Home by the River

Home by the River by Rutledge, Archibald. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780878440030.

The story of Rutledges return after 44 years to Hampton Plantation, his boyhood home. Built in 1730, the stately mansion and its extensive grounds and woodlands are now one of South Carolinas state parks. The restoration of this house and reminiscences about Rutledges early years there captures the unique spirit of Hampton. Hampton Plantation whose two-thousand acres spread along the southern bank of the great Santee River in coastal South Carolina had been in the Rutledge family since 1686. From this house, the British Colonel Banastre Tarleton stole the parish Bible and prayer book. It served as the headquarters of General Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox of the Revolution. Once, when surprised by "No-Quarter" Tarleton, he broke the arm off the ebony Chippendale chair in which he was dozing. Here lived Edward Rutledge, the Signer, and John Rutledge, the able Governor of South Carolina. In 1791, when George Washington made his triumphal tour of the South he stayed at Hampton. This is the book that earned Rutledge a Nobel Prize nomination.