Woodburn is a house dating to the end of the 1820s which stands on its original location in Pendleton, South Carolina. It is the property where Jane Edna Hunter was born; it also stands as an important site in the history of agricultural experimentation.
Though it's an antebellum Southern house, it's not your average plantation; in fact, it was never a plantation at all. Since its construction, Woodburn has been a summer home, a model stock farm, and a historic site.
Though it's an antebellum Southern house, it's not your average plantation; in fact, it was never a plantation at all. Since its construction, Woodburn has been a summer home, a model stock farm, and a historic site.
Woodburn's original front porch, viewed from just downhill in April of 2012.
Today, most of Woodburn's land belongs to Clemson University; beyond the immediate surroundings of the house itself, it has largely run into untended woodland, though some of the barns where Woodburn's pedigreed Percherons lived in the 1870s are still in use. The house itself is operated (both for tours and as a wedding venue) by the Pendleton Historic Foundation, as is a second Pendleton home, Ashtabula.
In a view from February of 2012, daffodils bloom along the remains of the original
flint-rock road toward Woodburn's carriage house. This carriage house is a faithful reconstruction of the
original; the historical one was at the point of falling down when the PHF acquired the property.
The herb garden, which is about 240 square feet, sits a short walk from the northern side of the house, against the walls of the historic Moorehead Cabin which serves as one of the outbuildings. This area is divided into four squares by brick paths that allow better viewing of the plants, as well as the antique plows and millstones which the garden serves to display. At the bottom of the long grassy hill which slopes to the east, a natural runoff pond is planned for digging in 2012. This is also the planned location for our Carolina Fence Garden.
Looking through the porch of the Moorhead Cabin, past the herb garden,
provides a view of Woodburn's north wall.
Woodburn's herb garden had been neglected for several years when restoration began in February 2012. Our desire was for the garden to include the culinary and medicinal herbs that would have been used both by Charleston-educated doctors and by enslaved Gullah midwives, by the mistresses of the home and by the Cherokee traders with whom they exchanged goods. Over time, this project has been expanded to include a pond at the foot of the current property, as well as eventual certification as a National Wildlife Federation habitat.
Woodburn in winter of 2012.
Work on the management of this multi-use educational landscape is ongoing. Check back to this blog or visit Woodburn to see it in progress!
