Saturday, September 19, 2026

Dawkins House, which briefly served as South Carolina's Civil War capital, gets $1.1 million for next phase of preservation work. Students at campus in Union are learning about those who lived there -- free and enslaved

Rear of house includes 1760s section at right; beautiful saw cuts on wood, reworked windows (Courtesy Robert Schmitt)
About $1.1 million has been procured to fund the next phase of restoration for a home in Union, S.C., that briefly served as the office for the state’s governor after he fled Columbia during the Civil War. Construction is expected to begin next spring.

The nonprofit Preservation South Carolina made the announcement on social media this week, saying Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill last month allocating $800,000 for the ambitious project. Another $300,000 was garnered from corporate and private donors in Union County.

“Together, we are one step closer to preserving the Dawkins House for generations to come,” PSC said of the project milestone.

Stabilization of the once-dilapidated structure largely concluded in March 2025 and officials set about raising and seeking funds to perform the second phase. (January 2026 Picket photo, below)


But that doesn’t mean efforts related to the house are largely at a standstill.

Craftsman Robert Schmitt has continued to repair windows and sashes dating to the 1840s and a class at the University of South Carolina Union is digging up little-known facts about the Dawkins House and the people – free and enslaved – who lived there before, during and after the Civil War.

The house, a terminus residence situated on the USC Union campus at the end of Church Street, was nicknamed “The Shrubs” and was occupied by Judge Dawkins and his English-born wife Mary Poulton Dawkins. The 1850 Federal slave schedule indicates they owned about 20 enslaved persons before the war, but there may have been more on other properties the couple owned. 

Union, which is south of Spartanburg, briefly served as the Civil War capital of the state after Columbia fell to Union forces in 1865 and Gov. Andrew Magrath (right) fled to the town. From about Feb. 15, 1865, until early April, Magrath ran the state from the Dawkins House. He apparently worked in an informal library near the drawing room, which survives today.

According to histories and local legend, Magrath and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the home’s fireplaces. (The building served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly is capital.)

Magrath and his staff raced away from Union as Federal troops moved in. He was eventually captured on May 25, 1865, and imprisoned at Fort Pulaski near Savannah, Ga., until release that December.

Breaking down the project expense, timeline

The $300,000 state-funded Phase 1 of the work shored up the building. Phase 2 will be much more extensive and expensive. Objectives include:

-- Installation of new piers on concrete footings in the crawlspace;

-- Strengthening of porch, first and second floor framings, the roof system and all walls;

-- Installation of the required framing for a new interior staircase where the original historic, spiral staircase was located in the central hall. This will entail strengthening the floors and walls in this area, including any necessary new footings in the crawlspace.

Extensive repairs, upgrades are needed in structure (Preservation South Carolina)
Bill Comer, a Union native who is heading up the Dawkins House rehab project for PSC, told the Picket in an email Charleston-based Bennett Preservation Engineering will begin engineering design work in a couple weeks. Design, procurement and construction contracting are expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2027, with Phase 2 construction beginning no later than April, he added

PSC said the final phase will cost about $500,000.

The group has been working with the USC Union campus and local leaders to rehabilitate the house into an alumni and corporate center for the college.

Robert Schmitt keeps at it, one pane at a time

One of nearly three dozen windows at the property (Robert Schmitt photo)
Robert Schmitt, 76, has thus far repaired 15 windows at the Dawkins House. The restoration expert has taken out old window glass, removed rot and replaced weathered glazing.

He has identified nails that were used in the original section of the house built in the 1760s, and some that were used to build the 1845 addition. Some of the glass panes are original to the 1845 house, but Schmitt has taken about a dozen from his stock for replacements.

Schmitt first completed the 10 windows and 20 sashes at the front of the dwelling. He is keeping them at his home until the house is farther along. 

“The front wall is very, very wavy,” he told the Picket.

He said the old windows are wonderful because of their craftsmanship. “These parts were probably not made on site. Most of the mill work was from Charleston.” He doesn’t believe any of the windows date to the 1760s.

About 70 percent of the glass in those windows is original.

The attractive transom at the front entrance likewise should be temporarily removed when work resumes, Schmitt added. “It is probably a step up from what you usually see.” 

Unfortunately, he said, the top of the feature is obscured by the low roof above the porch. (At left, Picket photo of Comer (left) and Schmitt in front of the transom.)

Schmitt recently completed work on five attic windows, but says about 19 windows on the house are still to be repaired. “I am ready to crank back up.”

College class spotlights the enslaved

Andrew Kettler, assistant professor of history at the two-year USC campus at Union, has been teaching a new course related to the Dawkins House for about a month.

“HIST 480-701 -- Internship in Public History” is heavy on research, with a focus on library, courthouse and genealogical records. (Excerpt from a Kettler PowerPoint, below)


Students, working like detectives, will dig up records from myriad sources, such as death schedules and wills. If they can find a Dawkins will, it may list enslaved persons and what they may have received upon Thomas’s death. That could help the effort to find out more about those individuals.

There’s a lot at stake. Supporters say it’s important the full history of the home and its occupants be told, warts and all. Union County has a long segregation history and the area was known for Ku Klux Klan activity and postwar lynchings. There have been recent efforts, however, to acknowledge that history. Kettler said there is much more to learn.

Officials say they want the building also to be aimed at the future and bring new attention to USC Union, which has a growing enrollment. Currently, it has about 1,400 students; many are affiliated with the athletics programs.

“This is the first time for PSC to have a class that is going on at the same time as one of its preservation projects,” said the professor.

Kettler said students will begin a formal Dawkins family tree next week. They are currently writing short essays based on letters (one at right) written in the early 19th century.
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