Restored historic Sanders House rooted in things of the past

Samuel Sanders must have been proud of the home he built more than 160 years ago beneath a canopy of majestic live oaks in what is now known as the Hopewell neighborhood of Point Hope. He left a plank of wood bearing his name within the framework. 

It’s just one of several historic treasures that remain of the structure, which was recently restored using adaptive reuse design principles and opened to the community. 

According to researchers with Brockington & Associates, the cultural resources management firm hired by the property owners to study the massive 9,000-acre parcel formerly known as Cainhoy Plantation, Sanders purchased the property on which the home sits in 1860. Part of the tract had previously been used for a thriving brickyard operation. 

A descendant of the early settlers along the Wando River, Sanders may have been involved in timbering or farming, common occupations at the time. However, the period during which he made his purchase was undoubtedly tumultuous, marked by rising tensions leading up to the Civil War and the social and economic upheaval that followed. 

Despite the uncertainty of the times, Sanders decided to build a new home for his family, with plentiful windows to take in the protective embrace of the surrounding trees. Interestingly, as discovered by Charleston-based Stubbs Muldrow Herin architects, or SMHa, the architectural team hired to design and oversee the property’s five-year restoration, he would use a catalog or “pattern” kit to do it. 

“It's much like the Sears catalog houses of today,” explained the project’s lead architect Jeff Johnston, SMHa vice president. “Back in 1860, they actually hadthose. And there were a few millwork companies in the Northeast that were doing it. You’d buy the lumber, they would have them stenciled, they'd give you simple instructions, and then they would ship it to you in rough lengths of the wood. And it would be up to you, the owner, to build the foundation for it, and then to put the pieces together.” 

When working on the property, Johnston and his team noted letters and numbers on pieces of the home’s framework. And, of course, Sanders’ name.  

“It could either be his signature or it could be … ‘this is the package for Samuel Sanders.’ That's just like the receipt. Pretty doggone neat.” 

SANDERS HOUSE 'A TREASURE' 

To maintain the integrity of the home, Johnston and his colleagues worked diligently to retain as many of the structure’s original features as possible. He remembers visiting the site with members of the development team back in 2021, just prior to the beginning of the design process. 

“We walked around the property there and just talked about different ideas for how it could be used and all agreed that it was something that was worth keeping and that it was a treasure. Albeit, it had to have been under some disrepair for some time.” 

The Point Hope development team eventually decided the property’s best use would be as a community gathering space for small, intimate events. So the architects got to work on repurposing the structure, with an eye on balancing the historic character of the house with modern function.  

“I know this building was built in 1860-ish, but this is a good example of what coastal contemporary is,” Johnston noted. “It's not fussy; it's simple. It's not fancy. But it's so elegant.” 

When it came to the design, history would lead the way. 

“(We) really just started digging into that, thinking about the history of the house, what was worth (saving)…what was worth keeping and treasuring and repeating,” Johnston continued. “There were some things to throw away, but there was a lot to keep.” 

The brick piers beneath the home are among its original features, though in some cases deteriorated bricks have been replaced with others from the same time period. One of the two main double-sided chimneys, with its “bishop’s hat” chimney cap, remains as well. The other had to be removed due to spacing constraints on the first level.  

“It's contemporary because it is of today,” Johnston said, referring to the new design. “But it's rooted in things of the past.” 

Some of the woodwork inside the home was modified to better suit the new structure. Because an old staircase at the front of the first floor didn’t work for the new function of the house, it was removed, and a new staircase was placed in the back. But much of the window trim, wainscoting on the first level, and the locations of the main rooms or “parlors” remain as they were in the 19th century.  

“It's just so neat to think about what life would have been like in those times,” Johnston said. “And if we didn't have buildings to look at, like cultural evidence, we couldn't easily picture ourselves in that time period.” 

The design team also added picture molding, extra wood structural framing in the floor and ceiling, new beams and headers, and newly configured bathrooms.  

“There were a lot of decisions to kind of weigh what was appropriate given the bones of the building and how the events or use could best be supported by the building,” Johnston said.  

Adding to the home’s character is the fact that its walls and floors are not level.  

“One of the things that I thought was really cool was that we could really retain a lot of the original framing – you want to be able to uncover to get back to what it was. So the house is a little crooked, and if you were to put a marble on the floor, I'm sure you'd see that.” 

A NEW GATHERING SPACE 

Today’s structure features a clean and simple decor with classic, neutral colors. On the walls are historic photos featuring the Cainhoy Plantation property and its former owner, the late Harry Frank Guggenheim, with family and friends, as well as some newer landscape prints. A display case will soon showcaseartifacts collected from the site.  

“This is a little bit more contemporary, but decor-wise, I would say we actually purposely left it a little bit more bare,” said Mae McElveen, marketing manager for Point Hope Partners, the team overseeing the community’s development. “Because it's an event space, we want it to be a little bare so people have more flexibility to do what they want in there.” 

Sanders owned the property until 1903. It would later become the home of various managers of the Cainhoy Plantation. John Murray and his family occupied the house from 1961 to 1996, according to an article in The Daniel Island News published in October 2022. 

After the Murray family, another caretaker took possession of the property, the article stated, and the property has remained vacant for more than a decade. 

Today, the Sanders House is poised to once again be a vibrant place where special moments are shared and memories are made. 

“You think about the families that were created here and all the times that they enjoyed together,” McElveen said. “We mentioned this as a gathering space. You gather in this room for Christmas morning and think about the times that were had within these walls, and then we gave it a brand new opportunity to have similar times with these families today.” 

“It’s beautiful to see the vision realized,” Johnston said. “To see it fully dressed with furniture, landscaping, pathways, and the arbor out there and the swings, it's truly a really special place. I hope it serves the community as well as it has this land over the last 160 years.” 

The home will begin hosting Point Hope property owners and guests in May. For more information, visit livepointhope.com/places-spaces.