Antiques Shopping in South Carolina? Visit Ashtabula Historic House

If you are antiques shopping in South Carolina, there are so many great places for you to visit along the way, including the Ashtabula Historic House. It’s about 90 minutes away from our Eurolux antiques gallery on Main Street in Historic Newberry, so once you’ve enjoyed looking around Newberry, you can drive over to Ashtabula.

Check their website for current opening hours. At time of writing, the house is open on Sunday afternoons for public tours, with private tours for six or more by appointment at any time. There are also special events. The photo above shows Ashtabula at the annual Christmas celebration and historical reenactment event. The house is dressed for the holidays and guides dressed in period costume tell you about life in the 1800s, accompanied by holiday music.

The two-story clapboard mansion stands in ten acres of grounds, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as being on the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor. It was built by Lewis Ladsen Gibbes somewhere between 1825 and 1828. He was a widely-traveled man who had studied at the Sorbonne in France and Eton in England. He and his wife wanted a home where they could benefit from the healthy climate of the foothills. The house became a self-sufficient farm and the mansion and plantation were owned by many other people before being given for restoration to The Pendleton Historic Foundation in 1961.

The house is now restored and decorated with antebellum antiques, including pieces that were owned by the families who lived here. The site also includes an original well house and a 1790 brick building that was once a tavern!  As another interesting fact, this land was where the first Jersey and Hereford cattle were introduced into South Carolina.

If you plan a visit, Ashtabula Historic House is three miles east of Pendleton on SC Highway 88.