Hampton Plantation today consists of just under of land on the banks of Hampton Creek, a tributary of the
Santee River in northern
Charleston County, South Carolina, west of
United States Route 17. Most of the plantation land is no longer in agricultural use, and has reverted to natural wooded and swampy conditions. The main house, set near Hampton Creek, is a large -story wood-frame structure, with a dormered hip roof, clapboard siding, and a raised brick foundation. Its most prominent exterior feature is a projecting temple front, with eight Doric columns (six across and two additional on the sides) supporting a decoratively carved
Adamesque frieze and pedimented gable. This feature, added in 1790–91, is believed to be the first of its type in the United States. The house has an evolutionary construction history, begun in 1735 and ending roughly in 1790–91. The original core of the house was built in 1735 by Noe Serre, a
French Huguenot refugee, and was a central-hall two-story structure. The property was acquired in 1757 by
Daniel Horry, who greatly expanded the building, adding a two-story ballroom on one side, and a master bedroom suite on the other. In order to ensure symmetry of appearance, Horry had false shuttered windows placed on the front walls of these additions. The front portico is the last major alteration made to the building. The state purchased the property from the Rutledge family in 1971. ==See also==