James Carnes House — Bishopville, South Carolina

This Greek Revival home in Bishopville is one of the town’s oldest. Built in 1836 by merchant and planter James Carnes, the estate is also known as The Myrtles and includes an addition in the rear, built in 1900. Once the home was enlarged, Carnes’ granddaughter, Jeanette Corbett, converted it into a boarding house.

The Myrtles served as an apartment building for much of the twentieth century. Today the home is privately owned by a family.

The James Carnes House is listed in the National Register:

(The Myrtles) The James Carnes House is a good example of the vernacular Greek Revival style and is associated with a prominent Bishopville family of the nineteenth century. This house is one of the oldest in Bishopville with the original main section constructed ca. 1836. This original section was built by James Carnes who was a prosperous merchant and planter. This two-story frame house has a gable roof, weatherboard siding, brick foundation and stuccoed exterior end brick chimneys.

The house features a large, two-story, pedimented portico on the main (south) façade. This portico has four larger square, frame columns with Doric motif capitals. At the rear of the house is a larger one-and-one-half story addition, which either was added ca.1900 or was an enlargement of an earlier ell section. At the roofline is a ca. 1900 gable roof dormer with paired four-over-four sash windows. Flanking this gable dormer are two ca. 1920 shed roof dormers. Around 1900 the house was made into a boarding house and the rear section was enlarged or added. The house was operated by James Carnes’s granddaughter, Miss Jeanette Corbett, as a tourist home and apartments during much of the twentieth century.

James Carnes House Map

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