Union County · Marker 44-18
Thomas N. Dawkins House
Dawkins Ct., one block N of E. Main St., Union
Front inscription
This was the home of Thomas N. Dawkins (1807-1870) and his second wife Mary Poulton Dawkins (1820-1906). Dawkins, a lawyer, state representative, and judge, married Poulton, a native of London, in 1845. They named this house “The Shrubs” after her grandfather’s home in England; Mrs. Dawkins designed her garden to feature shrubs. Dawkins served in the S.C. House in the 1830s and again during the Civil War.
Reverse inscription
Gov. Andrew G. Magrath, the last Confederate governor of S.C., left Columbia on Feb. 16, 1865, a day before it surrendered. Forced to move the state government to temporary headquarters, Magrath arrived in Union on Feb. 21. Dawkins invited him to stay here, and Magrath used the library as his office for several days in late February and early March. The house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.