Millford Plantation, built in 1839-41, is considered by many to be the finest example of Greek Revival residential architecture in America. The grandeur of the house, located in such a remote section of rural South Carolina, seems to come as a shock to first time visitors, who must drive over miles of dirt road and through moss-draped forests to reach the house. Suddenly the house appears out of nowhere, in all its classical glory - six massive fluted Corinthian columns, high ceilings, tall floor-length windows, a domed rotunda enclosing a spectacular circular staircase - all the tricks to impress that are inherent in Greek Revival architecture. Surrounded by live oaks, magnolias and green lawns, Millford seems as though it might be part of Disney's Magic Kingdom.

Millford was built by John Laurence Manning, son of a Governor of South Carolina and later Governor himself, and his wife Susan Frances Hampton, a daughter of recently deceased Col. Wade Hampton, reputed to have been the richest man in the South. Millford is built on land inherited by John Manning from his maternal Richardson grandparents, but it seems likely that most of the funds to build such a grand residence (sometimes called "Manning's Folly") would have come from Susan Hampton's inheritance. Susan and John Laurence Manning were only 22 years of age when they embarked on building what was certainly the grandest residence in the State.

The young couple probably were encouraged to proceed with this project by Susan's older brother Wade Hampton II. Hampton used the same architect to build a very similar Greek Revival mansion called Millwood a year later, in Columbia, S.C. The architect was Nathaniel Potter, a native of Rhode Island who worked in Charleston under famed German architect Karl Friedrich Reichert in building the monumental Charleston Hotel. When the original Charleston Hotel burned two years later, Reichert had already moved on and so Potter was engaged to rebuild the hotel exactly as it had been. Wade Hampton II had been involved as an investor in building the hotel and must have been impressed by Potter, who moved from there to build Millford for the Mannings.

If anything, Millford is even more impressive on the interior. A wide center hall leads to the domed rotunda, enclosing the staircase. Double parlors on one side of the hall are separated by a screen of four Corinthian columns and sliding mahogany doors. The other side of the center hall is comprised of Governor Manning's library in front and a large dining room in the rear, with circular walls at the interior end. Throughout the house are marble mantels, imported from Philadelphia, and large plate glass mirrors, shipped down from New York to Charleston, thence up the Santee River to Millford. The large expanse of mirrors in the double parlors seem to have been inspired by the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles. It is all very grand, conjuring visions of the young Mannings and their guests dancing the quadrilles, marches and waltzes that were so popular in this neo-classical period.

Most of the original Millford furniture, which the Mannings ordered in 1840-42 from "D. Phyfe & Son" in New York, is miraculously still intact, most of it never having left the house. This was Phyfe's final phase of his furniture, before his retirement a few years later. This final phase was in Grecian style but more severe, no stenciling or gilding, relying on highly polished mahogany veneers and silk fabric for effect. Recently cleaned, restored and covered in period silk fabric, the suite of original furniture throughout the first floor provides an authentic look at what must have been the peak of affluence in the old South before the Civil War intruded.

And how did Millford survive the Civil War? The answer: another miracle. On what turned out to be the final day of the War before Lee's surrender, Northern troops, under the command of Brig. General Edward Elmer Potter arrived at Millford. Gov. Manning met the Yankee General at the front door and observed: "Well, the house was built by a Potter (Nathaniel Potter, the architect) and it looks as though it will be destroyed by a Potter." General Potter responded: "No, you are protected. Nathaniel Potter was my brother."

The Mannings, although their fortune was destroyed by the Civil War, managed to hold on to Millford until 1902, when it was sold to Mary Clark Thompson of New York, who later bequeathed it to her two Clark nephews. The Clarks owned and loved Millford for the next 90 years, enjoying it as a winter residence with ample opportunities for hunting and fishing. The Clarks sold the mansion and 400 acres to Richard Hampton Jenrette in 1992 but still retain several thousand acres of timberland in the vicinity.

Millford Plantation has been designated a National Historical Landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior.

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