Confederate States of America(CSA): Secession House in Beaufort, South Carolina

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the historic and beautiful Lowcountry town of Beaufort, South Carolina, which has been named ‘Best Small Southern Town’ by Southern Living magazine. I took photos and video footage for a planned series on the Lowcountry, Robert Barnwell Rhett and the birth of South nationalism. The pictures below are a few that I took of the Secession House that sits just a block from the city’s harbour. This house was built in 1810 and later purchased by Edmund Rhett, Robert’s brother. Rhett remodeled his home in the Greek Revival style popular in the Antebellum South. The Database of Historical Markers provides more information and historic pictures of the home: Edmund Rhett, along with his brother Robert Barnwell Rhett (1800-1876), lawyer, state representative, state attorney general, U.S. congressman and senator, was an outspoken champion of state rights and Southern nationalism from the 1830′s to the Civil War. This house, long known as “Secession House,” was the scene of many informal discussions and formal meetings during the 1850′s by the Rhetts and their allies advocating secession and Southern independence. Notice that the term ‘Southern nationalism’ is here used. It is also present, you will notice, on the South Carolina historical marker which stands in front of the home. Enjoy the photographs!