Overview | Location and Hours | Offerings
Seay House - Overview
November-April: CLOSED
May-October: Third Saturdays only, 10:00-4:00 or by appointment
864-596-3501; seayhouse@spartanburghistory.org
The Seay House is believed to be the oldest house inside the city limits of Spartanburg. Although a definite construction date for the log portion has not been established, evidence indicates that it was built prior to 1850. Two of the frame additions made to the home in the late 19th century still remain. The oldest portion of the house is a typical Scots-Irish, one room, one and one-half story, log house. The logs are hand hewn, and the foundation consists of fieldstone. The pipestem chimney, also made of fieldstone, is a style commonly found in Virginia but quite unusual for upstate South Carolina.
The Seay House is a modest home and reflects the kind of life that the majority of the settlers in Spartanburg County and the Carolina Backcountry lived. Interpretation at the Seay House focuses on the lives of women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was a farmstead, and the three daughters of Kinsman Seay - Ruthy, Patsy, and Sarah - who lived in this house up to the times of their deaths lived a simple farm life. While today this home is largely surrounded by a modern neighborhood, when you step onto the grounds you can begin to imagine what it must have been like to live without electricity or running water, to grow and raise your own food, and to make your own clothing.
Come step back in time with us at the Seay House this season! We're open from 10-4 on the 3rd Saturday of each month from May-October. Appointments to visit can be scheduled - 864-596-3501, seayhouse@spartanburghistory.org.
Learn more about the Seay sisters and some of the history they lived through by watching this video by Linda Powers Bilanchone.
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