Spartanburg History

SCHA operates the Seay House, Historic Price House, and Walnut Grove Plantation. The Seay House shares the stories of women in the late 1800s through the lens of three Seay sisters who lived in the home and ran their self-sufficient farm. The home is an example of a small, rural farmstead and is believed to be the oldest home extant in the city limits of Spartanburg. The original log portion of the home was built in the late 18th or early 19th century. Other rooms were added during the 19th century. Originally the home of Kinsman Seay, his three unmarried daughters lived in the home and ran the farm until the late 1800s. The Price House, slave cabin, and surrounding forest tell of the environment-altering work done by settlers and slaves to transform the Backcountry frontier into a fully-integrated part of the early United States. Thomas and Ann Price built the house that bears their name about 1795. Mr. Price ran a general store, post office, and "house of publick entertainment" (tavern or inn) that provided beds, food, and drink to stagecoach travelers. Two-dozen enslaved African Americans performed much of the work for these businesses and labored in the fields of Mr. Price's 2,000-acre plantation. These slaves lived in quarters not unlike the slave cabin located on the site today. Walnut Grove Plantation tells the stories of the free and enslaved people who settled the South Carolina Backcountry, fought for independence, and built a new nation. Charles and Mary Moore established the plantation on a 550-acre land grant. The Scots-Irish family Moores raised ten children, including Revolutionary War heroine "Kate" Barry, in the house they built about 1765 and lived in for the next 40 years. In late 1781, Loyalist William "Bloody Bill" Cunningham killed three Patriot soldiers at the plantation and sparked a small skirmish with local militia, which is reenacted each year in early October.