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Hutchinson home, c. 1980s
The Hutchinson home, still standing on the former Caldwell-Hutchison Farm near Lowndesville, dates to the late 18th or early 19th centuries. This is how the home appeared when it was documented for a Historic American Buildings Survey as part of the Richard B. Russell Dam Project in the 1980s.
Library of Congress photo
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Farm layout
An illustration from the survey shows the layout of the farm, including outbuildings such as a chicken house, corn crib, ox, horse and mule barns, cotton shed and a privy.
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House illustration
The survey described the home as a “two-story log dogtrot house and log smokehouse dating from the late Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century. Originally a one-story single-pen dwelling, the house was gradually expanded into a two-story dogtrot with frame front additions and an attached frame kitchen and dining room. The farmstead has not been altered significantly since ca. 1920 and the major structures on the site are in excellent condition.”
Library of Congress image
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Robert Barney Hutchison
In 1876, Confederate veteran Robert Barney Hutchison was the first Hutchison to move into the house. Members of the Caldwell family had previously resided there, says McCalla Senior Park Ranger John Lawrence. The Caldwells added onto the original structure, first as a one-story structure, later making it a two-story home somewhere around the 1850s, he says.
Courtesy John Lawrence, S.C. State Park Service
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America Carolina Hutchison
Robert Barney Hutchison’s wife, America Carolina Burton Hutchison. Her family, the Burtons, were related by marriage to the Caldwells, who were French Huguenots and forebears of John C. Calhoun.
Courtesy John Lawrence, S.C. State Park Service
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SCECN June '51 cover
An early official publication for members of co-ops around the state, South Carolina Electric Co-op News, featured the Hutchinson home in its June 1951 issue, noting that Mallie Hutchinson’s home had become Little River Electric’s 3,000th consumer.
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SCECN Hutchinson's story
South Carolina Electric Co-op News June ’51 story included these photos, showing Mr. and Mrs. M.B. (Mallie) Hutchinson with co-op manager F.W. Brown’s son, Joe. Also pictured is Superintendent George Cartledge, preparing to energize the service. (Note: The story erred in describing the house as 250 years old; it was about 150 at the time.)
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SCECN Hutchinson's full story
The South Carolina Electric Co-op News story described Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson as “a right steady couple and they don’t believe in traipsing all over the countryside. They like to stay put.” The article notes, “The hull of the house is made of hand-hewn logs about a foot square. They are dove-tailed at the corners so they are strong without the use of nails. Boards used inside for ceiling and floors are about a foot wide and polished highly by ... use. All of the outbuildings are of the same solid construction.”
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Mallie and his oxen
McCalla Senior Park Ranger John Ranger Lawrence notes that the Caldwell-Hutchison Farm is featured in the book Beneath These Waters: Archeological and Historical Studies of 11,500 Years Along the Savannah River. This photo shows Mallie Hutchinson and his oxen-powered wagon near a huge gully, he says. The gully shows how cotton farming in the region depleted and eroded the once-rich soil. “It all washed down the Savannah River,” Lawrence notes.
The best farm land was later covered by Lake Russell, which reached full pool by 1985. Lawrence adds: “It was the bottom land. That was the rich land, the richest part of the farm.” The story in the June ’51 edition of South Carolina Electric Co-op News noted that “Until fairly recent times, Mr. Hutchinson used a span of oxen for his farm work. He made the yoke with which they were hitched. He spends his spare time making ax handles that are in great demand by Abbeville County folks. He also makes spokes, axles, etc., and repairs wagons and other farm equipment.” William McCarley remembers his grandfather’s ax handles: “They would look like a regular, store-bought ax handle,” he says.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo
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Dogtrot view
This photo from the 1980s historic house survey shows what the 1951 South Carolina Electric Co-op News story described as the modified carriage way through the center of the house: “It has been floored and is no longer used by carriages, but the ends of it are still open. This makes it into the famous ‘dog-run’ familiar in later houses. In a modern home such a thing is known as a breezeway.” William McCarley, 62, Mallie’s Hutchinson’s grandson, remembers visiting as a child back in the 1960s. “They used to have the old, straight-back chairs. We used to sit out here on Sunday afternoon,” he says. Ranger Lawrence says Katherine Hutchinson recalled sitting with visitors in the breezeway, playing games while enjoying taffy pulls or popcorn popped on their wood stove.
Library of Congress photo
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Back porch appliances
A kerosene-powered refrigerator and a wringer washing machine on the back porch. Senior Park Ranger John Lawrence says the refrigerator was delivered in the 1940s. The story in the June ’51 edition of South Carolina Electric Co-op News indicated that Mrs. Hutchinson was more excited than her husband, Mallie, to get electricity, particularly the washing machine. The article also noted: “She is looking forward to getting an electric milker to make her milking task easier. At present she milks four cows herself, and will soon add four more to the herd.”
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Kerosene fridge
Mallie Hutchinson’s grandson William McCarley (left) also remembers the kerosene-powered fridge – which is still on the back porch! With him is Ranger John Lawrence, who notes that the supporting timbers are still under the porch.
Photo by Walter Allread
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Den with newspaper wallpaper
A photo from the 1980s survey shows a den wallpapered with newspaper pages, a common practice to seal drafts in older rural homes. Today a few remnants of the newspapers remain, Lawrence notes, offering glimpses of Anderson Independent stories from the 1930s and ’40s. Some mention the World Series, others the Nazis and World War II, says Lawrence. He notes that families like the Hutchinsons made a paste of flour and water to apply the newspaper. Even so, the old house was drafty: “On a cold or cool winter day, that fire was going 24 hours a day,” Lawrence says. McCarley remembers that when he visited in winter, he’d back right up to the fireplace, where his aunt, Katherine, would also usually sit. “On a cold day, you would be right here -- and cold,” he notes.
Library of Congress photo
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Single bulb, lantern hanger
Today, in the den, a single light bulb – typical of early co-op service – is still in place. Beside it is what State Park Ranger John Lawrence thinks is an old lantern holder. The white on the ceiling, Lawrence notes, is likely remnants of white clay from the river, used to paint the ceiling years ago.
Photo by Walter Allread
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Cardboard bedroom
Another photo from the 1980s survey shows Bandon Hutchinson’s bedroom with pasteboard covering the walls.
Library of Congress photo
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Spinning wheel
William McCarley says he remembers the old spinning wheel seen in this photo. He also recalls a “jug that stayed there on the floor for as long as I could remember.” It had a woven wicker-type covering, he recalls. What was in it? “Mama said persimmon beer,” McCarley says. “It tasted bad.”
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Bedroom
In another bedroom, Robert Barney Hutchison (left) and another ancestor’s portrait hang on the wall. The mantle is lined with bottles of rubbing alcohol, turpentine, Aqua Velva and Tinactin.
Library of Congress photo
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Dining room
Handmade brooms, made of bound broomsedge, lean against the wall in the dining room.
Library of Congress photo
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Another view of the dining room
Another view of the dining room, from the 1980s, before Bandon and Katherine Hutchinson moved out. Close inspection of the photo reveals a butter churn, a gourd birdhouse, fan belts, saws, Mason jars -- and much more.
Library of Congress photo
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Washpans
Washpans and a gourd dipper on another wall serve as reminders of a different time. William McCarley recalls asking his mother, the late Ruth Hutchinson McCarley, who was born in 1910 and grew up in the home, what was the most remarkable thing in her life: “I thought she might say the first time she saw a car or (the arrival of rural) electricity or the World Wars ... but she said, ‘The most remarkable thing is how quick it goes by.’ I guess she was right!”
Library of Congress photo
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Woodstove
The well-used woodstove, with a piece of wood holding the oven door close. The dependence on woodstoves and fireplaces obviously increased the fire risk for rural residents like the Hutchinsons. Bandon Hutchinson was prepared, State Park Ranger John Lawrence says: “He had buckets of water sitting around. That was their fire extinguisher.” One upstairs room still shows damage from a fire.
Library of Congress photo
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Woodstove in shed
Bandon and Katherine took another woodstove with them when they moved out of the old house, Ranger John Lawrence says. This one is still in the old smokehouse.
Photo by Walter Allread
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Wringer washer
Also left behind: This wringer-type washing machine, stashed in the old wellhouse.
Photo by Walter Allread
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Down the well
When the Hutchinson’s electric water pump broke, during the time Bandon and Katherine lived at the house, it was not replaced. Katherine preferred drawing water from the 80-foot well, State Park Ranger John Lawrence says. “When the well pump tore up, they didn’t bother to fix it. They just went back with the well and the windlass and the bucket.” He adds, “This is where they got all their water. I heard one time, when they (Bandon and Katherine) were leaving here, the park crew helped them get a deteriorated ’possum out of here. They kept dipping pieces out.”
Photo by Walter Allread
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Shed
Hanging and potted plants under a shed with cedar posts.
Library of Congress photo
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Back of house (then)
The Little River Electric service line and meter are visible in this view of the back of the house from the 1980s.
Library of Congress photo
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Back of house (now)
The back of the house as it appears now. A masonry tradesman with the S.C. State Park Service repaired the chimney, Ranger John Lawrence notes, after sparks were noticed coming from cracks in the masonry while the Hutchinsons still lived there.
Photo by Walter Allread
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Repair and replace
After the Hutchinsons left, State Park Service tradesmen painstakingly repaired and replaced deteriorated wall and floor boards and even some one-foot-square log floor beams.
Courtesy John Lawrence, S.C. State Park Service
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Repair and replace
Replacement floor beams where hand-hewn and dove-tail notched in the original style, Ranger John Lawrence notes.
Courtesy John Lawrence, S.C. State Park Service
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Bandon and his mule
Clinging to the old ways, Bandon worked a mule in the late 1980s, around the time he and his sister, Katherine, finally moved out of the old home place. “They did not want to leave,” William McCarley notes.
Courtesy John Lawrence, S.C. State Park Service
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Katherine Hutchinson
Katherine Hutchinson at the new, “all-electric” home. The house had electric heat, an electric water heater and other modern conveniences -- but Bandon rarely used them, says John Lawrence, who remembers visiting the Hutchinsons there. “We would talk and as it would get dark, I’d say, ‘Bandon, you might want to turn on a light.’ He’d flip the switch and it was like lighting a match -- not a lot of light.” Lawrence adds, “They would catch rainwater to wash clothes with. If it didn’t rain, they didn’t wash. They didn’t cut on the water heater.” Katherine heated water on the woodstove. (Note the firewood stacked on the porch in this photo.) Late in life, Bandon Hutchinson was stricken with cancer. When he passed away, his older sister passed away just a few days later, Lawrence and McCarley recall. Family members found her dead: Katherine had fallen into the fireplace, they say.
Little River Electric Cooperative was only 10 years old when its lines reached the co-op’s 3,000th member, Mallie Hutchinson, in 1951.
In a way, Hutchinson and his family had waited longer for electricity than most co-op members: Their home, on the Caldwell-Hutchison Farm near Lowndesville in Abbeville County, dated to the late 18th or early 19th centuries.
Members of the Hutchinson family (who altered the spelling of their surname over time) resided there until the late 1980s, when Mallie’s son, Bandon, was finally convinced to move into a new, all-electric home, also served by the co-op. (By all accounts, he continued to use electricity as frugally as ever.)
His homeplace is now owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and leased to the S.C. State Park Service. It’s part of the McCalla State Natural Area, a 6,239-acre back country park bordering Lake Russell. Thanks to its sturdy construction and the State Park Service’s careful stewardship, the house stands as a reminder of how people lived before — and, in this case, after — rural electrification.
As part of our observance of Little River’s 75th anniversary this year, we have compiled photos from our archives along with some by co-op member John Lawrence, senior ranger at McCalla. We’ve also included remarkable photos from a Historic American Buildings Survey done for the Richard B. Russell Dam project in the 1980s. Special thanks to Abbeville resident William McCarley, grandson of Mallie Hutchinson, who reminisced about visiting the house with his mother, Ruth Hutchinson McCarley, who grew up there.