Old Orangeburg House Succumbs to Time and Nature

FEBRUARY 2018

Since traveling to Orangeburg to teach at SC State- wow it has been 10 years now- I daily pass this old homestead. I see it when I take Exit 149, leaving Interstate 26 to get on Highway 33 (Russell Street) heading to Orangeburg. About a mile down on the left, there it stands in the distance just past the Garden of Prayer Church. 

I took these photographs in February 2018. It is accessible after parking on a piece of road in front of a gate that is easily walked around. The house is a few hundred yards back in the woods. At that time the road to the property was pretty open and clear. 

The two story wooden structure looks to have been a nice dwelling in its time. I like the three protruding dormers upstairs. They created more livable space and were an attractive architectural design. 

The house has numerous windows allowing in lots of light. It may date to pre-electricity times. I do not know when it was built. I will try to do more research to learn that and the owners through the years. 

This side perspective shows one of the chimney and a hole in the roof. 

Here you see that the home had three chimneys, two roof holes and that it raised from the ground by brick foundations. 

On the left is a small structure that appears more modern. Perhaps it served as a car port. 

This image has me thinking that this was a comfortable, nice-looking home back in the day. What families lived here? Was this a plantation house? Were there crops farmed in the surrounding soil? What did the owners do for a living? 

When was the house last occupied before it was abandoned? Did transients and vagrants occupy it in recent decades? Looks like it, perhaps. 

DECEMBER 2024

Well, how things can change over time and not for the better in this case. 

Nearly seven years after I took the photos you saw earlier, the estate is in a bad state. On a clear early December day before heading to campus I stopped the car and walked to see what is left of the old once proud- looking house. From Highway 33 the structure today is barely visible. 

Nature has taken over, is taking over. 

My optimism when reviewing the 2018 property has sunk to despair. what if and what might have been? 

The house is now an unmitigated disaster. It is being swallowed by nature. It is collapsing on all sides. 

You see two of the chimneys that in 2018 still had the roof (mostly) around them. 

Here is a closer look of the mess. 

Walking the perimeter of the property is more difficult today. The brush and vegetation are thick and getting thicker and taller by the month. 

My selfie documents that yes I was here on Dec. 3, 2024.  The old house is over my shoulder. Below is an image of the area from the Orangeburg County GIS (Geographic Information Services). I used the Snapseed photo editing app to add the “Old House Location” with the arrow. 

Clicking on the house brought about details about the site including this that says its address is 1 Russell St. It seems old enough to have that No. 1 distinction. But an online search of the address in Orangeburg brings up a building downtown built in more recent times.