Hanover House is a house built by a French Huguenot family in 1714-1716. The house is also known as the St. Julien-Ravenel House after its early owners. It was constructed in the South Carolina Low Country in present-day Berkeley County. When Lake Moultrie was created in that area in the 1940s, it would have flooded the site of the house. To preserve the historic structure, the house was moved to the Clemson University campus in Pickens County.
History
Hanover House was built by Paul de St. Julien, a French Huguenot, on land that was a 1688 grant to his grandfather by the Lords Proprietors. His grandfather had sought refuge in the colony from religious persecution by Catholics in France. The house is a 1½-story cypress wood house with a gambrel roof. It has brick chimneys on either end of the house. There are fireplaces on both the first and second floor. Engraved on a stucco band at the top of one of the chimneys is PEU À PEU for the French proverb Peu à peu l'oiseau fait son nid, which is "Little by little, the bird builds his nest." St. Julien named the house Hanover in honor of the House of Hanover, which had ascended the throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain, "to show his appreciation for that country which had befriended so many Huguenot refugees after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes." St. Julien's daughter married Henry Ravenel. The house remained in the family for nearly 200 years. Following construction of a dam for flood control and hydroelectric power, Lake Moultrie was to be created, and the house would be inundated as the low lands were filled. In 1941, the house was dismantled and moved to Clemson University, a public university. It was reconstructed on the east side of campus on Cherry Road. In 1994, the house was dismantled again and relocated to the South Carolina Botanical Garden on the university campus. The house is furnished with period reproductions and donations by the Ravenel family The Hanover House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America restored the interior of the house as a historic house museum. It is open to the public on weekends. Hours are Saturday, 10:00 a.m.- 12:00 noon & 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. and Sundays, 2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
