News and Courier Article 1933
Below is a transcribed copy of the article from the News and Courier sent to us by Beverly Mott. Joseph Koger was her 5th great grandfather. Her great-grandmother, Blanche Risher (granddaughter of Joseph Koger), saved the article.
The article, however, does have some errors. The Ackermans never owned the land or the house. Oliver Ackerman married Elizabeth Rebecca Koger, daughter of Joseph Koger I, and that is how the Ackermans are associated with the property. Also, there were not thousands of slaves. According to wills and census records, the Kogers probably did not own more than 60 slaves at any given time.
In this transcription abbreviations, spellings, and punctuation marks have been preserved. Line breaks also remain intact, as well as column structure. Indentations and spacing are difficult to replicate on the Web and may be distorted or omitted. [?] represents an unknown word.
1933 [handwritten at top of newspaper clipping]
Carroll Place
The history of the Old Carroll Place about six miles from town where the Quaker and Wire Roads intersect, was published in the News and Courier on Sunday in the column "Low Country Gossip" by Chlotilde R. Martin. The item had a few mistakes which have been corrected.
Townsmen S.N. Ackerman and G.W. Ackerman and J.W. Ackerman of Rt. 2 are great grandsons of the German who first owned the site.
The old house known as the Carroll place, near the little village of Grover, on the highway between Walterboro and St. George, is probably the most romantic old house in that section. It is said to be 150 years old and the site was originally owned by a German by the name of Ackerman whose great grandson, G.N. Dukes, now 75 years old, lived on the highway a few miles away.
This Ackerman, whose name in Germany signified the ownership of land, according to Mr. Dukes and whose descendants are scattered all over the Low-Country counties owned fire or six thousand acres of land in connection with his home and a thousand slaves.
The house was built by his nephew, Major Koger, who served in the Revolutionary war on the lands in [?] from his uncle [?]
It is the workmanship which went into the building of this house which makes it interesting. All of the timber came from the place and the lumber for building was cut by means of whip-saws in a huge pit. Twelve years were required to build the house and so grueling was the work that it cost the lives of between forty and fifty slaves, the deaths being caused from becoming overheated while sawing the lumber in the pits during the summer months.
At the time it was built this house was the only one between it and what is now Branchville. The little straggly road which runs in front of the house and is, for the most part, deserted now was once the Charleston and Augusta highway, frequented by stagecoaches.
The old house is good for a hundred years more of life. It stands sturdy and strong on its immense, high brick pillars. Its rooms are big and airy and the floors, which are the original ones show very little signs of wear. The wainscoating is high and the plastered walls still solid, needing repair in only a few places. Even the hinges and nails which went into the house were made on the place.
Major Koger, after the war offered for United States Congress and was defeated. He charged fraud and bitter as a result sold his place to Judge Carroll, of Columbia and moved to Mississippi. Judge Carroll kept the house as a summer home for years then sold it to Allen Westendorff of the Panama Canal Zone who still owns it, coming back for occasional visits. The broad acres once connected with the house have been gradually sold off, until only a small acreage remains.
The house is now occupied by a negro preacher.
