Hanover House is a colonial house built by a French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

family in 1714–1716, on the upper Cooper River in present-day Berkeley County of the

South Carolina Low Country The Lowcountry (sometimes Low Country or just low country) is a geographic and cultural region along South Carolina's coast, including the Sea Islands. The region includes significant salt marshes and other coastal waterways, making it an import ...

. The house is also known as the St. Julien-Ravenel House after its early owners. When a state project to dam the river was dammed and create

Lake Moultrie Lake Moultrie is the third largest lake in South Carolina. Created in the 1940s by a state utility project to dam the Cooper River (South Carolina), Cooper River, it covers more than . It provides a wide variety of recreational opportunities, inc ...

was proposed in the 1940s, it would have flooded the site of the house. To preserve the historic structure, the house was moved to the

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

campus in Pickens County.

History

Hanover House was built by Paul de St. Julien, an ethnic French

, on land by the Cooper River that was a 1688 grant to his grandfather by the

Lords Proprietors A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is "lords proprietors" or "lords proprietary". Origin In the beginning of the European ...

of South Carolina. His grandfather had sought refuge in the colony from religious persecution by Catholics in France. The house is a 1½-story cypress wood house with a

gambrel A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. (The usual architectural term in eighteenth-century England and North America was "Dutch roof".) The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, w ...

roof. It has brick chimneys on either end of the house. There are fireplaces on both the first and second floor. Engraved on a stucco band at the top of one of the chimneys is ''PEU À PEU'', representing the French proverb ''Peu à peu l'oiseau fait son nid,'' which is "Little by little, the bird builds his nest." St. Julien named the house Hanover in honor of the

House of Hanover The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house orig ...

, which had ascended the throne of the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...

, "to show his appreciation for that country which had befriended so many Huguenot refugees after the

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...

." The plantation raised indigo and rice as commodity crops, dependent on labor of their enslaved Africans and African Americans. St. Julien's daughter married Henry Ravenel. The house remained in the family for nearly 200 years.

20th century

In the 1930s the state proposed a project to construct a dam on the Cooper River for flood control and hydroelectric power, creating

. This historic house and site would have been inundated by the large lake. In 1941, the house was dismantled and moved to

, a public university in the northwest part of the state. It was reconstructed on the east side of campus on Cherry Road. In 1994, the house was dismantled again and relocated to the

South Carolina Botanical Garden The South Carolina Botanical Garden (295 acres) is located in Clemson, South Carolina on the campus of Clemson University. This garden has nature trails, pathways, ponds, streams, woodlands, trial gardens, The Bob Campbell Geology Museum, and the ...

on the university campus. The house is furnished with period reproductions and donations by the Ravenel family."Hanover House"
City of Clemson webpage The Hanover House was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

(NRHP) in 1970. The

National Society of the Colonial Dames of America The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America is an American organization composed of women who are descended from an ancestor "who came to reside in an American Colony before 1776, and whose services were rendered during the Colonial Pe ...

restored the interior of the house as a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

. It is open to the public on weekends. Hours are Saturday, 10:00 a.m.- 12:00 noon & 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. and Sundays, 2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

References

External links

Hanover House
- Museum information, National Society of the Colonial Dames of America

including 7 photos, at South Carolina Department of Archives and History * {{authority control French-American culture in South Carolina Huguenot history in the United States Houses in Pickens County, South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Pickens County, South Carolina Historic American Buildings Survey in South Carolina Historic house museums in South Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Museums in Pickens County, South Carolina Clemson University campus University museums in South Carolina National Society of the Colonial Dames of America Clemson, South Carolina Relocated buildings and structures in South Carolina 1716 establishments in South Carolina Houses completed in 1716