That it is the only remaining birthplace of a South Carolina signer of the Declaration of Independence categorizes it as extraordinary. That it has survived the politics, the elements, and the apathy that have befallen so many other historic treasures is atypical enough. Still a private residence--as it was when Thomas Lynch, Sr. began building it around 1735--Hopsewee has always been in private hands.

Indeed, only a handful of owners have called it home. Today’s owners, Rae Jean and Franklin Beattie, both historians and preservationists, attribute the structure’s survival to its construction of black cypress, one of the forest’s most resistant woods. The footprint of the two-story, center-hall home has never been altered. Except for a few alterations to the kitchen, they were careful to leave the house just as they found it seven years ago.

Its place in history and its accessibility to the history-loving public makes Hopsewee a house museum. Tours are offered from March through November. As in a museum, the relics, art, and legends throughout seem to italicize details of the home’s story. But this is more home than museum for the couple who love and care for it today. It’s here they gather their blended family around an antique dining table. It’s here they entertain friends on the screened porch that looks out over the tannin-stained river where cotton once floated to market. Its lineage makes Hopsewee worthy of its legends. Perhaps it is really a home museum because its current owners make it home.

Pride in their role as preservers of this national treasure direct the Beatties to have guests enter the true front door of Hopsewee, not the pedestrian entrance that faces the circuitous driveway snaking through a grove of live oaks and camellias. Coming to the front door assures all who enter the same breath-taking view the owners relish every day. Franklin Beattie loves to point out the high water mark of today as he shares the history he has gleaned about the builder’s decision to construct above the river’s reach. The stone from which patriots mounted their horses is still there. Several years ago when three riders re-interpreting Francis Asbury’s 18^th century journey of through the area were invited to stop at Hopsewee, they mounted their horses from that same stone.

Just inside the front door are glass top cabinets in which Franklin deposits artifacts he picks up from the sprawling property on his daily walks. Shards of pottery, lead balls, nails that tell him tales about the home’s construction, and other finds have stories of their own. The inquisitiveness and lust for learning that both Beatties manifest can be found on their walls, in their bookcases, and in the wealth of knowledge they share so generously with any who ask.

Carved into the moldings at ceiling level are the shapes of tiny lit candles, perhaps a nod to illumination. Knowledge was a virtue evidenced by the builder of Hopsewee in his domestic dealings and in his representation of his state. The elder Lynch and his son, Thomas Lynch Jr., were two of South Carolina ’s five delegates to the Second Continental Congress.

The formal, but comfortable, living room in the Beattie’s home reflects tradition as far back as their combined family treasures reach. Each brought to the marriage family and collected antiques that together create a backdrop conjuring up life as it may have been when Carolina was still a colony. Among favorite pieces the couple has arranged in a pleasing interior pattern, a number once belonged to Franklin ’s great-grandmother. Rae Jean has answered guests’ questions about the pieces, the colors chosen, and the fabrics so often that she finally set out labels near items that most often generated curiosity.

Whether the birds around Hopsewee property home inspired all the Audubon prints framed and adorning the walls, or whether Audubon is simply the couple’s favorite artist and naturalist is a moot point. The artwork conveys a reverence for nature and tradition, and the creative couple continue moving pieces about until they hit upon the location that catches the light of time just right.

The study doubles as a music room. It’s there family members gather around the piano for singing, sometimes disturbing the spirit that inhabits the historic home. The hammered dulcimer Rae Jean is mastering also has a place in this room, although it is portable enough to move when she is asked to play for special occasions or church services. Documents and historic prints, each a history lesson behind glass, adorn the walls of this retreat.

The kitchen, brought indoors in modern times, has been completely remodeled, but the look is reminiscent of an earlier period. One culture clash is the computer on which Rae Jean conducts much of the plantation’s business. Before she and Franklin took up residence at Hopsewee, her career was in technology. She believes the view from her kitchen window is the best vista in the state--through the original glass, she can see the past, and the future.

Outside, a covered meeting area shields student groups and volunteer archaeologists from the elements. Hopsewee is a teaching plantation, inside and out. In recent years digs have unearthed important discoveries about plantation life, augmenting what the two original slave houses and smoke house reveal. A stroll around the property is a walk through Lowcountry history, botanically speaking. Hopsewee was an indigo plantation in its first iteration as remaining indigo plants, among many notable species, confirm.

The brick-floored basement is sometimes a classroom, too, when those who want to embrace the tradition of sweet-grass basket-making gather beneath the low ceiling to learn the art of coiling and sewing. The Beatties afford guests access from the basement to the attic. On the way up the decorative staircase, more documents trace the lineage of the patriots that have trod the risers in earlier times.

The four bedrooms upstairs, each opening onto the central hall, restore a bit of privacy to the owners’ lives. Hand-made quilts, a slave-made chair, and other remnants of simpler times would make the Lynches feel as much at home today as they did in the 18^th century.

Hopsewee Plantation, located 12 miles south of Georgetown on U.S. 17, became South Carolina ’s first National Historic Landmark in 1972.

The footprint of this lovely house, with its deep porches facing the river, has been virtually unchanged since 1740. One of the original slave cabins has been preserved. Most cabins of that era were made of logs; this one is unusual with its cedar siding and shingle hip roof. The two-roomed cabin has a double fireplace that served both rooms.