1. All Saints Episcopal Church and Parish House, 1595 Williston Highway (SC Hwy 278) Organized in 1827 by evangelist, N.H. Hoyt of Vermont, as the Beech Island Presbyterian Church, this Greek-Revival antebellum church was built in 1831 with the help of slave labor borrowed from neighboring plantations. Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, accompanied his father, Dr. Joseph Wilson, to this church as a young boy. Dr. Joseph Wilson served as the minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Ga., and as an Elder in the Beech Island church. It was here that Woodrow Wilson met his future wife, Ellen Axson, whose father, the Rev. Hoyt Axson, served as the pastor. An Episcopal Mission bought the church in 1955 and changed the name to All Saints Episcopal Church.

2. First Baptist Church of Beech Island, 170 Church Road.  Organized Jan. 21, 1832, and dedicated September 1832 as the Beech Island Baptist Church, this two-story, Greek-Revival structure was constructed with an upstairs slave gallery that wrapped around three sides of the sanctuary and could accommodate from 40 to 50 slaves who accompanied their plantation owners to church services. The land, lumber, carpenters and labor to build the church were donated by several of the church’s 22 original members. In 1962, the name was changed to First Baptist Church of Beech Island.

3. La Vita e Bella, residence of Tom Mixon and Cindy Waddell, 200 Church Road.  Originally built in 1965 and completely rebuilt in the past three years, Beech Island's only castle with a moat and drawbridge is reminiscent of an Italian villa with its soft blush stucco siding, terracotta-tiled roof and spiral coquina columns.  Italian marble, stone and walnut are used throughout the two-story house for flooring.  Special features include a handcrafted flying staircase in the 40 ft. turret and 25 ft. ceilings in the great room where the mezzanine gives a splendid view of the guest house and the tropical pool area complete with a waterfall.

4. *Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site, 181 Redcliffe Road.  This four-story Greek-Revival plantation home was constructed in 1859 by Augusta, Ga., contractor William Goodrich for SC Gov. James Henry Hammond. The mansion is the centerpiece of a 400-acre country estate that was originally supported by at least three working plantations in the area totaling 14,000 acres.  Hammond and three generations of his descendants used the estate for relaxation, entertaining and agricultural experimentation. John Shaw Billings, Hammond’s great-grandson, was the last owner of Redcliffe. 

*Tour times will be 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM only.

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5. Oaklands, 2930 Storm Branch Road.  Circa 1826, this beautiful, old home is hidden behind and amongst large old trees on over five acres of lush grass and climbing jasmine.  Completely remodeled within the last year, this three-bedroom, two-story home boasts a grand parlor, six fireplaces, original wide-plank heart pine floors throughout, a remodeled kitchen, grand foyer with a sweeping staircase, porches galore and historically restored outbuildings from the Civil War era.

6. Old Burnside House, home of J.B. and Lisa Moore.  1219 Sand Bar Ferry Road (SC Hwy 28).  Around 1948, the late Mrs. Johnnie Ramsey Burnside bought this old, two-story cement and stucco house from the late Julian Atkinson and lived there until 1981.  Upstairs are four bedrooms and bath and downstairs there is a livingroom, diningroom, bath and kitchen with a breakfast nook and a bomb shelter built in the 1950's.  The beautiful, old home stayed vacant for many years until J.B. Moore ought it about four years ago, renovated it restoring its former beauty and moved in with his family.

7. Goodale, owned by P. Charles Lunsford, 745 Sand Bar Ferry Road (GA Hwy. 28), Augusta, GA.  Said to be the oldest brick house in Georgia, the present Goodale home was built in 1799 by Christopher Fitzsimmons, a wealthy Charleston merchant, after he purchased the plantation. Goodale Plantation was first granted in 1740 to Thomas Goodale, who operated the Sand Bar Ferry and built an inn and restaurant on the property. Several years later, Goodale sold the property to Dr. George Jones, son of Noble Wimberly Jones, a noted Revolutionary. In 1799, Goodale was purchased by Fitzsimmons, the father-in-law of SC Gov. James Hammond, who owned Redcliffe. The current house was built by Fitzsimmons then in the side-hall, Federal style. Upon the marriage of one of his daughters to Wade Hampton, Jr., the father of SC Gov. Wade Hampton III, Fitzsimmons gave the house in dowry. In the 1970s, Goodale was operated as a restaurant.

8. Beech Island Historical Society Visitor's Center and Barn, 144 Old Jackson Highway (SC Hwy 5). Headquarters of the Beech Island Historical Society, this brick country store building and the recently-renovated brick warehouse/barn were built in the 1880s by Beech Island businessman, Luther Hankinson, as his country store and was known as “The Corner Store.” Constructed of bricks made at his own brick factory in Hamburg, S.C., the original structure consisted of one large room with a large brick warehouse (present day barn) located behind the store. In the 1900s, a restaurant was added to the right side and a restroom to the left. After Hankinson died in 1933, his heirs sold the property and two buildings to George McElmurray who lived there and operated a cotton gin nearby. In 1991, McElmurray’s heirs donated the two buildings and the acre of land to the Beech Island Historical Society.   In May, 2007, renovations started on the barn to turn it into the Beech Island Agricultural Museum.

9. Silver Bluff Missionary Baptist Church & Schoolhouse, 360 Old Jackson Highway (SC Hwy 5).  This church, one of the first black Baptist churches in America, grew out of regular worship services held as early as the 1750s at Silver Bluff, the plantation of Indian trader George Galphin. At first a non-denominational congregation with white, black and Native American members, it was formally organized as Silver Bluff Baptist Church in 1775 with the Rev. Watt Palmer as its first preacher. The church moved from its original site in 1815, again in the 1840s and to the present site in 1866 with a large frame sanctuary built in 1873. This sanctuary was covered in brick in 1920, later demolished and the present church built in 1948.

10. Swiss Settler Farm and Home Site (New Windsor Excavation), Forrest Drive.  This land was granted in 1736 to Leonard, Ulrich and Michael Meyer, settlers who came to live in New Windsor Township (Beech Island) with a group of Swiss Protestants from Canton Appenzell in 1737. The Meyer family occupied this site until 1790. From 1993-1995, archaeologists with the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program excavated the site and uncovered the remains of a house and several outbuildings along with thousands of artifacts from several trash pits.

11. Zubly Cemtery, Forrest Drive.  The oldest established cemetery in Beech Island, Zubly Cemetery is the final resting place of David Zubly, Jr. (1738-1790) and his wife, Ann Meyer (1744-1795), who was the daughter of Ulrich Meyer. Their burials, located in the vacant space in the middle of the cemetery, remain unmarked. All but one of the Zubly’s five daughters are buried in Zubly Cemetery. On May 21, 1855, Mary Ann Mills, who is buried at Zubly, deeded the cemetery to the descendants of Samuel, Ulrich and John Clarke, and Captain Miller. In 2001, the Zubly Cemetery Association was organized to oversee the preservation of the cemetery.

12. Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church and Schoolhouse, 1182 Old Jackson Hwy. (SC Hwy 5).  Organized by Danish ship captain, William Watson, in the years following the Civil War and during Reconstruction, construction on the small, white wooden Wesley Chapel Church building began in 1873 and was completed in 1874.  Originally located in front of the cemetery, Wesley was built of donated heart pine timbers hewn by hand with labor furnished by members of the congregation and the Kathwood community.  Due to an influx of new residents with the construction of the Savannah River Plant nearby, in 1953, the church was moved next door, enlarged and brick-veneered.

13. Silver Bluff Audubon Center and Sanctuary,  4542 Silver Bluff Road.  This 3,154-acre wildlife sanctuary and environmental education center, located on the Savannah River, has a long history of use including Native American encampments, exploration by Spanish conquistadors, George Galphin’s 18th Century trading post where a Revolutionary War skirmish was fought and ownership by S.C. Gov. James Henry Hammond in the 1800s. Stop by the Visitor Center for more information.

14. Jarrett Museum, 383 Brown Road, Jackson, SC.  Dedicated to the memories of his grandmother, Mamie Brown, and his uncle, Jarrell M. Brown, Kenny Jarrett, the owner of Jarrett Rifles, built this two-story museum in 2005 to house his vast artifact collections of the past 50 years. The upper level houses his collection of local Native American artifacts found on Cowden Plantation. The lower level contains artifacts pertaining to the Civil War period.