Driving North through Fairfield County on SC-215, brief glimpses of beautiful Lake Monticello can be seen to the West of the highway. About half way up the lake, a dramatic expanse of gently rolling meadows and green pastures frame a live oak and pecan-lined driveway leading to a truly magnificent antebellum plantation home that, from the high ground upon which it is situated, looks out over nearly a mile of incredible shoreline. The home was designed and built circa 1845 by Dr. James Bolton Davis and was owned for over a hundred years by the Davis family. Dr. Davis, upon retiring from medical practice after a few years, devoted his life and the property to agricultural interests including the breeding of thoroughbred horses and livestock (In 1849 Dr. Davis had the first recorded introduction of Brahman Cattle into the United States.). Acquired and restored by the Robinson family in 1949, this property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and is still owned by the Robinson family. Situated on some 83 acres that remain of the heart of the hundreds of acres that comprised the original cotton plantation, this 5,100 square foot masterpiece is a classic center-entrance four over four colonial in the Greek revival style. This stately two-story, white frame home has a hipped roof pierced by two mammoth chimneys, is fronted by a gabled portico and a second floor balcony, while both in turn are supported by four massive Doric columns with a fanlight window in the pediment. Semi-elliptical fanlights and sidelights surround the front doors on both floors. Many formal plantings await restoration to their former glory. The first floor consists of a wide central hall, two parlors, a bedroom and the formal dining room plus an attached kitchen and an attached pantry/utility room. The second floor is made up of a wide central hall, four bedrooms and a full bath. Ceiling heights are 11 or more feet in all eight main rooms, each of which is about twenty-two feet square. Many of the original architectural features, such as mantles over the seven fireplaces, staircase with landing and handmade bannisters and rails, striking paneled doors, wide-board heart-pine floors and original moldings and baseboards still exist, all awaiting a modicum of restoration and redecoration to return this antebellum jewel to the glory that once was.
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