Witherspoon/Hunter House     56     15 West Liberty St.

A pivotal house.  This house was built in the 1820s by H. B. Hoover and was later sold to Isaac Witherspoon, one of York's most renowned statesmen.  The Witherspoon family inhabited the house for almost a century until it was sold to John J. Hunter, one of the last surviving Confederate Veterans living in Yorkville.  Mr. Hunter married Elizabeth Winslow Lindsay, a direct descendant of Mary Chilton, the first women to step off the Mayflower, and of Governor Winslow, one of the first colonial governors.  Mary Chilton's eleventh-generation granddaughter, Mrs. Agnes Hunter Lawton, lived in the home until her death in 1990.

“Miss Agnes,” as she was known in York, owned a tablecloth that tradition says was used at the first Thanksgiving dinner.  During her many years of teaching fifth graders at York Elementary School, she told the children that the Native Americans made the spots on the linen cloth.

The house reflects the interest in cooling and cross-ventilation, with all the rooms open to the exterior.  An early interpretation of the Greek Revival influence in York is the front portico, supported by three columns rather than the four-column style.  A detached brick kitchen, one of the few remaining in the Up-Country, still stands in the rear.

This home is on the National Register of Historic Places.

A pivotal house.  This house was built around 1853 by Judge Isaac D. Witherspoon, and given to his son I.D. Witherspoon, Jr., who later became Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina.  Originally, the brick kitchen between this and his father's house was used jointly.  (See Witherspoon/Hunter house).  Dr. M. W. Walker, a well-known Yorkville physician, then occupied the house until the turn of the century.  This home is now owned by the Bank of York.

Built in 1842 by the newly organized Presbyterian Church, the building had two entrances facing west, and an upstairs gallery to segregate the slaves.  Originally, the interior of the church was arranged with pews along the sides parallel to the wall and a section of pews in the middle facing the pulpit.  Men and older boys sat in the pews at the sides, and women and younger children sat in the center section.  The cedar trees in the front yard were there when the church was built.  The building was renovated into a residence in 1865 when a new church across the street was completed and occupied.

The building is typical of church structures with a sample gable roof.  The porch was added after it became a residence.  The Neely family occupied the house for several generations.

Built as the manse of the First Presbyterian Church, circa 1913-14, by Mr. John Logan (#150), this two story Neo-Classical style building was constructed at a cost of $7,828.10.  The house is named for Dr. E. E. Gillespie, DD, the first minister to occupy it.  He served this church from 1905 to 1924.

About 1970 it was designated the Youth Building because the minister at that time decided to build his own house.  This use declined, and for several years the house was occupied by community groups as offices and meeting places.

In 1990, the Church completely restored the building.  The hardwood floors, beautiful mantels with marbleized hearths, dentil moldings, and stairways are particularly outstanding.  It was furnished with antiques donated by members of the church and others as memorials.  The house is available to church members and the community for receptions, teas, and related uses.  Arrangements may be made at the church office.

A pivotal building.  Robert Walker, a noted South Carolina architect from Charleston, designed this church in 1846.  Construction of the building did not begin until about the time of the War Between the States, and it was not completed until after the War.  The Charleston influence is evident in the pew gates, which were used to enter the pews.  A gallery lined three sides of the original sanctuary, and part of it remains in the form of a balcony in the rear of the sanctuary.  The chancel was the focal point with a single uplifted pulpit.  It was converted in 1949 to the divided chancel and choir loft which you see today.  This building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the American Presbyterian and Reformed Historical Sites.

The congregation, first organized in 1842, was originally housed in a wooden structure across the street (#58).