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We’ve all heard the In Washington’s own words (from diaries he kept):
phrase “If these walls “Saturday 30th. Crossed the Waggamaw (Waccamaw
could talk,” but in few River) to George town by descending the River three
miles. At this place we were recd. under a Salute of
places is it more true than Cannon, & by a Company of Infantry handsomely
in Georgetown County. uniformed. I dined with the Citizens in public; and in
As South Carolina’s third oldest city, settled in the the afternoon, was introduced to upwards of 50 ladies
early 1700s, historic folklore and ghost stories are Mary Man House who had assembled (at a Tea party) on the occasion.”
The tea party is said to have been held at the Stewart-
among the norm. The homes and plantations of
walls events of historical significance. drownings, murder, kidnapping, and walking the plank Parker House, where Daniel Tucker offered President
Georgetown County also have sheltered people and
Washington overnight accommodations. The Stewart-
Take the Mary Man House on Front Street in
Parker House is one of the few locations where it can
swirled around the disappearance of Theodosia for
Georgetown, for example. The house was built around
truthfully be said, “George Washington slept here.”
years afterward. Her fate was a mystery to all her friends
1775 as a town house by Mary Man of Mansfield
What would a historic house be if it didn’t have a
Plantation on the Black River. Mary and her mother
No doubt Theodosia was familiar with another
Susannah lived in town, but tradition says she including Mary Man, and remains a mystery today. resident ghost? In the Keith House, also on Front Street
in Georgetown, some people said they saw a woman in
continued to ride horseback six miles each way to Georgetown home, the Stewart-Parker House, built black come from under the stairs, supposedly to foretell
oversee the rice production at Mansfield. around 1750 by planter and militia captain Robert
Fans of the musical “Hamilton” have another Stewart. The house is the only extant brick residence a death in the family. Built in 1825, the Keith House
reason to find the Mary Man House fascinating. in Georgetown built before the American Revolution. has had many owners throughout its history. One of
Legend has it that Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter Georgetown merchant Daniel Tucker acquired the those owners was said to be a clairvoyant woman, the
of Vice President Aaron Burr, wife of Georgetown house in 1787 and is said to have entertained President widow of a Civil War soldier. She always wore black
County planter and South Carolina Governor Joseph after her husband died, but in her later years she also
Alston, and subject of the song in the musical “Dear While it was probably bad began wearing black mittens to hide fingers gnarled
Theodosia,” stayed in the house the night before she enough for her family to from severe, disfiguring arthritis. It was also around this
boarded the ship that was hired to take her to New time that she began to make eerily accurate predictions
York to see her father. The evening before her departure, receive these predictions while of unexpected deaths of family and friends, including
Mary Man held a ball for her guest in the home to send she was alive, it became the name of the person who would die and the hour
her off. of death.
Late on the afternoon of December 31, 1812, worse after her death. Her ghost, dressed all in black, would emerge
Theodosia, her maid and the doctor who was from the small room under the stairwell to be seen by
accompanying them lifted anchor and set sail on a George Washington there when Washington visited the family members or friends. Those who encountered her
schooner, called the Patriot, from the Georgetown area in April 1791.
ghostly image agonized over who was to be the next
Harbor. The U.S. and Great Britain were at war at the Washington departed from Philadelphia on to die and when, as the ghost never spoke a name. No
time and on January 2, 1813, a British fleet stopped his Southern Tour on March 21, 1791 as part of his
her off the coast of Cape Hatteras where a letter from mission to solidify the fledgling United States as a one has seen the lady in black in many years, possibly
Theodosia’s husband, Governor Alston, granted her sovereign country. With the recent end to the American because no members of the family have lived there
passage and the British allowed the schooner to Revolution, most citizens didn’t yet identify themselves since a few years after her death. In recent years, the
HOUSE LORE of GEORGETOWN COUNTY proceed. Later that night, a storm arose and scattered as Americans. Washington felt that by visiting each of Keith House had been operated as a bed-and-breakfast
inn, hosting hundreds of visitors who surely would
the British fleet. Beyond that clue, no more is known.
the original 13 colonies, he could help the citizenry
Neither the Patriot nor Theodosia Burr Alston were embrace the concept of the United States as “one have seen this disturbing spirit if she was still making
ever seen again. Rumors of shipwrecks and pirates, of nation, under God.” her eerie predictions.

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