The hewn timber cabins preserved by Francis Marion University serve as living artifacts and testaments of the resilience of the people of African descent in the Pee Dee Region. Additionally, the cabins on FMU’s campus illustrate an integral part of the land’s legacy and the region’s historical heritage.  Originally built in 1836 by enslaved craftsmen on the Gregg Plantation, the cabins were constructed from local pine using a highly technical woodworking process called “dovetailing,” which ensured the structures’ optimal tensile strength and water resistance.  Another notable aspect of the cabins’ construction is the process of “hewing,” where logs are cut to create flat surfaces, producing sap that serves as an additional natural barrier against the elements. A total of eight cabins existed on the Gregg Plantation and were collectively known as “The Street.”

The cabins preserved by FMU were the homes of Tena Gregg Waiters (1890-1953) and Catherine Gregg Waiters (1915-2002), likely descendants of the enslaved craftsmen who built the structures in 1836. It is inferred from John Gregg’s 1839 will that men named Simon, Jack, Moses, Willes, and Jerry contributed to the construction of these specific cabins.

Following emancipation in 1865, formerly enslaved people who became sharecroppers separated and rebuilt the collection of cabins on allotments of land across the plantation. During this process, the cabins were expanded to house fourteen people with the addition of several rooms. Tena’s grandson, Otis Waiters, lived in the cabins as a child and recounts the family expanding one cabin to have four rooms and the other to have six. By 1923, there were fifteen black families, including forty-five children living in the cabins on the Gregg Plantation. Sadly, in the 1920s, a fire on the plantation destroyed four of the original cabins as well as Sunnyside, the home of plantation owners Sallie Gregg Wallace and Joseph Wilds Wallace. Two of the surviving cabins are those located on the Francis Marion campus.

The hewn timber cabins entered the care of FMU as a result of a partial land donation from the Gregg Wallace family in the 1950s to create a Florence campus of the University of South Carolina. Francis Marion College replaced USC – Florence in 1970 and assumed responsibility for the cabins it now maintains.

In 1974, the hewn timber cabins preserved by Francis Marion University were added to the National Register of Historic Places. Both the South Carolina State Museum and Washington Smithsonian Institution have expressed interest in acquiring the cabins as historical artifacts for exhibition. However, physical constraints prevented the State Museum from moving the cabins, and Hurricane Hugo damaged the original condition of Catherine’s cabin, impacting the Smithsonian’s interest.

Today, the cabins are located on Francis Marion’s Wallace Woods Road, only a short distance from their original location on the Gregg Wallace plantation. FMU is committed to preserving the hewn timber cabins so that they may continue to serve as artifacts for reflection and continuous reminders of the resilience of those that called them home.

The cabins are open from January until November for guided tours. Tours are available by appointment Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tours last approximately one hour.

To schedule a tour, please complete the brief tour request form below. You may also directly contact the FMU library to schedule a tour by calling 843-661-1300 or emailing hewntimbercabins@fmarion.edu.