Inside Clemson

Will Hiott: Highlights from Fort Hill

By Will Hiott
Director & Curator, Historic Properties

Fort Hill: Home of John C. Calhoun & Thomas G. Clemson has an intriguing collection of historic artifacts that once belonged to the Calhoun and Clemson families, collected by the family from their travels and tenure that transcend the piedmont historic house. As part of the Month of Milestones, we would like to highlight a few items in the museum collection that visitors often find most interesting.

Constitution Sideboard
Washington Windsor chair and Constitution sideboard, pictured in Fort Hill in the 1880s

The Constitution Sideboard is one of the more unique items in the Fort Hill collection. The formal dining room contains an historic sideboard made of mahogany paneling from the officer’s deck of the U.S.S. Constitution, which was known as “Old Ironsides” in Tripoli in 1804, on the Barbary Coast, and during the War of 1812. In 1829, the battleship was being dismantled after being deemed unseaworthy. Gifts for prominent people were fashioned from wood taken from the historic vessel. The hand carved sideboard was a gift to John C. Calhoun from Henry Clay following a speech Calhoun delivered on the Constitution of the United States. Clay, Calhoun and Daniel Webster were known as the great triumvirate in the Senate. In 1830, Oliver Wendell Holmes’ famous poem “Old Ironsides” sparked the later preservation of the ship when he hailed, “The Harpies of the shore shall pluck The eagle of the sea! Oh, better that her shattered hulk, Should sink beneath the wave.” The restored ship is anchored today in the Boston Navy yard. Thomas Clemson’s granddaughter Floride Isabella Lee inherited the sideboard and it returned from New York to Fort Hill in the 1930s. The sideboard was designed by one of the most prominent cabinet makers of the day Duncan Phyfe.

Fort Hill also contains several items related to the first President George Washington. A Windsor arm chair on view in the parlor was a gift to Thomas G. Clemson from his sister Louisa Clemson Washington. Louisa had married Dr. Samuel Walter Washington, a grand nephew of President Washington and grandson of Samuel Washington, who was the general’s elder brother. The camp chair, which General Washington used at his headquarters in Trenton, was passed down to Samuel Washington’s son George Steptoe Washington and to his son Dr. Samuel Walter Washington. Louisa gave the chair to her brother Thomas, who had helped the family following Samuel’s unexpected death. Louisa also gave her brother an eagle backed sofa and a medal of Gen. Washington’s. The medal was sent to Thomas’ brother Baker and it resides today in the Boston Public Library. Another Washington artifact is a piece of the original tomb of the General which was fashioned into a paper weight for then Vice-President Calhoun from the original tombstone that had existed from 1799-1832. Incidentally, Clemson, in correspondence with his attorney James H. Rion, used Mt. Vernon as a model for his desires and aspirations for the historic preservation of Fort Hill. Coincidentally, Anna Calhoun and the founder of the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, Anna Pamela Cunningham were classmates at a The S. C. Female Institute in Columbia referred to as the Barhamville Academy. Another item associated with a Revolutionary figure is the Calhouns’ bed which was used by his guest Marquis de Lafayette as the retired general visited with then Secretary of War Calhoun.

Fort Hill parlor
The Leopold Chair in the parlor of Fort Hill, pictured in the 1880s

Perhaps one of the most fascinating artifacts in Fort Hill is a large throne-like chair that was presented toThomas G. Clemson from the King of Belgium, Leopold I. The delicately carved Leopold chair is highly carved with cartouches of the King’s likeness in the arms of the chair. Thomas G. Clemson served as a diplomat as charge de affairs to Belgium from 1844-1851 and negotiated the first trade treaty on behalf of the United States with Belgium. Clemson was awarded the Order of Leopold medal decoration from the monarch which is on view at Fort Hill. Mr. Clemson shared an interest in painting with King Leopold I and Clemson bequeathed his art collection which adorns the walls of Fort Hill in his last will and testament.

Leopold Medal
Thomas Green Clemson's Leopold Medal

Fort Hill contains a number of locally made items by German cabinet maker William Knauff. Most notably is the Clemson’s bedroom furniture on the second floor, which includes a specially made seven-foot bed for the six-foot-six-inch Mr. Clemson. On the first floor in the Calhoun’s bedroom is a large wardrobe by Knauff which was said to have been designed by Floride Calhoun based on one that had belonged to first lady Dolly Madison.

The Fort Hill collection also contains artifacts which speak to the occupation of the house during the antebellum era by enslaved African-Americans. Most notable of these tangible links to that period is a three corner cabinet made by a slave carpenter, possibly Ted Calhoun, and a photographs of Susan Clemson Richardson, who cared for the young Clemson children at Fort Hill when the couple lived there as newlyweds.

Collectively, Fort Hill contains an impressive array of artifacts as an historic house museum of the Calhoun and Clemson family. Each item, from the fanciest to the most commonplace, reflects on the prominence of the Calhoun family and the extraordinary life and legacy of the visionary and founder Thomas G. Clemson.

You can learn more about Fort Hill during the Month of Milestones, celebrated with events throughout November. Faculty and staff are invited to tour Fort Hill on Faculty/Staff Day Wednesday, Nov. 20, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.