Dick Baird and Japonica Hall Remembered Ran in the Darlington News & Press on Tuesday, November 29, 2016, By Brian Gandy, Darlington County Historian. When I heard that Richard(Dick) Baird, great-great grandson of Governor David R. Williams, had passed away, I immediately thought of his historic home, Japonica Hall. When one thinks of the word Japonica, beautiful winter blooming camellias to come to mind. It is after the Camellia Japonica that Japonica Hall in Society Hill, South Carolina, is named. It has been the home of Dick & Michal Baird for the last 37 years. The property was originally owned by Dr. Thomas Smith and later by Major James Jonathan Lucas, a relative of Dick Baird’s through marriage to Dick’s grandmother’s aunt, Caroline Eliza McIver. Major Lucas had been born in Kershaw County but had migrated to Charleston. He graduated from the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina in 1851, and, one year later, established a mercantile business that was successful through the beginning of the War Between the States. During the war, Lucas served as a prominent Confederate artillery officer in the defense of Charleston. Major Lucas was politically active, serving in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1856 to 1862. Throughout his life he remained a loyal Democrat and a staunch Episcopalian. We know that he actively served in Trinity Episcopal Church in Society Hill as a lay reader. It was in Trinity church that Major Lucas was married to Caroline Eliza McIver on November 21, 1861. It was their daughter Elizabeth, who raised Dick Baird’s father, Andrew Tazewell Baird. Andrew was just two years old when his mother died and he went to live at Japonica Hall. In 1865, Major Lucas and Caroline moved from Charleston to Society Hill where he served as director of the Cheraw & Darlington Railroad, and later the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. He was also active on several boards and served as President of the Darlington Agricultural Society. Japonica Hall was built between 1896 and 1897 and was one of the first places in Darlington County where Camellia Japonicas were planted and for which the house is named. Today the house has been lovingly restored and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and marked by the Darlington County Historical Commission as a County Historical Site. Prior to its restoration, the house sat empty for 14 years and was overgrown with kudzu and wisteria. Japonica Hall is a grand example of a Beaux Art-style residence. The two-and-one-half story over basement brick residence holds great architectural significance in Darlington County as having been designed by Charles Coker Wilson and William Augustus Edwards, noted South Carolina architects and sons of Darlington County. The house consists of roughly 6,500 square feet of living space over a full basement. There are sixteen rooms, and the ceilings are 12 feet high. As with any historic home, legends abound and it’s said of Japonica Hall that the bricks used in its construction were made in the old Society Hill Brick Yard and hauled to the site by wagon. We do know that the solid brick exterior walls are 18 inches thick and that

the mortar between the bricks was colored to match them. The interior walls are also solid brick, 13 inches thick, and reinforced with steel rods. The floors and staircases in Japonica Hall are made from heart pine and the windows and outside doorways are marked with granite sills. Many of the rooms still have their original mantles from 1897. The National Register application described the house as being “reminiscent of Italian Renaissance palazzos, and featuring a rusticated first story and a second story emulating a piano nobile with paired pilasters demarking the bays on the second story. The first and second stories are separated by a molded brick band. The cornice is composed of overhanging molding supported by modillions above a denticulated brick course. The projecting hipped-roof central entrance bay has a double door entry with flanking fluted pilasters, sidelights and transom-lights on the first floor, and double glass paneled doors with semi-circular transom-light, a rusticated surround and small flanking windows on the upper floor. A one-story Tuscan veranda is acceded by a wide stair. The four chimneys have corbeled stacks and the hipped roof features finals at the terminations of the roof ridges.” Japonica Hall is nestled off Main Street in Society Hill among japonicas, American beech trees, southern magnolias, china firs, banana shrubs and azaleas. The house stands as a reminder of legacy of those that were born in the early 1800’s. We know that during this period, Society Hill was the epicenter of culture in the Pee Dee region. The area is noted as having been the first settlement in Darlington County. How befitting that Japonica Hall stands on such honored ground and represents such a golden age in local history. As historian, I am always saddened at the lack of care and respect for historic sites. That cannot be said about this home. The Bairds have been excellent caretakers and Japonica Hall bears their mark. I applaud Richard (Dick) Baird for his love of local history and his commitment to seeing Japonica Hall preserved and lovingly cared for.

Japonica Hall, as photographed by Bill Segars.

The beautiful heart pine staircase, Japonica Hall. Photo by Bill Segars

Historical Marker for Japonica Hall, Society Hill. Erected by the Darlington County Historical Commission