Fixing this house will take more than selling cookiesBy Robert Behre (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Monday, September 1, 2008
 Photo GalleryRichmond Plantation Richmond Plantation is tucked away on the Eastern Fork of the Cooper River in rural Berkeley County and is rarely seen by the public. Here are some images of what it looks like inside and out.
CORDESVILLE — Camp Low Country is one of the few scout camps with a whimsical mansion at its center, but the grand 1927 hunting lodge built by E.F. Hutton co-founder George Ellis has proven to be both a blessing and a curse. Ellis acquired Richmond Plantation in the early 20th century and was yet another wealthy northerner who bought and reinvented a struggling southern plantation. The property's historic house had burned to the ground around 1900, and Ellis hired New York architects Clinton and Russell to design a manor, guest house, kennel, gate house and carriage house in a Tudor-revival style. (Some also refer to it as "Shavian Manor Style.") The buildings were brick, possibly salvaged from a Charleston theater, and featured steeply pitched slate roofs, steel casement windows and other seemingly Medieval touches. The Ellis family enjoyed the property for a generation before selling it to the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Co., which is now known as MeadWestvaco. The company quickly resold a piece of its new acquisition to the local Girl Scout council, which opened Camp Low Country there in 1963. Sandy Lopez, former chairwoman of the council, stood inside the house recently and noted, "When the camp first opened, this is what the camp was. The upstairs bedrooms were where they kept the bunk beds." The girls even began a tradition of sticking an apple in the mouth of the boar's head mounted over the stone fireplace in the living room. As the camp grew in popularity, other camp facilities were built on the surrounding 152 acres; but the swimming pool, stables and other buildings were placed far enough away so they didn't detract from the house's historical feel. After Hurricane Hugo damaged the roof in 1989, the council began using the house less and less often. Today, the house remains boarded up; and as Lopez toured the house recently with Ruth Metzger, her friend and the current chairwoman of the Girl Scout Council of Eastern South Carolina, they marveled at its interior decor that features carved wood taken from centuries-old buildings in Germany, France and England. But they also could plainly see the old house's problems. A few dead birds could be found on the floor, apparently trapped inside after flying down one of the chimneys. There are odd smells, some rotten wood and staining underneath where the slate roof is failing. There's standing water in the basement. If the house was a blessing for the last generation of Girl Scouts who lived inside its eclectic walls, the blessing is currently more mixed as council officials struggle to balance its preservation with the pressing needs of about 10,000 scouts across their 21-county territory. Lopez and Metzger realize the nonprofit organization can't fix this house alone, and they're open to the idea of using the restored house as a business conference center, bed and breakfast and wedding venue — and other new uses that would help pay for its care and maintenance. Of course, if that happens, the Girl Scouts stand to benefit, too. "It's so sad we've got this beautiful building here that they can't go in," Lopez said. There is a sense of urgency. The gate house recently deteriorated to the point where the council felt it had no choice but to tear it down. The Friends of Richmond Plantation will hold a special lecture Thursday on the property, and Lopez and Metzger hope to attract new awareness and support. Local historians and architects have looked at the house and offered advice, but the restoration remains but a hope. One initial estimate indicated it might cost as much as $3 million to make the necessary repairs. Needless to say, that's a whole lot of cookies. "We know there's a lot to be done," Lopez said, "but at the same time, we feel very strongly that if we don't do it now, it will never be done." Robert Behre may be reached at 937-5771 or by fax at 937-5579. His e-mail address is rbehre@postandcourier.com, and his mailing address is 134 Columbus St., Charleston, S.C. 29403. |
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Comments
This article has 17 comment(s)
Posted by martin on September 1, 2008 at 10:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Amen, these people should have sold it after Hugo when they decided not to maintain it.
This is a disgrace.
Posted by newbattleaxe on September 1, 2008 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
John,
The house sits in the middle of the camp.
Martin,
I agree.
Too many people (myself included) within the Girl Scout Council spent too many years trying to talk with Mrs. Lopez and her predecessors about restoring "The Manor House" and the other old buildings on the property.
Mrs. Lopez originally wanted to raze the Manor House, as did others who knew little or nothing about the history of that piece of land. None of them seemed to want to be educated.
Few, if any, of the adults who did not grow up with this camp have wanted any part of restoring any part of it. Now, they've saddled their Girl Scout Council (meaning their Girl Scouts) with an albatross that prabably can neither be sold or restored. It also cannot be used as effectively as a camp as it used to be.
These women are liable for at least breaking a lot of hearts. They are also liable for breaking the Girl Scout Promise and Law. They have not helped other people by letting the rest of us know about this problem in a more timely fashion. They have not been sisters to other Girl Scouts. They have not been fair and honest. Let them think about that when they go to their Girl Scout National Convention soon.
Posted by GreenvilleGirl on September 1, 2008 at 12:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How could you let such a gorgeous house sit for 20 years? I didn't know of this camp until I read the article today. The article states the house was damaged by Hugo. Did the Council not have any insurance on the property? Surely there were people on the board that realized the significance of this lodge! It was the core of the camp, or at least it should have been. Didn't Ms. Lopez realize that letting the house sit in a state of disrepair with little or no maintenance only increases the amount of funds necessary to repair and maintain the property?
I was a girl scout, too, and Girl Scouts in the upstate have enjoyed many summers at Camp Wabak in the SC Mountains. I'm sure many people enjoyed the same at Camp Low Country.
I don't know what the answer may be. Surely the Girl Scouts don't need all of the 152 acres surrounding the plantation. If the property was purchased from Mr. Ellis as a pulp plantation, why can't some of the property be used as a tree farm? This would help pay some of the cost to renovated the manor.
Surely some direction can be taken to restore the home(for less than $3MM!). Just make sure Ms. Lopez is not part of the committee. She neglected the house for too long. What is her motive for wanting the house restored now? She surely didn't care about it before!
If the house can't be sold, then the Council needs to hire a marketing/fund raising firm to start a campaign to restore the house. Just keep Sandy Lopez out of it. Have a board(pro bono) installed to oversee the renovation, and set up a trust to oversee funds and maintenance once the house is restored.
Posted by newbattleaxe on September 1, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The "Manor House" and other old buildings have been on the National Register of Historic Places since before Hurricane Hugo.
The entire 152 acres makes up the camp. This 152 acres was parceled out of the original 5,000+ acres of Richmond Plantation, Fairfield Plantation, Bossis Plantation, and The Villa that was sold to West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company for "$5 and other valuable considerations."
The 152 acres was marketed by J.C. Long as a "gentleman's country retreat." Certain members of the local Girl Scout community took out second mortgages on their own homes to help buy this property away from the Duponts and give our local Girl Scouts a new camp.
We had outgrown our camp, Agnes Ann, south of Charleston. We were leasing a camp, and this new land, and its buildings, suited our needs well into the future. All the buildings had survived Hurricane Gracie (whose track Hugo was to follow almost exactly 30 years later) 4 years earlier. The Girl Scout Plantation, later Camp Low Country, looked like a dream come true.
Because some adult Girl Scouts, over the years, chose to not Honor the Girl Scout Law and respect and preserve this precious resource, this dream has become a living nightmare.
I fully agree with you, GreenvilleGirl. The local Girl Scouts need a third party to assess the situation and make decisions for them.
Posted by GreenvilleGirl on September 1, 2008 at 1:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I found out why Ms. Lopez never wanted to restore the property: she was educated in the NORTH(Maine) and is a transplant via Western Kentucky. It's no wonder. Yankees have absolutely no respect for Southern heritage, until they live here long enough and want to be considered SOUTHERN. I hope she can raise the money; it will be interesting to see what happens.
Posted by jeffyoung007 on September 1, 2008 at 1:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It looks as if it faces the same fate as the Admiral's House on the old Navy base.
Posted by SpongeMunkie on September 1, 2008 at 4:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I hate that this house has been neglected. I wonder, if they do raze it, if any effort is going to be made to preserve any of the decorative features of it , or any effort to reuse its building materials, such as its hard wood floors. As for selling off the land, I'm not sure if they can do that, it is protected in a conservation easement. http://www.lolt.org/newspublications/gir... Its a shame that they let a gem of the lowcaountry get to this point. I'm appalled.
Posted by gococks1985 on September 1, 2008 at 7:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I was a Girl Scout and camped in this house on many occasisons growing up. While the lot of you all can gripe and moan, it still does not solve the issue at hand. The interior of this "mansion" is magnificent to say the least. You don't find this kind of craftmanship in homes today. I think the council should find ways to restore it...even if just a little at a time. This inclueds the brownee bungaloo's and the "doll house" and the other buildings on the site. Open it to the public for camping wiht restrictions or something like that...sitting here griping about it does nothing for anybody..at least not me.
Posted by mkhaynes on September 1, 2008 at 8:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree gococks1985 - Camp LoCo was a lot of fun and even though I only went a few times, it was beautiful and such a big part of being a Lowcountry Girl Scout was having this "plantation" as our camp. Remember the story about the doll house being haunted? It's too important to just sell it off - it would be nice to open it to the public, it's a gorgeous piece of land.
Posted by follydude on September 2, 2008 at 7:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
wow - i'm glad GreenvilleGirl solved that problem.
Posted by strongjohn10856 on September 2, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I take considerable personal exception to the notion that folks from the North have no appreciation for the history or heritage of the South. Regional upbringing has nothing to do with being an insensitive lout with no felling for or appreciation of history as a review of many of the comments posted in reply to Mr Behre's articles can easily demonstrate (although this not so much the case with this particular article at the time I am writing this).
It's a sad truth that an organization like the GScouts has many conflicting priorities and far too few resources to do its job. It's also unfortunate that stewardship of this property was not considered more important over the last few decades, but it's not too late to find a suitable use and save this structure if action is taken soon. Maybe the Historic Charleston Fundation can once again help find a creative solution. Thanks, Mr Behre, for bringing this issue to wider attention.
Posted by SCdeacinNYC on September 2, 2008 at 9:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, it's sad the centerpiece of the Camp LoCo is falling apart. I have many fond memories of there, both as a camper and a counselor :)
I agree that the Girl Scout Council should attempt to restore the property (with the help of a few or more historic foundations). It's important to keep this property upkept and in prime condition. It has some important history.
One of my coworkers is going through a similar situation here with a house his family has owned for generations. His grandfather gifted it to Columbia University some years ago and they have not been able to take care of it, so in order to help pay for the upkeep (along with him and his brothers paying tens of thousands on taxes and upkeep) they have rent it out for weddings and photo shoots, et cetera. I know people cringe at the idea, but if the alternative is to let such an important piece of property crumble...I don't see any other choice.
Posted by carolinagal on September 2, 2008 at 12:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
MKHAYNES...I remember that story- I am a leader now and it is still creepy. i dont remember the exact story enough to tell my troop, but I do remember it. Teh Cemetary is kinda cool too----OLD OLD graves, kids and all. When my daughter goes, she was put in a "new' cabin with fridge and power...no ac, but plenty of fans. . The brownie bungalos are nasty and old.
Posted by Larz13 on September 2, 2008 at 12:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey GreenvilleGirl,
Saying something like "Yankees have absolutely no respect for Southern heritage" cheapens your argument.
I, for one am "from off" as you folks sometimes say and I purchased a 200 year old home in downtown Charleston that a certain SOUTHERN family neglected to the point that the roof allowed enough water infiltration to ruin the plaster in the ceiling and surrounding walls. IN FACT, after Hugo, several slats of the slate roof were blown off but this SOUTHERN family "fixed" it by dumping blacktop sealer on top of it instead of fixing it appropriately. I could go on--the home inspection report ran 30 PAGES from everything from faulty wiring and plumbing to foundation issues and termites. Someone probably should have kicked me before I signed the paperwork but I can say that I have proudly restored this property to the point that it is livable and could be on a historic home tour.
In fact, one of the "locals" who does renovation offered to remove all of the plaster in order to make the walls plomb. I told him "ABSOULUTELY NOT" since these walls have such ornate trim, that I will live with the cracks and save the uniqueness of the plaster mouldings.
There is a trend in my area of downtown Charleston where US NORTHERNERS are fixing up many of the City's treasures that you locals have helped to destroy by either neglect or apathy.
A word of advice--make sure you know what you are talking about before you make a blanket statement like the one you made. I would liken that statement to saying "All southerners are rednecks" but will give you a pass due to your ignorance.
Posted by ShyneyBooks on September 2, 2008 at 12:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Despite the primitive conditions at all the camp facilities, my daughter enjoyed many summers there, first attending, then volunteering, then working as a counselor. She discovered her love of horses there and continues working towards a professional equestrian career.
My experience with the local board and staff is that they rarely if ever visit the camp, let alone support the volunteers who make the horse program possible. The staff appears to be only concerned with the improvements and expansions of the local office on Cross County road that have taken place over the past 15 years.
The calendar for summer camps has been significantly reduced over the years, limiting the amount of money that could have been used for maintenance. The manor house is a perfect example of demolition by neglect done quite purposefully.
For those who might remember, the ghost story was told to the campers at night by mounted "ghosts" in costume, who also decorated their horses, and circled the campfire while telling the spooky story, then galloping off back to the barn.
The mismanagement of Camp Low Country is so severe and obvious, I hope that the Girl Scout national organization will take notice and step in to protect and maintain this little known gem of the lowcountry.
Posted by newbattleaxe on September 2, 2008 at 5:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, Y'all, the mismanagement of Camp Low Country (The Girl Scout Plantation/Outdoor Program Center) started back in the late 1970's to early 1980's. I remember. I was an Adult Volunteer with the Horsemanship Program back then.
The Council Executive Director at the time was very interested in the Horsemanship Program, but knew little about horses and less about property maagement. Our wonderfully trained Plantation Manager of several years, Mr. Britt, had left (or been fired) and been replaced with a retiree who knew little and did less.
That's when the wooden houses fell down. That's when the groundskeeping went undone. That's when the whole camp started to "go back to nature." That's when the name was changed from "Girl Scout Plantation" to "Outdoor Program Facility" and later "Outdoor Program Center", all by "guidance" (spelled pressure) "from off" - people who never saw the place or met the girls who became women there.
During this time, though, 3 Cadette Girl Scouts formed the Mounted Drill Team as part of their Challenge of the Arts. Several adults, both Paid Staff and Volunteers, worked together to place "The Plantation" on the National Register of Historic Places, and a Goose Creek Troop began researching and writing a very thorough history of Richmond Plantation.
There were Paid Staff and Volunteers who were willing to learn how to do the repairs and restorations needed. We were turned away.
Posted by JohnS on September 3, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Larz13:
You are the exception trying to save the house as original. Many Yankees buy these homes only to build a brand new house inside after they have been gutted. It sounds like your house was nicely done.