Point of Pines Plantation

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Description:

Photograph of the remains of a tabby wall of the Grimball House on Edisto Island. These remains are from Paul and Mary Grimball's first house and can still be seen today. Original photograph is sepia toned.

Paul Grimball was a wealthy English merchant who moved his wife, Mary Stoney and five children to Edisto Island in 1682. They constructed their first house out of tabby which was a popular building material created by burning oyster shells to create lime. The lime is then mixed in equal parts with water, sand, ash, and more oyster shells to create a concrete like mixture. Unfortunately, in 1686 Spanish troops landed on the island, sacking and burning the house and destroying the plantation. The Grimball family survived the attack rebuilding their house at a different location.