Mulberry Plantation
National Register Listing
Street Address:
S of Camden on U.S. 521, Camden, SC City Vicinity (Kershaw County)
Alternate Name:
James and Mary Boykin Chestnut House
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817728009
Description and Narrative:
Mulberry Plantation is historically notable for its association with members of the Chesnut family, particularly politician and General James Chesnut IV (1815-1885) and his diarist wife, Mary Boykin Chesnut (1823-1886). The range of their influence in things political, military, social and literary helped shape the history of the county, the state, and the South. Boykin is best known for her book A Diary From Dixie. A woman of brilliant social gifts, intelligent, and above all articulate, her husband’s career put Mary Chesnut in close touch with the men and women at the center of the social, military, and political life of the South. Her diary remains a prime source for any researcher into the period of American history from 1860-1865. Mulberry is architecturally significant as a remarkably fine example of the Federal style, particularly in its interior details, and for retaining its integrity of association, setting, design, materials, and workmanship. It is Georgian in its massing but of purely Federal derivation in its narrow fenestration, curving lines expressed in the fanlight and semi-circular arch of the dormer windows, and the light treatment of the portico by the wide spacing of slender columns. The approximately 60 acres nominated includes three contributing outbuildings: a one-story ca. 1820 servant’s cottage with a modern addition, and two ca. 1840 log barns. The house is approached by a long oak lined carriage lane which follows a causeway over a large pond. Listed in the National Register November 25, 1980; Designated a National Historic Landmark February 16, 2000.
Period of Significance:
1820
Level of Significance:
National
Area of Significance:
Architecture;Literature
National Register Determination:
National Historic Landmark
Date of Certification:
November 25 1980
Date of Certification as a National Historic Landmark:
February 16 2000
