Kalmia

Front inscription

This is the site of Kalmia, the home and plantation and William Gregg (1800-1867), pioneer industrialist of the antebellum South. A native of Va., Gregg moved to S.C. in the 1820s, becoming a craftsman and merchant in Columbia and Charleston. In 1837 he invested in the textile mill at Vaucluse, 4 mi. NW. In 1845 he founded the Graniteville Manufacturing Co. Gregg moved here from Charleston to supervise construction of the mill and mill village 3 mi. W.

Reverse inscription

In 1847 or 1848 Gregg built a Greek Revival house overlooking the Horse Creek Valley and named it Kalmia for the mountain laurel growing here. A summer home at first, it was his year-round home by 1854 and he died here in 1867. It was built of black cypress, contained 17 rooms, and was lit by gaslights. An ornamental garden featured roses, and a vast peach orchard was among the first in S.C. to ship peaches to Northern markets. Kalmia burned in 1921.