A Kiawah Island mansion that dates back to the early 1800s sold June 24 for $20.5 million, setting a record price for a home in the Charleston area.
A Charleston County recorded deed shows the buyer of the Vanderhorst Mansion as Vanderhorst Estate LLC, but it included no information about the ownership of the company. A spokeswoman representing the 16.5-acre estate on the edge of the Kiawah River said the purchaser wanted to remain anonymous.
The historic house, a 6,816-square-foot, four-story residence on Governors Drive, was listed in March for $21 million.
The previous sale-price record for Kiawah — and for the entire Charleston region — was $20.25 million. The 9,777-square-foot, oceanfront spread on 3 acres on Bally Bunion Drive changed hands in 2015.
The Vanderhorst Mansion sits on the edge of the Kiawah River on Kiawah Island. The 16-acre estate sold June 24 for a $20.5 million, setting a record for home price in the Charleston region. Kiawah Island Real Estate/Provided
The Vanderhorst Mansion was previously owned by several members of the Darby family, who are involved in the ownership of The Beach Co., one of the city’s oldest and largest real estate companies. The Darbys declined to comment on the sale, a spokeswoman said.
Danielle Whitson and Doug Lee of Kiawah Island Real Estate represented the family and the buyer, respectively.
Darby ownership
In 1988, developer Charles "Buddy" Darby III and others bought much of the undeveloped part of the island, an old inn and the three golf courses through an affiliate of The Beach Co. for $105 million.
The mansion came with the purchase, and in 1993, siblings of the Darby family acquired the badly deteriorated house and restored it. They include Buddy Darby and Ann Parker of Sullivan’s Island, John Darby of Mount Pleasant, Beth Haizlip of Jacksonville and Joya Wolf of Denver.
They decided to put it on the market earlier this year, saying it was time for another family to enjoy it as much as they did.
The totally renovated six-bedroom house has three bathrooms on each wing and a half bath in the interior.
The original front of the house is now on the rear side, which, when the home was built, was the main entrance because the only way to access the property was from the river. A pool now sits between the river and the house.
On the other side of the house, an avenue of oaks trails off Governors Drive down the driveway into the property.
An oak-line trail also extends directly across from the house all the way to the beach on the other side of the island.
The estate comes with an outdoor gathering space called the Creek House.
Built by the Darbys in 2008, and likened to a big-screened, outdoor porch, the Creek House includes a kitchen, wood-burning fireplace, deck, shower, bathroom, bar top made from an old tree and a cement table reinforced with rebar.
Views of the marsh can be seen from the porch of the Vanderhorst Mansion on Kiawah Island. Kiawah Island Real Estate/Provided
The estate comes with an entitlement that allows 28 homes to be built along the perimeter of the property.
Colorful history
The house comes with a storied past.
It was once torched by the British during the Revolutionary War, rebuilt by a South Carolina governor who served during the war and later abandoned for a good part of a century before being restored in the 1990s.
The mansion is named for Arnoldus Vanderhorst, who commissioned construction of the old plantation house around 1800 to replace the former residence on the site that was torched by the Redcoats in 1780.
Vanderhorst had served as a colonel under Gen. Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, whose innovative guerilla warfare tactics rattled the regimented British troops. When the Redcoats captured Charleston, Vanderhorst and others who had taken up arms against the king paid the price by having their estates seized and set ablaze.
During and after the war, Vanderhorst served in the Legislature as a representative and then senator before being elected intendant — now known as mayor — of Charleston in 1785 and served two staggered two-year terms. In 1791, he welcomed President George Washington to the city.
Three years later, he became governor and served for two years before returning to Kiawah to build the house.
Vanderhorst didn’t live many more years to enjoy his estate. He died in 1815, leaving his slave-owning plantation to six children by his wife. There also is evidence that he fathered two children with an enslaved woman. He freed the woman and her children before his death and stipulated that his sons act as their trustees, according to a document on the city of Charleston’s website.
The property, including the house and the entirety of the surrounding island, which had previously been split and owned by different entities, remained in the Vanderhorst family until around 1950, when it was sold for logging and timber.
The once-deteriorated Vanderhorst Mansion on Kiawah Island was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It was later fully restored and sold June 24 for $20.5 million, setting a record for a residential sale in the Charleston region. National Register of Historic Places/Provided
Before it was sold, Vanderhorst family members didn’t often stay in the residence since they had other homes, and the infrequently used dwelling fell into disrepair. In 1973 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in an effort to protect it from further ruin.
