Archibald Rutledge Birthplace

Front: Archibald Hamilton Rutledge (1883-1973), educator, man of letters, and the first poet laureate of S.C., was born at this site, in a house known to the Rutledge family as "Summer Place." Rutledge, who grew up here and at Hampton Plantation, taught English for 33 years at Mercersburg Academy, in Mercersburg, Pa. By the 1920s he was well known for his poems, nature articles, hunting tales, essays, and other writings. Reverse: Appointed poet laureate in 1934, Rutledge retired in 1937 to the family home at Hampton Plantation, where he graciously received many visitors (Hampton, 7 mi. N, is now a state historic site). He is perhaps best known for Home by the River (1941), his affectionate memoir of Hampton and the people, wildlife, and landscape of the Santee Delta. Rutledge died here in 1973 and was inducted into the S.C. Hall of Fame in 1984.