| Notes |
- The Brunsons of South Carolina says that Daniel died in 1828.
Reflections by Sammy Way: Millwood Plantation: A historic home loved by 7 generations
The Millwood home was originally built by Jeremiah Pitts for his grandson Lucius Pitts Loring, who was married in 1841. It was on the northeast corner of Main Street and Loring Place. In 1965, the home was moved to Loring Mill Road and reassembled on the grounds of Millwood Plantation, which was bought by Pitts from Gen. Thomas Sumter in the 1700s.
SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO
Posted Saturday, June 15, 2024 6:00 am
By SAMMY WAY
Sumter Item archivist and historian
Reflections revisits a home that was returned to the setting where most of the material used in its construction originated. This beautiful abode built by a craftsman from another state served as home for several generations of Sumterites. The data and photos used to prepare this piece were obtained from The Item archives and the writings of Cassie Nicholes.
Nicholes reported, "In 1780, Jeremiah Pitts, respected artisan and carpenter, came to South Carolina from Pennsylvania and settled in Stateburg in the Sumter District. It is reported that this talented craftsman built many of the beautiful homes in the High Hills, acquiring enough money to purchase a plantation from Gen. Thomas Sumter. He purchased Millwood Plantation, which contained several thousand acres on which two millponds half a mile apart were connected by a canal, constructed by slave labor."
"In 1797, he married Valentine Brunson, daughter of Isaac Brunson III, and they had six children. Their eldest daughter, Rebecca Matilda, married Daniel Loring, and they migrated to Cababa, Alabama, where a son, Lucius Pitts Loring, was born in 1821. Matilda's husband and another son died in the same year; following her remarriage, she along with Lucius returned to Millwood Plantation, where she left the boy with his grandparents. Following a trip to see his mother, his grandmother became ill and died, leaving his brokenhearted grandfather to care for the young boy on whom he lavished his affection."
According to Nicholes, "Lucius Pitts Loring grew to manhood under the watchful and loving eye of his grandfather, who began planning a home for his grandson when he was ready to marry. Timbers were cut from heart pine and weathered for five years. Beams, 12 x 12 and 30 to 35 feet long, were hewn from the choicest trees, rafters of the same material were mortised and pegged, bricks for the chimneys were made on the plantation."
"When the wedding was set in 1841 for Lucius Pitts Loring and Marsena Brunson, all the parts of the home, which had been so carefully planned and constructed by his grandfather, were meticulously numbered so that each part fit perfectly into the structure. The sections of the house were taken by wagon the six miles to Sumterville and put together on land given to the young bride by her father, William Leonard Brunson, a man of wealth and prestige.
"The result of the painstaking labor of Jeremiah Pitts was a quaint cottage-like home with two large rooms and a small back room, located on the corner of what is now Main Street and Loring Place. The devoted grandfather died the same year in which Lucius Pitts Loring was married; it is thought that he was buried in the cemetery at High Hills Church."
In the summer of 1965, the over-100-year-old house was transported section by section to Loring Mill Road, where it was reassembled on the grounds of Millwood Plantation. On June 19, 1965, The Sumter Item announced that a new, 70-unit motel close to downtown would begin construction. The $625,000, two-story structure would be on the northeast corner of Main and Loring Place, former location of the Millwood home. [1]
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1780 - 1821 (41 years)
[2] 