Thorntree, also known as the Witherspoon House, is a historic

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and ...

located at Kingstree,

Williamsburg County, South Carolina Williamsburg County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census its population was 31,026. The county seat and largest community is Kingstree. After a previous incarnation of Williamsburg County, the current ...

. It was built in 1749 by immigrant James Witherspoon (1700-1765), and is a two-story, five-bay, frame "

I-house The I-house is a vernacular architecture, vernacular house type, popular in the United States from the colonial period onward. The I-house was so named in the 1930s by Fred Kniffen, a cultural geographer at Louisiana State University who was a sp ...

" dwelling with a

hall and parlor plan A hall-and-parlor house is a type of vernacular house found in early-modern to 19th century England, as well as in colonial North America.

and exterior end chimneys. It features full-length

piazza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

s on the front and rear elevations. To preserve it, the house was moved from an inaccessible rural site to Kingstree on land donated as a memorial park, known as Fluitt-Nelson Memorial Park. The house has been restored to its 18th-century appearance and is open to the public by appointment with the Williamsburg Historical Society. It was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1970.

References

Plantation houses in South Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Houses completed in 1749 Houses in Williamsburg County, South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Williamsburg County, South Carolina Historic house museums in South Carolina {{WilliamsburgCountySC-NRHP-stub