Calhoun County Museum
Come and enjoy the history of Calhoun County and South Carolina presented with a personal southern touch.
This is the site of Whetstone’s Meeting House in the early 1800’s and later Tabernacle Methodist Church. Among those buried here are Confederate War hero Colonel Olin Miller Dantzler and the daughters of Governor John Adam Treutlen, first patriot governor of Georgia, 1777.
In St. Matthew’s Parish, Orangeburg District, was Totness, a small but, "much frequented," summer watering place on the north side of High Hill Creek, about three miles from the Congaree River and twenty miles from Orangeburg Court House. The Totness Academical Association was chartered in 1833; in 1850, the village was incorporated, its limits marked by a circle with a radius of a half mile from the village church. Mrs. L. A. Taveau, of Charleston and her daughters, Mrs. Thomas Waring and Mrs. William Haskell, stopped at Totness on the way to the Up Country in 1838 and 1839. In 1865, the town was burned by Union soldiers.
Located at the intersection of Old State Road and the Belleville road, this historical marker was erected to John Adam Treutlen. While visiting some of his lands here, Mr. Treutlen was murdered by the Tories near Mett’s Crossroads in 1782. Treutlen was a member of the first Provincial Congress and was elected the first governor of Georgia in 1777.
Built by John Jacob Ulmer on a grant dated 1804 on the Santee River, the house was inherited by his son George Jacob, who moved it to its present location in 1836. It has been in the Summers family for four generations. It was remodeled over a period of three years, 1966-69, and restored. The original, "dog trot," which once ran wide open to carry the cool breezes through the house, was enclosed. It is painted in authentic period paint and the stair entrance of old brick and wood is an authentic reproduction.
This house was built by the Whetstone family in 1854 and has been used as a family residence ever since. It was built high off the ground, typical of the period, and has wide piazzas on the first and second floors. The house also features square columns and a double entrance.
Calhoun County Historical Sites (cont.)
Totness Town Site
John Adam Treutlen Marker
Property of Calhoun County Museum Archives.
Not to be used without written consent.
