a transom and sidelights
with decorative tracery.
Windows and louvered shutters are nine over nine
lights. The two tiered piazza with Tuscan columns
and turned balusters span the south facade and a
portion of the west facade. A rear addition was added
in the late nineteenth century.
Bennett operated rice and lumber mills in partnership
with his father, Thomas Bennett, Sr. The elder Bennett,
along with Daniel Cannon and Jonathan Lucas, Jr.,
were pioneers in establishing lumber and rice mills
in the Charleston area. The Bennetts were also
partners in the architectural firm Bennett and Son.
The design of the Classical Revival style Bennett
Rice Mill on Washington Street is attributed to
Thomas Bennett, Jr.
In 1825 the house was sold to Mrs. Susan McElhenny,
whose daughter Emily married Paul Hamilton Hayne, a
lieutenant in the United States Navy. Their son, the
noted poet and editor Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830-
1886), was born here. In 1856 Hayne founded Russell's
Magazine, a prominent southern literary journal.
In the 1870s Hayne became known as the "poet
laureate of the South."
The interior of 113 Ashley Avenue is notable for
its original woodwork and elegant central staircase.
Marker is on Ashley Avenue, on the left when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
