Hutchinson House

The Hutchinson House is the oldest identified house on Edisto Island, South Carolina associated with the black community after the American Civil War. It was the residence of Henry Hutchinson, a mulatto who, according to a local tradition, built and operated the first cotton gin owned by a black on the island from about 1900 to 1920. Following the Civil War, Jim Hutchinson worked to assemble groups of freed blacks who would collectively purchase land on Edisto Island. Each contributor then received a fractional interest in the lands acquired. Jim Hutchinson's children built their own houses on his portion; one of the children was Henry Hutchinson. Henry Hutchinson's house is the only one remaining. Henry Hutchinson is said to have built the house at the time of his marriage to Rosa Swinton in 1885, and resided here until his death in about 1940. The house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.