Florence County · Marker 21-12
William R. Johnson House
E. Old Marion Hwy. (S.C. Hwy. 24) at Rankin Plantation Rd., Mars Bluff vicinity
Front inscription
This Greek Revival house was built ca. 1854 for William R. Johnson, (1813-1893), physician, planter, and legislator in what was then Marion District. Johnson, an 1838 graduate of the Medical College of S.C., later served in the S.C. House of Representatives 1852-55 and the S.C. Senate 1860-63; he died here in 1893 and is buried at nearby Hopewell Presbyterian Church.
The Columns
After Walter L. Rankin of N.C. acquired the house in 1902, Mrs. Rankin named it "The Columns"; it is still owned by his descendants. It has been called "Carolina Hall" since 1934, when it was the model for the plantation house in the movie Carolina, starring Janet Gaynor and Lionel Barrymore. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.