Medway

Front: Medway, established in 1686, features a 1704-05 brick house which is one of the oldest in S.C. The Lords Proprietors gave 12,000 acres on Back River to Johan W. van Aerssen (1632-ca. 1687), a Dutch Huguenot. In 1688 van Aerssen’s widow Sabina married Thomas Smith (ca. 1648-1694), who acquired the plantation in 1691 and built a one-story brick house here ca. 1692. Smith, who was later briefly governor of S.C. 1693-94, is buried at Medway. Reverse: Edward Hyrne acquired Medway from Thomas Smith’s son, but the house burned in 1704. Hyrne built a new brick house in the same style. Later owners added a second story and other additions from the 1820s to the 1870s. The Stoney family owned Medway from 1833 to 1930, when Sidney (1903-1948) and Gertrude Legendre (1902-2000) bought it. The Legendres restored the house and grounds, and Medway was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.